Meet the Judges
Introducing our Judges for the Ada Cambridge Writing Prizes
Helen Jarvis, a member of the Williamstown Literary Festival Committee, is a poet and teacher who lives on the land of the Bunurong People. She has enjoyed being co-judge for the Biographical Prose award for several years, and is a past winner of both the Ada Cambridge Prose and Poetry awards. Her first poetry collection, The Kindness of Water, was published in 2025 with 5 Islands Press.
Chris Ringrose received his BA in English Literature from The University of Cambridge and his MA and PhD from The University of Alberta, Canada. He has taught at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, The University of North Carolina and the University of Northampton in the UK, and is currently Research Associate Professor of English at Monash University. Chris has published books and articles on modern fiction, literary theory and children’s literature; his own poetry and fiction have won awards in England, Canada and Australia. He edits the Journal of Postcolonial Writing (Routledge) and the book series Studies in World Literature and is a reviewer for Australian Poetry Journal. His latest poetry collection is Palmistry (ICoE Press, Melbourne 2019). Creative Lives: Interviews with 18 South Asian Writers was published by Ibidem/Columbia UP in 2021. His poetry website is www.cringrose.com
Gayelene Carbis lives and works on the lands of the Boonwurrung people. Her poetry book, I Have Decided to Remain Vertical (Puncher & Wattmann) was awarded Eyelands Writers’ Choice Award 2025 (Greece). Her awards include Eyelands Poetry Book Award 2024 (Highly Commended), NSW SWW Poetry Book Award 2024 (Distinguished Favourite), NYC Big Book Award (Finalist) - Poetry Book Award (U.K.), Best Book Award – 2023 and 2024 (U.S.). Gayelene’s work in poetry, short stories/memoir, plays and short film have been widely published and won numerous awards in Australia and overseas. She teaches Creative Writing and works as a writing mentor and manuscript assessor.
Edward Caruso is an Italian–Australian writer who self-published his first book of poems, Di Alture ed Altre Utopie (Of Heights and Other Utopias), in 2010. His second book of poems, Blue Milonga, written in Chile and Argentina, was published by Hybrid Publications in Melbourne in 2019. His third book, What Distance Means, also with Hybrid, was published in 2025. He has had a growing number of poems accepted in journals and anthologies, both in Australia and overseas including A Voz Limpia, Australian Multilingual Writing Project, Burrow, Communion, Kalliope X, Mediterranean Poetry, ‘Live Encounters Poetry & Writing, Meniscus, P76, StylusLit, TEXT, Unusual Work and Well-Known Corners: Poetry on the Move. In Chile and Italy he has read his poems among local poets, happy to engage them in an intercultural setting. Eddie also works as a book editor, mostly on educational, academic and legal texts, and as a book indexer. He obtained accreditation as an editor with the Institute of Professional Editors in 2014.
Rebecca Green is an author, librarian and book reviewer, who loves horses and zorses. (A zorse is a zebra-horse hybrid.) In 2025, Rebecca won the Spiers Prize for her middle grade novel A Girl, a Boy, a Horse and a Zorse, which will be published later this year by UWA Publishing.
Jacqueline Moore is a long-term Williamstowner, English teacher, curriculum writer and examination assessor. In her spare time, she loves to read and has been a loyal patron of the Willy Lit Fest. Jacqueline enjoys and learns a great deal through reading the perspectives and voices of young writers from diverse backgrounds.
Introducing our Judges for the Jennifer Burbidge Writing Prize
Dr Lucia Nardo began her career as a social worker and community development manager, before moving into a corporate career as a company executive and business writer for some of Australia’s largest corporations. She has taught creative writing in the TAFE sector, and conducts writing workshops in the community. Her publications include fiction and nonfiction titles, articles, and short stories.
Steph Amir is a Melbourne-based creative whose work has been published in literary journals across Australia and internationally. In 2021, she was a Writeability Fellow at Writers Victoria, a fellowship for writers with disabilities, and in 2023 she published her debut poetry collection, Pieces That Fit. When not working or reading, you can find her paddleboarding at Williamstown beach or on Instagram @steph_kaymir.