The Alfred Deakin Prize for an Essay Advancing Public Debate: Winner 2005

Judges report
Living in a Material World by Randa Abdel-Fattah (Griffith Review)

A deeply personal account of the stresses and pressures dealt with by young Muslim women in Australia today. The essay covers the author’s experiences ranging from having to explain the hijab, being treated with suspicion in public and private and being doubted at work and in job interviews. The assumption is constantly made that she ought to be treated like an oppressed victim of religious repression. The personal is matched with the political - the essay provides us with an analysis of the place of young Muslim women in contemporary Australia.