Published in Overland Issue 215 Winter 2014 · Writing / Culture Judges’ report for the Nakata Brophy Prize Peter Minter and Tony Birch The winning entry is Jessica Hart’s ‘Land Mountain’. Jessica is to be commended for two very strong poems, with ‘Nouveau’ also being highly rated by the judges. Both her poems were striking in their sophistication and elegant use of language. Second place went to Elijah Loutitt’s ‘Blackground’ for its great intertwining of language, imagery and political message. Third was awarded to Jared Field’s innovative ‘Time and other observations’. The judges were impressed by the overall quality of the poems, which demonstrated both passion and a broad use of genres. An impressive start to the Nakata Brophy Short Fiction and Poetry Prize for Young Indigenous Writers. Peter Minter Peter Minter is a leading Australian poet and writer on poetry and poetics, and Overland’s outgoing poetry editor. More by Peter Minter › Tony Birch Tony Birch holds the Boisbouvier Chair in Australian Literature at Melbourne University. He is the author of four novels, five short fiction collections, and two poetry books. His most recent book is the novel Women and Children (UQP). More by Tony Birch › Overland is a not-for-profit magazine with a proud history of supporting writers, and publishing ideas and voices often excluded from other places. If you like this piece, or support Overland’s work in general, please subscribe or donate. Related articles & Essays 10 March 202610 March 2026 · Writing The role of the committed writer in an unfree world André Dao No, the committed writer is a movement writer. I mean that the committed writer knows that they know very little, and that the way to remedy that ignorance is through solidarity with people in struggle. 1 1 December 20251 December 2025 · Writing With respect to the poor essay Jonno Revanche Style is now a feature that we surrender to a digital pattern recognition machine, which attempts to replicate our own but often falls short, feeling convincing enough but too superficial in its noticing to get to the heart of human concerns.
