'Jilya' wins UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing at the 2025 NSW Literary Awards

Congratulations to Dr Tracy Westerman for winning the UTS Glenda Adams Awards for New Writing at the 2025 NSW Literary Awards.

The NSW Literary Awards are the richest and longest running state-based literary awards in Australia and cover all genres of writing.

The judges' had this to say about the work:

Jilya is at once memoir, clinical reflection and a record of decades spent working in mental health, almost exclusively with Aboriginal people. There is confidence in the way Tracy Westerman writes, a sense of imperative, direction and a drive to heal. Beyond critique, Jilya lays down pathways for more First Nations people to enter the field of psychology, offering new frameworks that recognise the role of Country in healing and the urgent need for approaches that do not repeat the mistakes of the past.

Jilya is a debut that does what few first books achieve — it speaks with authority, urgency and deep knowledge. This is not just a personal story but a necessary intervention that challenges entrenched systems while offering real-world solutions. It is a book that changes minds and, crucially, can change lives. With clarity, rigour and care, Jilya reshapes the conversation around mental health in Australia, making it an outstanding and necessary contribution to contemporary literature.

The judges chose Jilya because of its undeniable importance in addressing the ongoing mental health crisis in Australia, particularly in relation to First Nations peoples. Westerman’s honesty and vulnerability is striking, so too the way she weaves twenty years of case studies and complex psychological theory in a highly accessible way. This book will save lives.

Congratulations again to Dr Tracy Westerman and all other winners at the 2025 NSW Literary Awards.