KEITH JACKSON
THE winners of this year’s awards in the Crocodile Prize capture the great diversity of Papua New Guinea and its people.
From an 82 year-old former Governor-General to a 25 year-old health sciences graduate seeking her first job, the scope of today's PNG is encompassed in the writers who succeeded in being judged at the top of their field in the 2014 awards.
The Simbu Province and the Bougainville Autonomous Region provided two winners each – a good reflection of the state of creative writing in two different and distant places.
Distant in geography that is, but it seems not in the spirit that drives the inspiration and compulsion to write.
Of the seven winners, four were male and three female. As much balance as you can get out of seven.
Overall, the outcome of this year's Prize could not have been better expressed had it been engineered.
Let’s summarise the profiles of the 2014 prize winners in a convenient table, youngest to oldest:
Iriani Wanma | 25 | Children’s | Kairuku CP | Brisbane QLD | Job hunting |
Diddie Jackson | 28 | Poetry | Mt Hagen WHP | Port Moresby NCD | Admin Officer |
Leonard Roka | 35 | Book of the Year | Arawa Bougainville | DWU Madang | Student |
Sil Bolkin | 41 | Essays & Journalism | Kerowagi Simbu | ANU Canberra | Postgrad Student |
Arnold Mundua | 50 | Heritage | Gembogl Simbu | Kundiawa Simbu | Forestry Officer |
Agnes Maineke | 57 | Short Story | Siwai Bougainville | Buin Bougainville | Teacher |
Sir Paulias Matane | 82 | Lifetime Contribution | Viviran ENB | Kokopo ENB | Ex Governor General |