Our judges for Write a Book in a Day 2023
Chloe Mauger
WA Primary, Middle & Upper Divisions Judge
Chloe Mauger has worked in school libraries since the late 1970s. Since her retirement in 1999 most of her professional energies have been poured into working on the Committee of The Children’s Book Council of Australia, West Australian Branch, which she joined in 1998. She has held the roles of president, secretary and committee member and judged a number of prestigious awards including the CBCA Book of the Year Awards and the West Australian Premier’s Book Awards. Chloe is also a reviewer for Magpies: Talking About Books for Children, and has been privileged to be a judge for the Write a Book in a Day competition since 2015.
Maddy Proud
Primary Division Judge
Maddy Proud is a professional netballer currently playing for the NSW Swifts in the Suncorp Super Netball Competition. She is the current co-captain of the club which won the 2021 and 2019 Super Netball Championship. Maddy has played professionally since the age of 16, starting her career at the Adelaide Thunderbirds after becoming the youngest player to ever be contracted to a professional netball team. Maddy was the captain of the Australian 21 & Under team from 2012-2013 during which time she led the team to a silver medal at the World Youth Netball Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, in 2013.
Maddy’s first children’s novel, Grace on the Court, was published in January 2018. The story follows 13-year old Grace Parker as she figures out how to handle the 3 B’s: boys, boy bands and ball sports. She has completed a Masters of Creative Writing at Macquarie University.
Margot Lindgren
Primary Division Judge
Margot Lindgren worked as a Teacher-Librarian in NSW Primary schools for 33 years in a variety of settings from small rural schools to a large metropolitan campus. She has a passion for children’s literature which she shares through her blog – Momo Time to Read. She adds several new titles each week ranging from Picture Books through to senior novels. Margot is currently National Secretary of IBBY Australia (International Board on Books for the Young). In 2021 she was selected to judge the Picture Book of the Year Award (2021-2023) for the Children’s Book Council of Australia. Following her retirement in 2018, her volunteer roles include working in the Book Bunker at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead. In addition to her teaching qualifications Margot has an MEd in Teacher-Librarianship and Post Graduate qualifications in Children’s Literature.
Marita Smith
Upper Division Judge
Marita Smith is an author, editor, and gourmet mushroom grower. After finishing a PhB (Hons) in Science at the Australian National University, she worked as a paleobiogeochemist in the Netherlands and then vagabonded her way across Europe working on small farms. She now lives in a tiny house on the NSW South Coast, where she writes young adult science fiction, cultures bioluminescent fungi, and hangs out with her donkey, Mindy.
Mick Elliott
Middle Division Judge
Mick Elliott is an author, illustrator, TV producer, literacy ambassador and mischief-maker who has been doodling and telling stories since he was a toddler. His hilarious adventure trilogy, THE TURNERS, was nominated for an Aurealis Award and features on the Premiers’ Reading Challenge. His illustrated comedy series, SQUIDGE DIBLEY DESTROYS THE SCHOOL, is popular with kids all over the world. Mick is an award-winning children’s TV producer and screenwriter who has worked on acclaimed productions for Nickelodeon, the Sesame Workshop and the ABC. His first picture book, DADS & DOGS is out this year from Walker Books.
Will Kostakis
National Primary, Middle & Upper Division Judge
Will Kostakis is a writer of all things, from celebrity news stories that score cease and desist letters, to tweets for professional wrestlers. That said, he’s best known for his award-winning YA novels. His first novel, Loathing Lola, was released when he was just nineteen. His second, The First Third, won the 2014 Gold Inky Award. It was also shortlisted for the Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year and Australian Prime Minister’s Literary awards, among others. The Sidekicks was his third novel for young adults, and his American debut. It went on to win the IBBY Australia Ena Noel Award. We Could Be Something is his latest novel. As a high school student, Will won Sydney Morning Herald Young Writer of the Year for a collection of short stories. He has since contributed to numerous anthologies, including Begin, End, Begin: A #LoveOzYA Anthology. Will is a NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge Ambassador.
Judith Rossell
Illustration Judge
Judith Rossell is the multi-award-winning author-illustrator of the bestselling Stella Montgomery series. (Withering-by-Sea, Wormwood Mire, Wakestone Hall and A Garden of Lilies; Improving Tales for Young Minds). Judith has written fifteen books and illustrated more than eighty, most recently the novelty board book Play with your Plate, published by Abrams Books in New York, and the picture books Bogtrotter and Pink! both written by Margaret Wild. Her work has been published in the US and UK, and translated into more than twenty languages.
Before becoming an illustrator, Judith worked as a scientist at CSIRO, and in product development for a cotton spinning company. Judith lives in Melbourne.
Nat Amoore
Primary Division Judge
Nat Amoore is a Sydney-based author whose debut novel Secrets of a Schoolyard Millionaire came out in 2019 with Penguin Random House. It had great success as both Dymocks and QBD’s ‘Kids Book of the Month’, becoming Australia’s #1 bestselling debut Aussie children’s fiction in 2019. It has now sold into the UK, US, Italy, China, Estonia and Romania.
Her second book The Power of Positive Pranking was released in 2020, winning the Environmental Award for Children’s Literature. The Right Way to Rock and We Run Tomorrow were both CBCA Notables and Nat is excited to be releasing four books in 2024, including her first picture book.
