Judges
2025 Stella Prize Judges
Astrid is a bibliophile and literary critic, and was one of the judges for the 2023 Stella Prize. She is also an educator and researcher dedicated to social and climate justice. At Future Women she works towards social justice in the workplace, and as a PhD Candidate at the University of Melbourne she researches environmental responsibility in publishing during the climate crisis. She serves on the Board of Central Highlands Rural Health, and she is the former Chair of Melbourne Writers Festival and the former Deputy Chair of Writers Victoria.
Debra is a Gudanji/Wakaja woman, married to Rick, with three adult children and two grandchildren. An educator, she has worked in teaching and learning for many years – a gift given through the hard work of her parents. She continues to experience the privilege of living with country and with family. Debra completed her PhD in Narrative Theory and Semiotics at Deakin University in 2021.
Her 2022 book We Come With This Place won a record four 2023 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, the 2023 ALS Gold Medal, The University of Queensland Non-Fiction Book Award 2023, was on the Prime Minister’s Summer Reading List 2022 (Grattan Institute) and was shortlisted for three other awards, including the Stella Prize
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Leah is a critic, researcher, and the founding editor of Liminal. Most recently, she edited the award-winning collection Against Disappearance: Essays on Memory (Pantera Press, 2022).
Rick is the author of three non-fiction books, including the critically-acclaimed bestseller One Hundred Years of Dirt which was longlisted for the Walkley Book of the Year 2018 and shortlisted for the National Biography Award (NBA) 2019. He has since been a three-time judge of the NBA. Rick is the senior reporter with The Saturday Paper and twice Walkley Award winner for his coverage of the Robodebt Royal Commission. He is currently writing the forthcoming Mean Streak about the illegal and fake debt trap set by the Australian government, bureaucratic harm and the fight to put people back into policy.
Yassmin is a Sudanese-Australian writer and former mechanical engineer. The author of five books, including essay collection Talking About a Revolution (2022) and award-winning teen novel, Listen, Layla (2021), Yassmin also writes for the stage and screen. A trustee of the London Library, Yassmin’s writing can be found in the Guardian,Vogue, TLS and more.
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