The Stella Young Award is an annual award offered by Arts Access Victoria, recognising the power of the arts to influence social change.This award recognises young Australian artists with disability (aged between 16 – 30) who have demonstrated significant impact or achievement in disability activism through their artistic practice in comedy, performing arts or screen culture.

The award established in Stella Young’s name, recognises the important achievements of the late Stella Young, particularly through her early work with Disability Media Australia on the program No Limits, a pioneering program which challenged the representation of disability in Australian screen culture. The award particularly emphasises Stella’s resounding call to action around disability pride: You get proud by practicing.

The aim of the award of $3000 is to support the professional development of young artists with a disability, and ensure we are building the next generation of activists who are driven by creativity and passion to transform our society.

The successful applicant must be a person with disability, is Deaf or has lived experience of mental health issues, is between the ages of 16 and 30 and is an Australian resident. Through your art and your activism, you are a changemaker. You will be using your artistic practice in comedy, performing arts or screen culture to impact the conversation about disability in your community, shifting or subverting commonly held attitudes about disability to demonstrate the importance of inclusion and equality.

Applications opened 24 April 2018 and close 25 May 2018 at 5pm and more information is available at Access Victoria [Facebook] .