Victorian Premier's Literary Awards
The Victorian Premier's Literary Awards were created by the Victorian Government with the aim of raising the profile of contemporary creative writing and Australia's publishing industry. As of 2013, it is reportedly Australia's richest literary prize with the top winner receiving A$125,000 and category winners A$25,000 each.[1]
The awards were established in 1985 by John Cain, Premier of Victoria, to mark the centenary of the births of Vance and Nettie Palmer, two of Australia's best-known writers and critics who made significant contributions to Victorian and Australian literary culture.
From 1986 till 1997, the awards were presented as part of the Melbourne Writers Festival. In 1997 their administration was transferred to the State Library of Victoria.[2] By 2004, the total prize money was A$180,000. In 2011, stewardship was taken over by the Wheeler Centre.
Winners 2011–present[]
Beginning in 2011,[3] the awards were restructured into 5 categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Drama and Young People's. The winner of each receives $25,000. Of those 5 winners, one is chosen as the overall winner of the Victorian Prize for Literature and receives an additional $100,000. There are two other categories with different prize amounts: an honorary People's Choice Award voted on by readers, and a Unpublished Manuscript Award with a prize amount of $15,000.[1]
Shortlists are maintained in the main article for each category.
Victorian Prize for Literature[]
- 2011 Kim Scott, That Deadman Dance[4]
- 2012 Bill Gammage, The Biggest Estate on Earth[5]
- 2013 Presented in January 2014 (see 2014 entry) for books published in 2013. Previous awards were based on year of publication.
- 2014 Jennifer Maiden, Liquid Nitrogen[6]
- 2015 Alan Atkinson, The Europeans in Australia: Volume Three: Nation[7]
- 2016 Mary Anne Butler, Broken[8]
- 2017 Leah Purcell, The Drover's Wife[9]
- 2018 Sarah Krasnostein, The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman's Extraordinary Life in Death, Decay & Disaster[10]
- 2019 Behrouz Boochani, No Friend But the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison[11]
- 2020 , with Eamon Flack, Counting and Cracking[12]
- 2021 Laura Jean McKay, The Animals in That Country[13][14]
- 2022 , Black and Blue: A memoir of racism and resilience[15]
Fiction[]
- 1985–2010 see Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction
- 2011 Kim Scott, That Deadman Dance
- 2012 Gillian Mears, Foal's Bread
- 2013 No award
- 2014 Alex Miller, Coal Creek
- 2015 Rohan Wilson, To Name Those Lost
- 2016 Mireille Juchau, The World Without Us
- 2017 Georgia Blain, Between a Wolf and a Dog
- 2018 Melanie Cheng, Australia Day[16]
- 2019 Elise Valmorbida, The Madonna of the Mountains[11]
- 2020 Christos Tsiolkas, Damascus[12]
- 2021 Laura Jean McKay, The Animals in that Country[13]
- 2022 , Smokehouse[15]
Nonfiction[]
- 1990–2010 see Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-fiction
- 2011 Mark McKenna, An Eye for Eternity: The Life Of Manning Clark
- 2012 Bill Gammage, The Biggest Estate on Earth
- 2013 No award
- 2014 Henry Reynolds, Forgotten War
- 2015 Alan Atkinson, The Europeans in Australia: Volume Three: Nation
- 2016 Gerald Murnane, Something for the Pain
- 2017 , Offshore: Behind the Wire on Manus
- 2018 Sarah Krasnostein, The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman's Extraordinary Life in Death, Decay & Disaster
- 2019 Behrouz Boochani, No Friend But the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison[11]
- 2020 Christina Thompson, Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia[12]
- 2021 Paddy Manning, Body Count: How Climate Change is Killing Us[13]
- 2022 Amani Haydar, The Mother Wound[15]
Poetry[]
- 1985–2010 see C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry
- 2011 Cate Kennedy, The Taste of River Water
- 2012 John Kinsella, Armour
- 2013 No award
- 2014 Jennifer Maiden, Liquid Nitrogen
- 2015 Jill Jones, The Beautiful Anxiety
- 2016 Alan Loney, Crankhandle
- 2017 Maxine Beneba Clarke, Carrying the World
- 2018 Bella Li, Argosy
- 2019 Kate Lilley, Tilt[11]
- 2020 Charmaine Papertalk Green, Nganajungu Yagu[12]
- 2021 David Stavanger, Case Notes[13]
- 2022 Maria Takolander, Trigger Warning[15]
Writing for Young Adults[]
- 1999–2010 see Victorian Premier's Prize for Young Adult Fiction
- 2011 Cassandra Golds, The Three Loves of Persimmon
- 2012 John Larkin, The Shadow Girl
- 2013 No award
- 2014 Barry Jonsberg, My Life as an Alphabet
- 2015 Claire Zorn, The Protected
- 2016 , Welcome to Orphancorp
- 2017 Randa Abdel-Fattah, When Michael met Mina
- 2018 , Living on Hope Street
- 2019 Ambelin Kwaymullina and Ezekiel Kwaymullina, Catching Teller Crow[11]
- 2020 Helena Fox, How It Feels to Float[12]
- 2021 Cath Moore, Metal Fish, Falling Snow[13]
- 2022 Felicity Castagna, Girls in Boys' Cars[15]
Drama[]
- 2010 earlier see Louis Esson Prize for Drama
- 2011 Patricia Cornelius, Do not go gentle…
- 2012 Lally Katz, A Golem Story
- 2013 No award
- 2014 Patricia Cornelius, Savages
- 2015 Angus Cerini, Resplendence
- 2016 Mary Anne Butler, Broken
- 2017 Leah Purcell, The Drover's Wife
- 2018 Michele Lee, Rice
- 2019 Kendall Feaver, The Almighty Sometimes[11]
- 2020 , with Eamon Flack, Counting and Cracking[12]
- 2021 Angus Cerini, Wonnangatta[13]
- 2022 Dylan Van Den Berg, Milk[15]
People's Choice Award[]
- 2011 Anna Krien, Into The Woods: The Battle for Tasmania's Forests[4]
