Most popular Australian Awards - Miles Franklin, PM Literary, Koala's, Bilbys, Children Book Council of Australia Awards, Australian Book Industry.

Australian and New Zealand Major Literary Awards A-Z

Australian Children & Young Adult Literary Prize list A-Z click here

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Adelaide Festival Literary Awards - Multiple genres

Established in 1986, the Adelaide Festival Literary Awards , are granted biennially to the best authors for books in Australian children's literature, fiction, innovation, non-fiction and poetry.

The prizes, which judge the best works published in Australia in the previous two years, are the nation's most comprehensive literary awards with 667 entries submitted for 2008 alone. More Details of past and present winners and shortlists

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Age Book the Year - Multiple genres

The Age Book of the Year Awards are annual literary awards presented by Melbourne's The Age newspaper. The awards were first presented in 1974. Since 1998 they have been presented as part of the Melbourne Writers Festival. Initially, two awards were given, one for fiction (or imaginative writing), the other for non-fiction work, but in 1993, a poetry award in honour of Dinny O'Hearn was added. The criteria are that the works be "of outstanding literary merit and express Australian identity or character" and published in the year before the awards are made. One of the award-winners is chosen as The Age Book of the - More

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Aurealis Awards -

The Aurealis Awards were established in 1995 by Chimaera Publications, the publishers of Aurealis Magazine, to recognise the achievements of Australian science fiction, fantasy and horror writers.

Since 2004, the Aurealis Awards have been administered by Fantastic Queensland in partnership with Chimaera Publications.

It is the intention of the Aurealis Awards to complement the Ditmars and the Australian Children's Book Council Awards. Neither of these awards distinguishes between the different categories of speculative fiction. It is their hope that the Aurealis Awards finalists and winners will increase the profile of Australian science fiction, fantasy, and horror, and will provide an essential reading list for anyone with an interest in these genres.- More

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Australian Book Industry Awards - Multiple genres

The Australian Publishers Association (APA) is the peak industry body for Australian book, journal and electronic publishers. Established in 1948, the association is an advocate for all Australian publishers: large or small; commercial or non-profit; academic or popular; locally or overseas owned.More Details of past and present winners and shortlists

Australian Capital Territory Awards

The ACT Government, through the ACT Arts Fund administered by artsACT , has offered an ACT Book of the Year award since 1993. The prize recognises quality contemporary Australian literary works including fiction, non-fiction and poetry. To be eligible for the author must either reside in the ACT or strongly demonstrate an ACT literary practice, and the book must have been published in the calendar year preceding the year of nomination. More Details of past and present winners and shortlists

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Australian Indies

The Indie Awards Chosen by Australian independent booksellers, this new $19,000 prize will honour an Australian author for the best book of the past twelve months.

The award is being managed by Leading Edge Books, a group of independent bookstores with member stores across Australia, both metropolitan and regional, including many of Australia's iconic independent bookshops. The award demonstrates independent booksellers' commitment to Australian books and writers, with over 120 bookshops working together to sponsor this annual award- More Details of past and present winners and shortlists

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Australian Prime Minister's Literary Awards

The 2008 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards) are a welcome new initiative celebrating the contribution of Australian literature to the nation’s cultural and intellectual life. The awards recognise literature’s importance to our national identity, community and economy.

A tax free prize of $100 000 will be awarded to the work judged to be of the highest literary merit in each of two categories:

* Fiction
* Non-Fiction

The awards are open to works written by living Australian citizens and permanent residents. More details of past and present winners and shortlists.

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Australian Shadows - Horror

The Australian Shadows is an annual award presented by the The Australian Horror Writers Association, (AHWA) and judged on the overall effect - the skill, delivery, and lasting resonance - of a work of horror fiction written or edited by an Australian and published either in Australia or overseas.

A shortlist of works comprising short stories, novels, collections and/or anthologies is selected by a panel of three judges and presented to that year's Guest Judge for selection of the winner. The shortlisted entries will are announced in March/April of each year following judging- More Details of past and present winners and shortlists

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Australian/Vogel Literaryl Award

The Australian/Vogel Literary Award is Australia's richest and most prestigious award for an unpublished manuscript by a writer under the age of thirty-five and has launched the careers of some of its most successful writers, including Tim Winton, Kate Grenville, Gillian Mears, Brian Castro, Mandy Sayer and Andrew McGahan.

Vogel-winning authors have gone on to win or be shortlisted for other major awards, such as the Miles Franklin Award, the Commonwealth Writers Prize and the Booker Prize.

Sponsered by The Australian Newspaper it is administered by the publishers Allen and Unwin.- More Details of past and present winners and shortlists

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Barbara Jefferis Award

The Barbara Jefferis Award (official site) is offered annually for “the best novel written by an Australian author that depicts women and girls in a positive way or otherwise empowers the status of women and girls in society”.

Barbara Jefferis was a feminist, a founding member of the Australian Society of Authors, its first female President and, in the words of Thomas Keneally, “a rare being amongst authors, being both a fine writer but also organisationally gifted. She was a professional and internationally published writer long before most of us dreamed of such things”.

