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Congratulations to the winners of the 2025 Boroondara Literary Awards, hosted in partnership with Rotary Club of Balwyn.
Held annually since 1999, these awards celebrate the creativity of writers and poets within the City of Boroondara and Victoria.
See the full list of awarded entries for this year below.
You can also read the winning entries from both this year and previous years in our annual Literary Awards anthologies. Search for the anthology in the library catalogue.
Open Short Story category
| Place | Name | Title |
|---|---|---|
| First | Julia Faragher | The Last Day |
| Second | Stephen D'Arcy | The Will of La Magnan |
| Third | Andrew Nest | A Match Made in Heaven |
| Highly commended | Rosie Gamble | To Be Human |
| Highly commended | Anna Maria Schurmann | Teresa |
| Highly commended | Tina Cartwright | Fever |
| Keith Carroll Award | Julia Faragher | The Last Day |
Young writers prose
Junior prose
| Place | Name | Title |
|---|---|---|
| First | Emma Benzidane | Ravenswood House |
| Second | Yi Yan Lee | No Turning Back |
| Third | Jessica Vuong | Ashfall |
| Highly commended | Amelia Sisourath | Wish |
| Highly commended | Freddie Broadbent | Reflect |
| Highly commended | Milana Subasinghe | The Goldfields |
Middle prose
| Place | Name | Title |
|---|---|---|
| First | Gigi Dinh | Paper Houses |
| Second | Asha Bhattacharjee | My Home |
| Third | Violet Elwyn | The Severance |
| Highly commended | Olga Chen | Contemplation |
| Highly commended | Matilda Hall | Missed Opportunities |
| Highly commended | Lucia Walkenhorst | Promise Me You’ll Be Careful |
Senior prose
| Place | Name | Title |
|---|---|---|
| First | Sienna Vrieze | The Quiet Room |
| Second | Angela Yin | Requiem of the Unbroken |
| Third | Annalisa Chen | Laika |
| Highly commended | Chloe Singh | The Needle’s Edge |
| Highly commended | Annabelle Yong | If Only to Return |
| Highly commended | Selena Feng | Carved in Memory |
Young writers poetry
Junior poetry
| Place | Name | Title |
|---|---|---|
| First | Jessi Wang | Thread-Walker |
| Second | Bonnie Sun | The Colours Of My Voice |
| Third | Claire Nguyen | Where the Gum Trees Stand |
| Highly commended | Jessica Duffin | A Witches Stew |
| Highly commended | Ada van Koll | The Dystopian Termination |
| Highly commended | Joseph Tan | Waffle in a Poem |
Middle poetry
| Place | Name | Title |
|---|---|---|
| First | Lauren Sisourath | Dim Sum |
| Second | Asha Bhattacharjee | Behind the Sewing Machine (The Ghost) |
| Third | Lucas Davies | The Female Christ |
| Highly commended | Charlotte Heverin | The Dumb Dunce |
| Highly commended | Leo Huang | My Ocean of Regrets |
| Highly commended | Zainab Jabbar | The Price of Perfection |
Senior poetry
| Place | Name | Title |
|---|---|---|
| First | Liam Chuen | Palimpsest |
| Second | Chloe Qin | jan. 24/25 |
| Third | Rachel Lou | Tales From the Hospital Elevator |
| Highly commended | Rosa Toon | I'm Trying, Harvey Milk |
| Highly commended | Caity Sun | Dal 달 |
| Highly commended | Sienna Vrieze | Inheritance |