When the Calibre Essay Prize closed in late January, it had attracted 648 entries – a record field for Calibre. We had entries from twenty-six countries. Judging is now well underway. We look forward to announcing the shortlist in mid-April. The winning essay will follow in our May issue.

Meanwhile, the ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize opened on February 10. We’ve been impressed by your celerity. Word of ABR’s three international literary prizes is clearly spreading globally.

The Jolley Prize – generously supported by ABR Patron Ian Dickson AM – is worth a total of $12,500, with a first prize of $6,000. The judges this year are Julie Janson, John Kinsella, and past winner Marias Takolander. Entries close on May 5. You’ve got to be in it to win it!

The 2025 ABR Rising Star

The Rising Stars program, conceived in 2019, is intended to encourage younger writers and critics whose early contributions to ABR has impressed readers and editors alike. The ABR editors work closely with the Rising Stars, commissioning them often and helping to enhance their critical work and to advance their careers.

Advances is delighted to name the seventh ABR Rising Star, Jonathan Ricketson, who is undertaking a PhD on true crime writing at Monash University, where he is also working on a novel. Jonathan’s research areas are in the genre of true crime writing, and the ethical and aesthetic issues therein. He completed his MA in Shakespeare Studies at King’s College London in 2020.

ABR first encountered Jonathan in August 2024 during the publishing masterclass at Monash University, an annual series which ABR delivers through its partnership with the Faculty of Arts. Like our 2021 Rising Star Anders Villani, Jonathan excelled in the class. ABR promptly invited him to write for the magazine. He has done so thrice to date, most recently reviewing Helen Garner’s The Season and My Brilliant Friend, the television adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s novels.

Jonathan, whose short fiction has been published elsewhere, is a versatile writer and critic, with broad interests – just what ABR is always seeking.

On learning of his appointment, Jonathan told Advances: ‘I could not be more thrilled or grateful at the opportunities that ABR has offered me as an emerging critic. As a mentor, Peter Rose is dedicated to supporting the work of newer writers through the Monash Masterclass program. ABR has been a guiding light for me both as a reader and a writer. In ABR, criticism is an art form in and of itself, practised at the very highest levels; it demonstrates how the business of “serious noticing’” can be as pleasurable as it is thought-provoking.’

Calling visionaries!

The National Institute of Dramatic Art, better known as NIDA, has announced new funding to support young visionaries turn a ‘radical idea or project into reality’. The Jim Sharman Future Award offers $50,000 to emerging artists and creative thinkers between the ages of sixteen and thirty whose project has the potential to transform the arts and cultural landscape. On offer to young people throughout Asia and the Pacific, the award is designed to strengthen Australia’s cultural connections across the region. Bravo!

Surveying the election and opera

Next month, ABR will publish two surveys: one on the federal election – which seems likely to be held in Many – and another on developments at Opera Australia. Several arts critics and professionals will address the viability of the national arts company given radical changes to its programming, governance structure, and scope in recent years, as well as Creative Australia’s review into Opera Australia. ABR will also feature the reflections of several senior contributors on the federal election and the issues that should – though Advances fears won’t – be much discussed in the media, where the supposed ‘cost-of-living crisis’ sucks up most of the energy. Climate change, tax reform, the state of arts funding, anyone?