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Judges' Report 2002 Noel Purdon The 2002 Pascall Prize has been won by Noel Purdon. Mr Purdon has been film critic for The Adelaide Review since its first issue in 1984. He also regularly reviews literature, opera and theatre. Mr Purdon was educated in Sydney, Florence and Cambridge and was elected Fellow in English at Trinity Hall at Cambridge in 1967. With Raymond Williams he initiated the first lectures on cinema within the Cambridge English Tripos. Returning to Australia in 1974 he became inaugural Head of Screen Studies at Flinders University, leaving academe in 1996 in order to concentrate on writing. Mr Purdon has published three books and one play and is currently working on a novel. The Pascall Prize seeks each year to identify and reward a critic or reviewer whose work itself is creative and has the potential to help the greatest number of Australians experience aspects of their culture with increased knowledge and perception. The judges discussed the issue of circulation and reach in relation to Purdon's writing which although in the past has been featured in national papers and so circulated to a large audience, at present is read solely in The Adelaide Review. The judges saw Purdon's long-running monthly column as having significant reach in a metropolitan context and his body of work formidable in both volume and timescale. The judges agreed that the vitality of the prize will be enhanced by Purdon's win which takes the prize away from the dominant cities and reinforces it as not only national in its guidelines but actively national. At the same time, it should be understood that the vote for Purdon was not influenced by the wish to shift the prize from Sydney and Melbourne and that the question of circulation and reach was the subject of rigorous debate before awarding him the 2002 prize. The judges' comments particularly celebrate Purdon's style and wit: "I cannot believe I have not read (Purdon) before. He seems to do everything you want in a review, with a splendidly relaxed economy of style... he very deftly places the films in their context, in a way that is perfectly clear even to someone not well versed in film culture. His analysis of technique - cinematography, narratives and acting- is illuminating and increases the interest and pleasure in the films...I think I'll go off to the movies now". "(Purdon) is deft and concise and I particularly loved his wit. He is certainly...the stylist of the field". "When we get writing which sparkles as much as his does, reach should not be a consideration".
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