The Daisy Utemorrah Award was presented at the Western Australia's Premier's Book Awards ceremony at the State Library of Western Australia on 29 August 2025. Beau Windon will receive $15,000 prize money and a publishing contract with Magabala Books. Thanks to the support of the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund and the WA Department of Creative Industries, Tourism and Sport. 

Beau Windon is a neurodivergent writer of Wiradjuri heritage who flirts with all genres of creative writing. His manuscript 'Jax Paperweight and the Neon Starway' is a middle grade comedic fantasy novel that delighted judges with its unique voice and hilarious storylines.

JAX PAPERWEIGHT AND THE NEON STARWAY is a Middle Grade comedic fantasy novel that follows Bailey Wailson, a neurodivergent Koori with more anxiety than a primary school assembly hall holding their first ever school dance. When his school crush, Aline, is accidentally kidnapped during a mistaken kerfuffle, Bailey must team up with a suspicious rogue by the name of Jax Paperweight and traverse a mystical version of so-called Australia to bring her home. 

Beau Windon has also been shortlisted in three categories for the 2022 Lord Mayor’s Creative Writing Awards: winning the Self-Told Stories by Writers Living with Disability category and coming runner-up in Indigenous Life Stories. In 2023, Beau was a winner of Griffith Review’s Emerging Voices competition and in 2024 he was a finalist for the Writers Prize in the Melbourne Prize for Literature. When not writing, he likes long dramatic walks where he imagines he's the lead character in a film with indie music playing behind him. You can read his work at www.beauwindon.com 

Congratulations Beau! We look forward to working with you on your publication.