Winners

First prize: ‘Journey to Freedom’ by Hai-Van Nguyen
The author herself was only 4 years old when her family fled Vietnam as refugees to Australia and she has based her narrative on things her parents have said. The opening lines capture the impersonality and humiliation of all refugees: '155980 and 155981. My parents hold the numbers, scrawled hurriedly in the impermanence of chalk, across their chests.' The narrative itself does not use this as a mere framing device, but as a central illumination of their personal story. Written cleanly in persuasive English, this is a moving and poignant tribute. The judges’ choice was unanimous.

Second Prize: 'Hope to Survive' by Zana Mujezinovic
Here the raw immediacy of terrible experience is conveyed through small details and large, ceaseless shocks and humiliations. This is raw experience. After several readings the impact remains powerful, despite the struggle with language and the lack of neat explanatory matter. It is an account from within the experience, and that gives it uniqueness. Much of the spelling and grammar could be 'corrected' but even the cadence held me.

Third Prize: 'The Place where God died' by Melanie Poole.
The story of Gisele Osmani, told skilfully and with considerable craft. The narrative itself is searing, and the framing device selected by the author is thoughtful if perhaps a little
self-conscious, but it holds the account in perspective.. Combines affecting story-telling with rather tough and intelligent comment.

Equal fourth Prize: 'The Blue Eyes that Grieve' by Zara Al Hosany Al Shara,
NSW. Although related, in clear English, 'as told to' the narrator, this story is the most harrowing account of an infamous incident and the very understate simplicity of the narrative voice allows the reader to feel the full shock waves.

Equal fourth Prize: 'A Refugee Experience' by Mohammed Zia.
A first-person account, in ESL, by a young Afghan refugee. It is a long account and detailed, and does not even reach what no doubt were the horrific experiences upon arrival in our country. Clumsy, with obvious use of the thesaurus, but at the centre of it is a brutally convincing account of flight and terror. It is so harrowing that the reader almost is spared the final humiliations, both of the narrator and of ourselves. Unforgettable.

Highly Commended with Special Mention

‘The Refugee Story’ by Pharan Akhtarkhavari. A story of a Baha'i refugee from Iraq and as such it offers a characteristic account of the trials of many refugees. Told in a brief, but quite graphic, English.

‘Experience as Refugee’ Mohammad Riyadh Ali "A dark dream left a mark in my heart" - clumsy, heart-rending, real.

'Waleed Alkhazrajy: Perseverance Personified" by Yasmin Aleem. A long and increasingly passionate account of one Iraqi refugee which gives particular emphasis on his Australian experiences. Although it begins rather in the manner of a school exercise, with a series of rhetorical questions, once it gets to the body of the story it is presented ably and with strong effect. Slightly more sophisticated - perhaps because the interviewee, a doctor from Iraq, is articulate and highly educated - but also because the writer doesn't shirk the matter of money, who has it, and what this means.

‘To Be Someone…’ by Bojana Bokan – her English has a clipped Balkan feel to it, without definite articles, but I don't think its poetry springs only from its un-Englishness – her voice is mature and elliptical, quite beautiful

‘The Story of Genowfh Haspralak’ by Chloe Costas. An efficiently achieved and foot-noted report of a Polish woman's WW2 experiences, by someone with a good history teacher.

‘"…From A Small Detention Centre, I am now in a Bigger Detention Centre" – The Story of an Afghani Refugee in Australia’ by Zachi Darab. Ably told by the author, who becomes an active participant in the communicating of the events being unfolded. An indictment of Australian official policies, told with frightening clarity.

‘The Waves to Freedom’ by Gracia Diep: memorable account of escape from Vietnam.

'What does Australia Want" by Lucy McBride. An Australian girl is rocked by her interviews with young refugee boys. An honest account of the culture shock experienced by a young Australian when first put into contact with a group of refugees. I like it for its honesty and discomfort.

(untitled) by Nooria Wazefadost: A poetic and ambitious attempt at a harrowing story of a fellow Afghan refugee and her tragic history; use of the device of a third-person narrative allows the author to use her friend's experiences as a surrogate account of what must have been her own. The experience is raw and moving



I read the essays with curiosity and a great deal of emotion.
Many young students have tried, with commendable energy and decency, to retell stories they have gathered from interviews with refugees. It takes real writing talent to bring to life on paper a story that you are telling at second or third hand, and so some of these essays were notable more for their worthiness of sentiment than for their immediacy.

The real treasures are the stories told by young refugees themselves, and by the children of people who fled to Australia a generation ago. Some of the more recent arrivals here have struggled with a language not their own, and have produced stories we will never be able to forget. Some of the pieces read as passionate polemic, others show the flair and freshness of short stories. Their determination, their urgency of expression, and their lack of sentimentality have moved us deeply. They would melt the hardest heart.

It has been a privilege to read these essays, and a terribly difficult job to try to rank them.
HELEN GARNER


To read this whole collection of testimony accounts and of stories learned through the accounts of others has been an experience both painful and rewarding. Even the pieces written with (obviously) a teacher looking over the shoulder, and no doubt 'tidying up', convey something of the sense that we all have of others who have been through hell, and may still be enduring it. But also there are accounts of people who have become new and successful migrants – some of them conspicuously so – and who have been transformed in the process.

The pain, though, is what is still close to the surface, and the accounts which communicate the traumatic events burn us with their authenticity and their humanity. Several pieces which are rough hewn from direct experience reach us through the difficulty of a language foreign to the narrators, but in the most telling of these there is a rawness that sears.

