Director of UNE FutureCampus, Rob Field, launched ZineWest 17 on 8th October. Rob shared a glimpse into his history as a member of a very large family. It seems that being surrounded by individuals with diverse gifts and challenges, was like attending a school for empathy and communication. Rob sees openness to the ideas and experience of others as commonsense, however it is a commitment to his own ideas and strengths that has shaped his career. He urged us to have the same confidence to develop our personal talents and insights when creating our writing and art.

Luke Carman, our writing judge, commented on  every writing piece in this year’s ZineWest – a rarity in the world of competitions. We hope to post a copy of his notes for the benefit of those writers who couldn’t attend. Luke (as expected) also officiated at the crazy raffle finale.

Writing awards were co-sponsored by The Writing and Society Research Centre, WSU, including book titles from Giramondo Publishing  (see writing award list below  images). Art and Spoken Word awards were supported by private donors. The Editor’s award (The Big Black Thing) was donated by SWEATSHOP. Our venue was provided free of hire charge by UNE FutureCampus. Sahtein Lebanese Feasts was the keynote of lunch. List of writing winners is below the images.

Best Image: Zena Maghchouch: They, I, Us – Dissociative Identity Disorder “…a raw illustration of its sufferers and their suffering…” 

Best Image: Runner-up: fayroze – Self Portrait composed of the artist’s original texts.

Our art judge who selected all the included images was Sophia Kouyoumdjian, co-ordinator of the Parramatta Artists Studios.

WRITING AWARDS: First Place and Best Prose: LE Armbruster; Second Place and Best Poem: Norm Fairbairn; Third Place: Loredana Tudor-Tomescu; Commendations: Kirsten Oakley, Morgana Ladrina, fayroze, CA Broadribb. Editor’s Award: Kate Brown. Note: All pieces included in the zine were selected by editor SE Crawford and the guest editors: Lyn Leerson, Ruth Wyer, J. Anne deStaic and Mihaela Cristescu. The works to be published are sent to the writing judge to determine the prizes. The winning works will be posted to the ezine by January, 2018.