About the Awards

Entries:

Open: Thursday, 2 January 2025

Close: Friday, 21 March 2025

Awards Presentation Night: Friday, 23 May 2025 at the Victoria Park Centre for the Arts

Awards Exhibition: Saturday 24 May 2025 - Tuesday, 10 June 2025* at the Victoria Park Centre for the Arts.

Prizes:

There will be two prizes awarded in each category:

• Personal Memoirs winner $700 and runner up $300
• Original Research winner $700 and runner up $300
• Photographic memories winner $700 and runner up $300
• Original poetry or Performance work winner $700 and runner up $300
• Open Entry by a School Aged Child (Years 3 to 10) winner $100 Crow Books voucher and runner up $75 Crow Books voucher.

What Could I Enter:

Possible topics include, but are not restricted to:

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history of the area
• The history of your house
• School days in the Town
• The changing face of Albany Highway
• Your experience of life in Victoria Park during the COVID-19 pandemic
• Research a local Soldier (WWI or other conflict)
• How Burswood, Carlisle, East Victoria Park, Lathlain or Victoria Park have changed
• How businesses have developed in the Town, such as the story of the corner stores; memories of furniture factories like Hearn Bros & Stead or the State Saw Mills.
• Historic images relating to the development of the Town
• A photographic study of your street, suburb or theme such as sporting clubs etc.
• Images documenting family life, school days, sporting club life, nature, architecture, car-yards and other businesses etc.

Entries must relate to the development of the Town of Victoria Park and can take the format of:

• a report
• a memoir
• an interview with associated text or commentary
• paintings, drawings or photographs with associated text or commentary
• a collection of original verse or anecdotes.

*The Exhibition will close at 2pm on Tuesday, 10 June 2025, to allow time for 'bump-out', which is packing up the exhibition. This is as per policy of the Victoria Park Centre for the Arts.

Conditions of Entry

1. Entries must be original work and all quotes and use of work by other authors must be acknowledged and referenced.

2. Entries must be relevant to the history and development of the Town of Victoria Park.

3. Entries become the property of the Town of Victoria Park Library Local History Collection, which retains the right to use an entry as it chooses, with acknowledgment of the author.

4. The judges have the right to award a category only if, in their opinion, it is justified.

5. Judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

6. Entries, including the application form, must be received at the Library by 5pm on Friday, 21 March 2025.

7. There are five categories to the awards:

• Personal Memoirs (maximum 10,000 words)
• Original Research (maximum 10,000 words)
• Photographic Memories
• Original Poetry or Performance Work
• Open Entry by a School Aged Child (Years 3 to 10)

8. Photographic entries must have been taken in the Town of Victoria Park and be original photos or high quality scans (ideally 400-600 dpi) not currently held in the Town of Victoria Park Local History collection. Original photographs will be scanned and archived or returned if requested.

9. Photographic entries must have the ‘Questions about your photograph’ section of the entry form completed.

10. Members of staff, members of Council, their partners and members of their immediate families are ineligible to enter the award.

11. Entries that have received monetary payment or support in their creation through the form of grants, sponsorship, or professional assistance from other sources are ineligible to be entered in the awards.

12. The use of ChatGPT or other AI interfaces will not be tolerated.

Winners

Following a wonderful Presentation Night on Friday, 23 May 2025, were all those who entered the Awards and their friends and family came to celebrate Local History, the prizes were awarded. So we can now share the exciting news with everyone!

Here are the Winners of the 2025 Local History Awards by Category:

Original Research

• 1st Prize was awarded to Helen Creed for her entry titled: 'Billabong Community Early Learning Centre 40th Anniversary'
• 2nd Prize was awarded to Norma Lyons for her entry titled: 'Uncle Paddy's Letter's Home'

Personal Memoirs

• 1st Prize was awarded to Leslie Stevens for his entry titled: 'Memories of a Vic Park Kid'
• 2nd Prize was awarded to Madeleine Tingey for her entry titled: 'Kate Reserve: A Hidden Gem'
• An Honourable Mention was awarded to Hilary Williams for her entry titled: 'The Way We Were'

Photographic Memories

• 1st Prize was awarded to Renae Carey for her entry titled: 'The Style of the Times at East Victoria Park'
• An Honourable Mention was awarded to Sharon Mitchell for her entry titled: 'A Carefree Summer Day During the Dark Depression Years'

Original Poetry or Performance Work

• Equal 1st Prize was awarded to Pat Saunders for her entry titled: '101 Car Yards in Vic Park'
• Equal 1st Prize was awarded to Madeleine Tingey for her entry titled: 'Kate Reserve'
• 2nd Prize was awarded to Leslie Stevens for his entry titled: 'The Hallowed Halls of Flatulence'

All entries are currently on display in the 2025 Local History Awards Exhibition at the Victoria Park Centre for the Arts from Saturday, 24 May to Tuesday, 10 June 2025.

Don't wait to visit the Exhibition and see and read all the entries, you don't want to miss out. It's a great little outing for the whole family, and in this 'cost of living crisis' its also a free outing. Tell your friends!