EMSAH
Work-in-Progress Conference Prize Winners 2014
Congratulations to Prateek, who was awarded the 2014 Dr John
McCulloch Memorial Prize as part of the annual Work-in-Progress (WiP)
Conference, “The Life of Things”, for his paper, “Hubble-bubble of
transcultural encounters: a study of the social life of hookah.”
The judging panel also highly commended Sushma
Griffin, Chari Larsson, Elliot
Logan, and Nick Lord for their papers.
The
annual prize is named in honour of Dr John McCulloch OAM (1938-2010), who died
of pancreatic cancer just after submitting his doctoral thesis on Queensland
suffragist Elizabeth Brentnall. The prize is made possible by the generosity of
Dr McCulloch’s partner, Mr Gary Portley.
This year, the Conference featured the inaugural Creative
Writing Showcase, a celebration of the creative outputs of writing
postgraduates from EMSAH and other universities. The event, held at the UQ Art
Museum, included eight readings across a wide range of forms from short fiction
and creative non-fiction through to prose poetry and a play script.
The Showcase Prize was jointly awarded to Félix
Calviño for “The
Valley of the Butterflies” and David Thornby for “The Pitch Drop”. Both Félix and
David are EMSAH postgraduates in Creative Writing. The Prize was supported by
the generous donation of research funding by Professor Gillian Whitlock.
Conference
organisers Jami-Leigh Acworth, Gabriella Blasi, Belinda Burns, Wilson Koh, and
Emily Yu Zong, along with guidance from Associate Professor Jane Stadler and Dr
Nathan Garvey, presented a diverse program of more than 70 papers, including a
keynote address by Professor Richard Read from the University of Western
Australia and a Plenary Panel including Professor Gay Hawkins and Professor
Gillian Whitlock.
Many
thanks to all staff and students who attended, and all who contributed to
making this event such a success, particularly: Mr Gary Portley, Professor
Gillian Whitlock, Professor Gay Hawkins, Professor Peter Holbrook, and
Professor Richard Read.