Ms Lesley Reece
Lesley Reece is the founding Director and Chairwoman of the Fremantle Children's Literature Centre, which she established in 1992. She was a founding Trustee of the Irish Children's Book Trust in 1989, and wrote the first Irish Guide to Children's Books (1990) and its sequel 1991). She lectures regularly on children's and youth literature here is Western Australia, as well as interstate and overseas, and acts as a consultant to several curriculum and literature advisory panels. Lesley is Chairperson of the judging panel for the 1998 awards.

Ms Penelope Hetherington
Penelope Hetherington is an historian who is the author or editor of six books, including a book of poetry. She has also published a variety of articles on Western Australian history and Kenyan history in various scholarly journals. She is currently working on the history of childhood in 19th century Western Australia.

Mr Andre Malan
Andre Malan is a columnist and feature writer on the West Australian. He has worked on newspapers for more than 30 years in a range of positions including News editor, Features editor, Books editor and Asia desk chief.

Ms Terri-ann White
Terri-ann White writes fiction and teaches Creative Writing at the University of Western Australia. Her stories and other writing have been published widely, and a collection entitled Night and Day was released by Fremantle Arts Centre Press in 1994. Over the past 10 years, she has been a passionate collaborator with other artists: dancers, visual artists, musicians.