We are delighted to announce that we have TWO winners of the first Ellie Maxwell Award Pauline Libsovar and Maisie Palmer.

Pauline represents Colours Edinburgh who have created a platform Scotland’s newcomers seeking refuge to share their stories through immersive art, research, and digital media.

Maisie co-founded mxogyny a platform which hopes to connect stories from the UK and beyond, and to transform any self-doubt due to gender or rejection of gender into creativity, beauty, and liberation. Above all, it aims to create a community that is diverse and welcoming.

The award was launched this year at the 20thAnniversary Celebrations and was funded by Ellie Maxwell’s family to remember the work that she did in founding Firefly when she was a student at Edinburgh in 1999.

We would like to say a big thank you to our judges Amal Azzudin, Adrian Bedas, Mark Chadwick and Ben Constable Maxwell.

The Award is supported by the University of Edinburgh and we will be holding a ceremony in September in Old College.