Christopher Bryant wins the 2026 Human Rights Essay Prize

August 13, 2026

Centre for Stories is pleased to announce that Christopher Bryant has won the 2026 Human Rights Essay Prize: Rainbow Pride for his essay The Pursuit of Happiness.

The judging panel also awarded second place to M Lombaard for Pollution Stops the Reflection, and third place to Em Readman for I Owe Everything to Old Lesbians.

The Human Rights Essay Prize is an annual initiative of Portside Review dedicated to amplifying voices that challenge injustice and inspire change. This year’s Rainbow Pride edition invited writers from around the world to explore LGBTQIA2S+ rights through lived experience, professional expertise and personal storytelling. The prize received submissions from writers across Australia and internationally.

Christopher Bryant is an award-winning playwright, performer, author and disability consultant. He has worked with companies including Griffin Theatre, Sydney Theatre Company, The Wheeler Centre, Malthouse, La Mama and Accessible Arts NSW.

As an author, he has been published by Star Observer, Hello, Mr. Magazine, That Reminds Me and Thought Catalog. He was a finalist for Scribe’s Nonfiction Prize and Frankie Magazine’s Good Stuff Awards, and has served as Writer-in-Residence at the City of Melbourne’s Boyd Community Hub. Christopher recently completed a PhD in disability and radical adaptation at Monash University and has taught playwriting at institutions across Australia.

The judging panel praised The Pursuit of Happiness as:

“This raw and compelling autoethnographic essay, written in four distinct sections, takes us on a wild ride through the intersection of queerness and disability. The author navigates a precarious vulnerability in the telling of their own story of addiction, trauma, and self-acceptance, reflecting on the shape of human rights and community belonging in a context of systemic discrimination. Sometimes hard and other times hilarious, this essay strikes a clever balance between realism and humour, culminating in a call for genuine curiosity and the pursuit of communal joy as the key to social change.”

The judges also recognised M Lombaard’s Pollution Stops the Reflection for its thoughtful exploration of trans identity and human rights in South Africa, and Em Readman’s I Owe Everything to Old Lesbians for its moving reflection on intergenerational queer advocacy and the importance of community memory.

In addition to the three prize recipients, eight essays have been shortlisted for publication in Portside Review Issue 19, which is now available to read. Together, these essays reflect the richness, diversity and complexity of LGBTQIA2S+ lived experiences, offering personal, political and creative perspectives on human rights across the Indian Ocean and beyond.

Centre for Stories extends its sincere thanks to judges Sabia Rasool, Misty Farquhar and Wendy Cumming-Potvin for their thoughtful consideration of this year’s submissions. We also thank every writer who entrusted us with their work and contributed to an outstanding collection of essays.

The Portside Review Human Rights Essay Prize is funded by Centre for Stories’ Founder’s Circle and Centre for Stories’ esteemed donors Baden Offord, Christopher MacFarlane and John Ryan. Their generous support continues to make the prize possible and helps amplify powerful voices exploring human rights through creative non-fiction.

Finally, we gratefully acknowledge Rainbow Futures WA for supporting this year’s Human Rights Essay Prize: Rainbow Pride, and for their commitment to championing LGBTQIA2S+ voices and human rights.

Read Portside Review Issue 19 to discover this year’s winning and shortlisted essays.