- 2012 Aidan Fennessy, National Interest[5]
- 2013 Presented in January 2014 (see 2014 entry) for books published in 2013
- 2014 Hannah Kent, Burial Rites[6]
- 2015 Tim Low, Where Song Began
- 2016 Miles Allinson, Fever of Animals
- 2017 Randa Abdel-Fattah, When Michael met Mina
- 2018 Alison Evans, Ida
- 2019 Bri Lee, Eggshell Skull
- 2020 Chloe Higgins, The Girls[12]
- 2021 Louise Milligan, Witness: An Investigation into the Brutal Cost of Seeking Justice[13]
- 2022 Rebecca Lim, Tiger Daughter[15]
Victorian Premier's Unpublished Manuscript Award[]
- 2003–2010 see main article
- 2011 No award
- 2012 Graeme Simsion, The Rosie Project
- 2013 Maxine Beneba Clarke, Foreign Soil
- 2014 Miles Allinson, Fever of Animals
- 2015 Jane Harper, The Dry
- 2016 Melanie Cheng, Australia Day
- 2017 Christian White, Decay Theory
- 2019 Victoria Hannan, Kokomo[11]
- 2020 Rhett David, Hovering[12]
- 2021 André Dao, Anam[13]
- 2022 Keshe Chow, Fauna of Mirrors[15]
Prize for Indigenous Writing[]
- 2004 Vivienne Cleven, Her Sister's Eye[17]
- 2006 Tara June Winch, Swallow the Air[17]
- 2008 Yvette Holt, Anonymous Premonition[17]
- 2010 Larissa Behrendt, Legacy[17]
- 2012 Anita Heiss, Am I Black Enough For You?[18]
- 2014 Melissa Lucashenko, Mullumbimby[19]
- 2016 Tony Birch, Ghost River[20]
- 2019 Kim Scott, Taboo[11]
- 2021 Archie Roach, Tell Me Why: The Story of My Life and My Music[13]
- 2022 , Black and Blue: A memoir of racism and resilience[15]
Defunct award categories (1985–2010)[]
From 1985 to 2010 prizes were offered in some or all of the below categories.
- Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction
- Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-fiction
- Prize for Young Adult Fiction
- C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry
- Louis Esson Prize for Drama
- Alfred Deakin Prize for an Essay Advancing Public Debate
- Prize for Science Writing (biennial)
- Village Roadshow Prize for Screen Writing
- Grollo Ruzzene Foundation Prize for Writing about Italians in Australia
- John Curtin Prize for Journalism
- Prize for Best Music Theatre Script
- Prize for Indigenous Writing (Biennial)
- Prize for a First Book of History (Biennial)
- Dinny O'Hearn Prize for Literary Translation (Triennial)
- A.A. Phillips Prize for Australian Studies
- Alan Marshall Prize for Children's Literature
- Prize for First Fiction
See also[]
Notes[]
- ^ a b Jason Steger (28 January 2014). "Liquid Nitrogen poet Jennifer Maiden wins Australia's richest literature prize". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
- ^ "State Library Victoria".
- ^ Zora Sanders (21 April 2011). "Victorian Premier's Literary Awards to be the Richest in Australia". Meanjin. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
- ^ a b "Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2011". Victorian Premier's Literary Awards. 2011. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
- ^ a b "21 big names. One big decision. Start reading". Victorian Premier's Literary Awards. 2012. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
- ^ a b "Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2014". Victorian Premier's Literary Awards. 2014. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
- ^ "Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2015". Victorian Premier's Literary Awards. 2015. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
- ^ "Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2016". Victorian Premier's Literary Awards. 2016. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
- ^ Steger, Jason (31 January 2017). "Victorian Premier's Literary Award 2017 winners: Georgia Blain wins posthumous prize". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 4 June 2017.
- ^ Harmon, Steph (1 February 2018). "Sarah Krasnostein wins $125,000 at Australia's richest literary prize". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2019". The Wheeler Centre. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2020". The Wheeler Centre. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2021". The Wheeler Centre. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
- ^ "Pandemic novel wins Australia's richest literary prize". Books+Publishing. 17 March 2021. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b c d e f g h i "Gorrie wins 2022 Victorian Prize for Literature". Books+Publishing. 4 February 2022. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ "Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2018". The Wheeler Centre. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
- ^ a b c d "Victorian Premier's Literary Awards – Prize for Indigenous Writing". AustLit: Discover Australian Stories. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Indigenous Writing: Winner and Shortlist Announced". Wheeler Centre. 5 September 2012. Archived from the original on 23 February 2014. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
- ^ "Congratulations to Melissa Lucashenko: Victorian Premier's Literary Awards". Griffith Review. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
- ^ "Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2017". The Wheeler Centre. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
External links[]
Categories:
- Victorian Premier's Literary Awards
- Australian literary awards
- Australian non-fiction book awards
- Australian history awards
- Awards established in 1985
- 1985 establishments in Australia