The Russell Prize for Humour Writing

2023

Winners announced

About the award

The Russell Prize for Humour Writing was established at the bequest of Peter Wentworth Russell to celebrate, recognise and encourage humorous writing, and to promote public interest in this genre. It is the only award to recognise the art of humour writing in Australia.

The Russell Prize for Humour Writing is awarded biennially for the work which is judged to be the best book of humour writing by an Australian author and published in the previous two years. The winner receives $10,000.

The Humour Writing for Young People Award is offered for a work promoting humour and championing laughter. The Award is aimed at primary school level readers (5-12 years) and recognises the role of humour in encouraging children to read. The winner receives $5,000.

The Russell Prize for Humour Writing, was established through a generous donation to the State Library of NSW Foundation by the late Peter Wentworth Russell, a farmer and businessman remembered for his appreciation of humour.

The Russell Prize is the only award for humour writing in Australia and one of few in the world. It takes its place alongside the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize in the UK, the Thurber Prize for American Humour and the Leacock Memorial Medal for Canadian Humour. The prize marks a long overdue acknowledgment of the genre in Australia, and is set to promote public interest in humour writing just as its prestigious international counterparts have done.

The Prize is administered by the State Library of NSW and its Foundation on behalf of the estate of the Prize’s benefactor Peter Wentworth Russell.

2023 Judging Panel: Wendy Harmer

Panel Chair

In a career spanning four decades, Wendy has found success as a journalist, columnist, radio broadcaster, TV host, author, playwright and comic performer.

A former political journalist, Wendy ran away with the circus in the 80s and forged a career in comedy at the Edinburgh Festival, London’s West End and on stages in Ireland, the US and all over Australia. Wendy was a pioneer for women in media as MC of ABC TV’s The Big Gig and as the headliner in radio 2Day FM’s Morning Crew which dominated Sydney radio ratings for 11 years.

She holds a Doctor of Letters (Honoris Causa) from Macquarie University and is the author of some 30 fiction books for children, teens and women. She has also written plays, an opera libretto and has been a prolific columnist for many magazines and newspapers, most notably as Editor In Chief of her own site for women, The Hoopla.

Most recently Wendy was co-host of the breakfast programme with Robbie Buck on ABC Sydney.

Rawah Arja

Rawah Arja is an acclaimed writer and teacher from Western Sydney. Her first YA book, The F Team, was published by Giramondo and has been shortlisted for many awards including the Ethel Turner Prize for Young Adult Literature as well as for the Prime Minister’s Literary Award. Her writing has featured in Second City: Essays From Western Sydney, Arab, Australian, Other, SBS Voices and at the Sydney and Melbourne Writer’s Festival. She currently teaches creative writing workshops around Australia.

Alistair Baldwin

Alistair Baldwin is a writer and comedian based in Naarm / Melbourne.

He has written for ABC's The Weekly, Hard Quiz, Get Krack!n and At Home Alone Together, and is one of eight writers behind the upcoming SBS anthology series Erotic Stories. In 2022, Alistair made his directorial debut alongside Madeleine Gottlieb on the SBS Digital Original Latecomers.

His first play Telethon Kid was shortlisted for the 2022 Griffin Award, and will have its debut run at Malthouse Theatre in 2023, and his short story Hippotherapy is featured in the Growing Up Disabled In Australia anthology.