Awards and their Significance - A Personal Reflection

 

As an ignorant person walking into the Mildura Writers I was unaware of the impact it would have on me personally. I had always thought of the festival as simply being workshops on how to become a writer! I never knew who had founded the festival or even why. It wasn’t until I took the time to stop and talk to volunteer Ron Povey (who worked on the door each day) to understand the passion and value that has gone into creating such a wonderful festival for the people of Mildura and beyond. Of particular interest, I learned of the awards presented to visiting authors and found each one awarded was personal and momentous for both organisers as well as the authors receiving the award themselves. Ron explained the festival consists of one judge who completes a three year term.

 

Of the three awards presented, the arbiter considers each award separately based upon the unique medal and its meaning. As I watched Ron speak of the awards it struck me how passionate he was about the key purpose of such an event. I never asked if he knew Phillip Hodgins as I considered this to be rude, however he spoke of this man with the greatest of respect stating “he was an inspiration”. Ron expressed The Phillip Hodgins Memorial Medal as being a prestigious award for any writer as Phillip Hodgins was one of the founders of the Mildura Writers Festival. Any Australian author awarded this Medal has proved their literature has work that best reflects a standard that is high and set apart from others in which Philip Hodgins epitomised.

 

The 2017 winner was poet Peter Boyle who respectfully received the award with pride and was presented with a medal created by Jim Curry, (a Mildura artist) as well as a cheque for $3000. Furthermore Ron was pleased to explain how the Mildura Writers Festival were associated with many sponsors, in particular the Mallee District Aboriginal Services where they award local Indigenous writers to narrate a short fiction or poem of their choice. It was wonderful to see Maya Hodge win this year’s prize of $1200 and express immense pride towards her cultural heritage and her family.

Finally, Ron discussed the Tina Kane Emergent Writer Award. It was here that I discovered Ron’s gratification and respect for Tina herself and her work. “She was very special, and so friendly. She loved this festival and even when she was ill she still flew from New York to Mildura”. Her award, won by Natalie Harkin was presented for her promising and developing poems. Watching Natalie receive her award was moving as she was both honoured and humbled by the experience. While I wrongly assumed the Mildura Writer’s Festival was about learning the steps to writing a novel or poem, what I did learn (from a very unassuming person) is the adoration and passion it takes to create such a wonderful community event for Mildura and the love for those who have been memorialised within an embrace of friendship.