First James Martin Children's Walk
Laughter! Inspiration! Triumph!

James Martin - The Premier from Parramatta

Raised in the servants’ quarters of Parramatta Government House, he regularly walked the 22 kms to Sydney to go to high school. His determination and love of education are an inspiration to all kids starting life with few advantages.

The James Martin Children’s Walk from Parramatta Square to Martin Place is intended to follow his route and honour his example.

On 29 November 2023, the first-ever Walk started off with a bang at the James Martin Statue in Parramatta Square. At 6:30am.

Prue Car (Deputy Premier, Minister for Education and Early Learning, and Minister for Western Sydney), Mark Speakman (Leader of the Opposition), Murat Dizdar (Secretary of NSW Dept of Education), and Pierre Esber (Mayor of Parramatta) met the students, all beamed for the Channel Nine cameras, and then the Walk began!

The whole event was completely bipartisan, everyone wore their Walk T-shirts, and the mood was bright and sunny despite the drizzle.

Fourteen stalwart high school students from six schools embarked in high spirits, wearing their T-shirts and their backpacks with refreshments. They completed the whole thing in less than five hours. When they arrived at Martin Place, all of them should have looked exhausted, but far from it! They were all beaming and joking.

Welcomed in Martin Place by the Governor-General and Mrs Hurley, no less, they each received a commemorative medal and a copy of Homer’s Iliad, James Martin’s favourite reading as a 14-year-old.

Sixth Martin Lysicrates Prize Revelry in the Rain

This was a bumper year for the Martin-Lysicrates Prize.

We had planned to hold the event in Martin Place with 500 kids, and make a big splash.

There was a big splash all right – the rain started in the morning and did not let up. On to Plan B! In many ways, it was a blessing in disguise.

We relocated to the Australian Theatre for Young People’s Rebel Theatre in Dawes Point, which seats about 180 people.

So it was intimate. The kids could see the sweat on the actors’ brows.

And then – magic happened!

During the voting, the Blues Bush Band started playing a polka. They danced it on stage. They dragged a nameless Lysicrates co-founder on to the stage to dance too, and she beckoned to the kids in the audience, and lo and behold, the stage became full of bopping, polka-ing kids.

Martin-Lysicrates is always fun.

There have never been so many students – 1,982! – or teachers – 92! – or schools – 40! – or playwrights – 43! – that participated in this rare event. And every year since the beginning all those tallies have been going up.

This year there were 25 from NSW, 10 from Victoria, four from Western Australia and one from the Northern Territory participating; 8 of the NSW schools were country NSW schools. There were three brilliant finalists: Brendan Hogan from country Victoria, Joseph Brown, from NSW, and Amy May Nunn from Melbourne. The winner is chosen not by an artistic director, or a panel of experts, or even by a government official (!), but by the students themselves, in a transparent democratic vote. Just like the democratic vote in the Great Dionysia Festival in ancient Athens.

There’s nothing like it anywhere in the world. The costumes and sets are basic. The actors – and what brilliant actors they were – have had only a couple of days to rehearse. Great demands are made on the kids’ imaginations. And wow do they respond! They laugh, cheer and stamp, and if they don’t like a character, they have been known to boo. The winner was Joseph Brown, for his play “Nothing Scares Us Any More”, a funny, thrilling exploration of kids standing up for what is right even in the face of danger.

Joseph Brown is a playwright, screenwriter, and director from Sydney. He holds a Bachelor of Performing Arts from Monash University, and an MFA in Writing for Performance from NIDA.

Watch the highlights reel

Watch the announcement of the winner

Watch the magic moment

Eighth Lysicrates Foundation Prize Event will be held at 3:30pm on Sunday 25th February 2024

Huge Response from Playwrights

Please note the date - you are invited.

A separate invitation has been sent to you. If you haven't received it then please contact Michael Bark.

Once the performances are completed everyone will stroll down to the Botanic Gardens where the announcement of the winner will take place adjacent to the Lysicrates Monument.

There has been a record number of 64 playwrights submissions. Our readers have begun their reviewing and a short-list will be announced before the end of January 2024.