From Holocaust survivors, Vietnamese boat people on to contemporary refugees fleeing oppression in Afghanistan or Iraq, Sri Lanka or Africa, these are accounts we must heed, and learn from.
TOM SHAPCOTT


How do you judge, weigh, compare human suffering? How can you rate accounts of it? The task is impossible. The response is, at best, entirely arbitrary. Certainly trying to judge the entries to this extraordinary competition has given me both a heartache and headache. At the same time, it’s been a great privilege.

The demonisation of the refugees has been disgraceful – one of the uglier tactics in Australia’s political history. But every bit as reprehensible as the demonisation was, to coin a phrase, the ‘anonymisation’. The way, for example, the people on the Tampa remained just dots on the deck. Faceless, nameless, remote and abstract. We have not been allowed to know the refugees as human beings – as men, women and children, as mothers and husbands, sons and daughters.

These stories change all that and force a personal response from the reader. What a pity Australia’s bigots can’t be persuaded to read these accounts. It might, just might, make them more understanding and compassionate.
PHILLIP ADAMS


First Prize ‘For the Love of a Child, Mai’s Story’ by Khazmira Bashah: For the Love of a Child, Mai’s Story, is a harrowing tale, beautifully told. The writer, Khazmira Bashah, displays great empathy with her subject and insight into the refugee situation. The opening image of Mai’s arrival in Perth, Valentine’s Day, 1982, is startling as are many other references to the details of the family’s escape. From its poignant title, each moment builds a tightly controlled narrative that deals with tragedy, bravery, determination and chance until resettlement in Australia. Mai’s words may be a fitting comment for so many in this project: ‘A person who becomes a refugee does not always come with the hope of a better life, they come for survival, because they cannot continue to live and be alive in the country they are fleeing from. It takes desperate steps to leave in small boats to set off for a place that may never let you stay, but none of that matters because you leave your country for Freedom.’

Second Prize ‘Lucie Pollak-Langford’ by Gabriel Courtney: Gabriel Courtney has written the story of Lucie Pollak-Langford with great clarity and sympathy. The horrors of the Nazi policy towards the Jewish population are placed against the humanity of the young Polish Christian, Jan whose family saved Lucie from certain death. Gabriel conveys Lucie’s warmth and humour and his telling of her return to Poland gives a satisfying shape to his story. There is a strong, obvious regard for his subject. This feeling is clearly mutual judging from her comments in the permission slip: ‘I am impressed with Gabriel’s perception, interest and intelligence.’ We were equally impressed.

Third Prize ‘Far From Home: Thinh’s Journey to Safety’ by Tita Tran: In this breath-taking story, Tita Tran draws us very close to identifying with Nguyen Tan Thinh, who from an early age faced the terror of his life being turned upside down as a result of the Vietnam War. What sets this essay apart from many similarly heart-rending stories is Tita’s attention to the conflicting emotions Nguyen faced each step of his horrendous journey. Tita not only shows her sophistication as a writer, but her great perception and compassion for the life of the person she tells. The care with which Tita illustrated her story is worthy of comment. Although this was not a prerequisite for entries in the competition, Tita’s careful and intelligent sense of design and illustration amplified the issues of the story and showed her understanding of the subject matter.

Special Award for the best story by a female student about a female refugee. ‘Denada’s Story’ by Rosa Brown: a deserving winner of this special award. The outstanding feature of this story is the open-hearted way Rosa weaves her own discoveries and responses to the issues of refugees in detention in Australia into the story. The simple act of writing a letter led her to meet Albanian born Denada Kabashi who escaped wars in Albania and Kosova, only to suffer the trauma of detention in Australia. Rosa and Denada’s stories and their deep and on-going friendship - they now call each other sisters – not only enlighten us about the issue of refugees and detention, but give hope and inspiration that even the smallest action can be a great force for change.

GENERAL COMMENTS
It has been a privilege to judge this competition. The reading of these entries has reminded us of the suffering of so many in our community. We have been struck by the sympathy and empathy of those who entered. Many spoke of their newfound realization of the plight of the refugee. Some entrants wrote of their own family members, others went to extraordinary lengths to meet strangers and hear their stories. In every case, the hearing of that story, first hand, had a profound effect on the listener. The judging was extremely difficult. One quickly became absorbed by the harrowing detail of each person’s story and had to refocus ones self on the writing. A small number of entries were absolutely outstanding, revealing an intimate and personal knowledge of the subject. There were many, many other pieces that merited placement on our final list of twenty-three. In deciding to accept the invitation to judge this competition we had a desire to inform ourselves through the eyes of those contributing - young people. The strength of the contributions is very heartening, holding out hope that through the children of this country we may see our nation develop in a compassionate, inclusive and responsible way.
We offer our congratulations to Eva Sallis for creating a project that offers young people the opportunity to arrive at an informed opinion of their own rather than accepting hear-say. We have no doubt that this task has been a significant learning experience for those who chose to take part.

A Special Class Award was awarded to the students in Year 6/7 of McDonald Park School Mt Gambier, SA for their many (spectacularly conflicting!) versions of Taha's Story. Under the guidance of teacher Andrew Bentley, these students made what is in effect a composite celebration of Taha’s journey. They and Taha clearly became friends, as they explored her life story and escape from Iraq to a new life in Australia together.
LIBBY GLEESON AND MEME MCDONALD