ZineWest Launch: Saturday, 12th September at University of New England Parramatta Campus,28 George Street, Parramatta.
11:30 am for Noon – 2:00pm or earlier (bump out 2:30pm)
Entry: $10, Free for under 16’s and carers.
Zines:$15; Contributors 1st copy: $10
Readings; Judges’ comments and awards
Door prize and raffle draws
Cake!
This event is part of Parramatta’ Lit! Check out the other events!
ZineWest 2025 launch was proudly presented on 13th September as part of Parramatta’s Lit! in partnership with the Sydney Fringe Festival. Our venue was the University of New England’s campus at 28 George Street, Parramatta. ZineWest 2025 is central to NEW Writers Group Inc’s Creative Project 2025 supported by the Australian Cultural Fund. We thank all our supporters and donors including our financial members, the co-sponsor of 1st writing prize, the Writing and Society Research Centre (UWS) and Augusta Supple’s philanthropic support of ZW25’s production and cash prizes via the ACF. Both judges praised the high standard and diversity of the contributors. Congratulations!
AWARDS LIST ZINEWEST 2025
Writing Awards – Judge Dr Luke Carman
1st David Mitchell – The Great Uldono
2nd Jelena Curic – Gringo
3rd Peter Cartwright – Jo
Best Poem Joshua Heylin – Where else to bring the end of this night
HIghly Commended Nelson Groom – The Turtle
Highly Commended Tyswan Slater – Table Setting
Editors’ Award Joint prize
KT Major – Potage/Patronage
Mitch Browne – Pendulum
Art Awards – Judge Maria Constantinescu
Best Image – Czarlemagne Jeronimo
Runners-up:
Sarah Collis – Where is Home?
Micahela Simoni – The Seahorse and the Jug
Join us at at 11:am, UNE Sydney, 100 George Street Parramatta, to hear from Western Sydney writers and see the work of local visual artists, all published in this year’s ZineWest.
ZineWest’s 18th edition will be celebrated on Saturday, 12 October
UNE Sydney’s Parramatta campus, Level 4, 100 George Street Parramatta.
11:00 am Morning Tea; 11:30 am – 1:30 pm: Judges’ comments, Readings, Prizes.
$10 Entry with Door Prize. (Free entry for carers and children 12 and under.)
Zines $15; Contributors’ first copy $10 (If you can’t attend, zines will be available post launch on nwg-inc.com website.)
Please note all awards are announced at the launch – not beforehand.
Writing 1st: $400; 2nd: $300; 3rd: $200; Highly Commended: Book awards
Art 1st: $100; Runners-up (2): Book awards
Join us on Saturday, 9th March at West Words, 41 Hunter St (Corner Marsden St ) 3-5pm for a reader-feedback workshop plus Open Mic (open theme.) At NWG Inc we aim to help writers share their work and prepare pieces for publication. Above are three anthologies from 2023: Expression 3 (Digital); ZineWest 2023 (print); and our first anthology for longer works, Amiguous Loss (title from a poem by Arna Radovich. The cover images from left are by Jean Rhodes, Sandra Borri, and Mihaela Cristescu.
Reader Feedback workshops can be useful whether you are the writer of the short piece/excerpt being responded to, or one of the readers. And in this session you can be both! Send us a page of writing by 3rd March and we’ll book you in. Or just participate as a helpful reader. Also, bring an original short piece to read at the mic. $5 entry; Free for financial members and carers.
More on Reader Feedback workshops: ‘The aim is to assist a writer edit their own work. We review one work at a time in a small friendly group. The writer listens nearby. Because writers are rarely present to help someone read their work ‘correctly’ they are not allowed explain or defend their work – they listen in – a fly on the wall experience which can show where a tweak or two will keep the writer engaged …’
Dr. Luke Carman will launch ZineWest 2023 on Saturday, 14 October, 11:00 am – 1:30 pm at UNE Sydney, Level 4, 100 George Street, Parramatta.
Also attending is art judge, Maria Constantinescu.
All welcome. $10 entry includes door prize ticket and morning tea. Carers and children under 13, free entry. Please note: Ground floor entry will be accessible from 10:45 – 11:30 am. If you expect to be late please advise before the day.
Zines $15, Contributors’ first copy $5
Morning Tea 11:00 am
Launch 11:30 am – 1:30 pm
Commentary by Luke Carman
Art PPT with Maria Constantinescu
Readings, prizes and awards
Giant Raffle & Door Prizes
Prizes announced at the launch
Writing: 1st $400, 2nd $300, 3rd $200; Highly Commended awards; Editors Award
Art: Best Image $100; Runners-up book awards
Writing co-sponsor for 1st place – Writing & Research Society Centre
Other prizes – Private donors
The cash prizes are great but here are some of the terrific Australian titles to be won too as awards – or by luck in the door prizes and giant raffle. All three of these authors once won ZineWest. Joins us on Sunday 16 October for the launch of ZineWest 2022.
Thanks to all the contributors who created the 15th edition of ZineWest. Copies available at our shop. If you have a piece published in ZW21, select a product that includes your free copy.
Awards announced at the Zoom launch, 16th October:
ART – Judge Elizabeth Chang, Curator and Artist Development, Parramatta Artists Studios
BEST IMAGE AWARD: SANDRA BORRI for Galah
RUNNER-UP: ERIN MACNAUGHT for Hands #1
WRITING – Judge Luke Carman, author and lecturer, Writing and Society Research Centre WSU
FIRST Place and Best Prose: CHRISTOPHER SAMMUT for Breathe
SECOND place and Best Poem: PETER CARTWRIGHT for The Time
THIRD place GENEVA VALEK for The Rat (prose)
HIGHLY COMMENDED –
MYRA KOCH for Piano for Sale (prose)
NORM FAIRBAIRN for On the Lake (poem)
JO MULARCZYK for Lies of Love (prose)
EDITORS’ AWARD
PETE SHMIGEL for Geronimo’s Daybreak
Image: Christopher Sammut
SATURDAY 16TH OCTOBER 2021
3-4:30 ZOOM – Readings, Awards with Elizabeth Chang and Luke Carman
In 2022 we hope to add back in – food and giant book raffle!
Our cover features Galah, by one of our contributing artists, Sandra Borri. Poems, stories, images and a little reminiscence re 15 years of finding interesting and diverse creativity in Western Sydney. More info @
Elizabeth Chang, Art Judge, and Luke Carman, Writing Judge: Fifteenth edition of ZineWest
NB Award winners are not notified prior to the launch.
Free entry. Copies: $15. Sales online due to Covid.
Contributors’ first copies are free, but we will need to recoup postage.
ZineWest 2021 is part of the Writing Parramatta 2021 project which has been supported by a City of Parramatta Creative Economy Grant.
Publishing Workshop with Felicity Castagna