Halting Hate, Finding Kindness: Rebuilding Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the 2020s
As part of the United Nation’s International Day of People with Disability ACT celebrations on 3 December 2025, Advocacy for Inclusion are inviting all people with disability and friends to submit word, sound and image entries on the themes of Halting Hate, Finding Kindness: Rebuilding Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the 2020’s. This follows last year’s successful Words and Images display held as part of the community relaunch of IDAY in the ACT.
Entrants can submit words, sound or image entries which speak to the themes by including
• Short prose or verse entries under 500 words and/or
• Images, soundclips, photos, paintings or drawings
You’re welcome to make as many submissions as you like.
For further inspiration, you might want to review last year’s contributions: Words and Images. – I-Day ACT
How your entries will be used:
Selected entries may be
- displayed during and in the lead up to an IDAY event to be held on or around 3 December 2025 – selected entrants may be invited to present their work at the event
- featured in a media supplement within the Canberra Weekly
- featured on the ACT I-Day website
- reproduced in social media in our IDAY gallery
Who can enter:
- You can enter from anywhere in Australia but we will be intentionally choosing some ACT entries for display
- You don’t need to be a person with a disability but we do ask that you tell us if you are or if you choose not to identify. You are also welcome to provide some more detail but you do not have to.
Entries selected for display in the event held around 3 December will receive a $100 gift card
Entries open on 15 September 2025 and close at 5.00pm AEDST on Wednesday 12 November 2025.
How to enter:
Email your written piece or image to iday@advocacyforinclusion.org Please include your name and contact details and 1-2 paragraphs describing your work and how it relates to the themes.
About our themes:
In 2025, hurtful and false messages about people with disability are spreading faster than ever – online, in politics, and in the media. This has real world consequences – it can make our community unsafe, unwelcome, and shut people out of everyday life.
For instance, the ‘R’ word which we thought banished forever is all over parts of social media; diversity, equity and inclusion are under sustained attack; and lies are being spread about employees with disability.
And of course people with disability are only one target – trans, first nations people, refugees and others are experiencing serious harm and trauma.
Sadly we can’t stop this on our own, but we can talk back, find moments of humour, shape our own narratives and create spaces where people with disability and others are valued, included in every part of life, and free to express ourselves without fear.
This an era where we know that words and images can have unintended consequences and unseen power. We invite you to imagine words and images which answer back and appeal to better aspirations.
Conditions:
- The decision of the selectors is final and we are unable to provide feedback on the choice of work
- Use of artificial intelligence should be disclosed and is generally not encouraged this year1 except for accessibility reasons. If using AI please indicate how this has been used (i.e, to check grammar). We recognise that AI is an accessibility & assistive tool for some people with disabilities while AI produced artwork also raises a number of issues including the intellectual property rights of existing artists. Consideration is being given to AI specific categories and content in the future. The IDAY steering committee welcome feedback on our emerging position on AI imagery
- We are unable to accept copyrighted music, lyrics or other material
- Sharp satirical work is welcome (and encouraged) but we reserve the right to set aside work that is likely to bring IDAY into an unreasonable risk of defamation or public disrepute
- Completing this form and including a short description of your work and its themes is a condition of entry
- Work which is chosen will receive a gift voucher card – we are unable to negotiate or arrange other forms of payment due to GST and other requirements
- We cannot accept photographs depicting people under 18 years of age unless it is a self portrait.
- Please supply your work in a MS Word format document or a JPEG image file. This is an online request for content and we are not accepting physical works.
A footnote: Finally, please note this is not an art competition. The words and images will be selected on a number of criteria which are not limited to artistic merit but also include the themes and chosen communication channels for IDAY and their potential to communicate them to a wide intersectional audience as well as preferencing work from the ACT. Depending on the response we may decide to display all of the work received rather than selecting work. While this is unlikely, we also reserve the right to not continue with the display if there is a very low response or there are unforeseen circumstances.
Good luck and we look forward to reviewing submissions!
The International Day of People with Disability (I-DAY) is supported by the ACT Government through the Office for Disability and is overseen by a community steering committee co-chaired with Women with Disability ACT. Halting Hate is a Project funded by Hands across Canberra.
Find out more about IDAY via I-Day ACT – International Day of People with Disability and International Day of People with Disability
Application link or fill out the form below (needs a Google account) or download the application form and email iday@advocacyforinclusion.org https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSew59TpY_jkWBKjdMV_MBdC60mgHivrz5ETr5vNj3w6NPAujw/viewform?usp=header