The Award is paid from the Barbara Jefferis Literary Fund, which was established by a bequest from Barbara Jefferis’s husband, ABC film critic John Hide, who died in 2006. The Australian Society of Authors is Trustee of the Fund. In its first year, 2008, the Award is valued at $35,000.- More Details of past and present winners and shortlists

Blake Dawson Prize for Business Literature

Established to encourage the highest standards of business and finance writing. The Prize has the additional objective of ensuring that people are better informed about Australia’s commercial life and its participants.  The range of subjects covered by the Prize includes Australian corporate and commercial literature, histories, accounts and analyses of corporate affairs as well as biographies of business men and women.

The Prize is administered by the State Library of New South Wales on behalf of Blake Dawson. The winner will receive prize money of $30,000. The shortlist will be announced in late 2009 and a winner will be announced in April 2010. More Details of past and present winners and shortlists

Commonwealth Writers Prize

The Commonwealth Writers' Prize is organised and funded by the Commonwealth Foundation. It was first awarded in 1987. The Commonwealth Foundation is an intergovernmental organisation working in the 53 countries of the Commonwealth of Nations. The aim of this book award is to encourage new Commonwealth fiction, and to ensure that works of merit reach a wider audience outside their country of origin.

The Prize covers the Commonwealth regions of Africa, Europe and South Asia, The Caribbean and Canada, and South East Asia and the South Pacific. In Each of the four regions two prizes of £1,000 are awarded for the Best Book and for the Best First Book. Eight regional winners’ books are then judged by the A pan-Commonwealth panel. Authors win £10,000 for the overall Best Book and £5,000 for the Best First Book. Writers and judges come together in a final literary programme in a different Commonwealth country each year.- More details of past and present winners and shortlists.

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Davitt Awards

Dobbie Literary Award -

For Australian women writers of a published book of fiction or nonfiction classifiable as 'life writing'. Life writing for the purpose of this award includes novels, autobiography, biography, travel and other writing with a strong personal element.

Nita Dobbie (1904-1992) was raised by her aunt Nita Kibble after her mother's death. She worked as a librarian and research officer at the Standards Association for 33 years. Nita Dobbie established the 'Nita B. Kibble Literary Award' to advance Australian literature and to provide incentive to women writers.

The State Library of New South Wales provides a judge for the award.- More details of past and present winners and shortlists.

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John Button Prize

The John Button Prize seeks to enhance the quality of political writing and debate in Australia. It will be presented at this year's Melbourne Writers Festival, on the occasion of the inaugural John Button Oration. It is managed by the John Button Literary Foundation, and funded by public donation. The Foundation is still seeking significant donors to ensure that the Prize is presented in perpetuity.

The Prize, created in memory of the late Industry Minister, Senator and writer, awards $20,000 to the best piece of non-fiction writing on politics or public policy in the previous 12 months

Donate to the John Button Prize. This prize is in the position to make a significant contribution in stokeing the fires of political debate and passion within Australia. Please consider making a tax deductible donation. More

Kathleen Mitchell Award for Young Writers

The Kathleen Mitchell Award for Young Writers is a biennial Award dedicated to encouraging young Australian authors to achieve their dreams.

It was established in 1996 by the will of the late Kathleen Adele Mitchell. Her aim was to encourage “the advancement, improvement and betterment of Australian literature, to improve the educational style of the authors, and to provide them with additional amounts and thus enable them to improve their literary efforts”.- More details of past and present winners and shortlists.

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Miles Franklin

The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize for the best Australian ‘published novel or play portraying Australian life in any of its phases’. The award was set up according to the will of Miles Franklin (1879 - 1954), who is most well known for writing the Australian classic My Brilliant Career (published in 1901) and for bequeathing her estate to fund this award. As of 2006 the award is worth AU$42,000 and it is administered by the Trust Foundation.

The award was first given in 1957 to Patrick White for Voss. Some of the more notable winners in the intervening years have been, Dirt Music by Tim Winton (2002), Jack Maggs (1998), Oscar and Lucinda and Bliss (1981) by three time winner Peter Carey, Poor Fellow My Country, Xavier Herbert (1975) and Sumner Locke's 1963 winner, Careful, He Might Hear You- More details of past and present winners and shortlists.

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Montana New Zealand Book Awards

Formed in 1996, this single set of national awards combines the Montana (previously Goodman Fielder Wattie) Book Awards and the New Zealand Book Awards.

The Montana New Zealand Book Awards are supported by Montana Wines and administered by Booksellers New Zealand.

Over the years awards have been given in various combinations of the following categories: Fiction, Poetry, Illustrative Arts, Natural Heritage, Leisure & Lifestyle, (later Lives & Lifestyle), Readers' Choice, Honour Award, Book of the Year / Cultural Heritage, Deutz Medal for Fiction, Montana Medal for Non-Fiction, Best First Book of Poetry, Best First Book of Fiction, Best First Book of Non- Fiction, Reviewer of the Year, Best Review Page.- More details of past and present winners and shortlists.

National Biography (Australia)

For a published literary work of biographical or autobiographical writing. The National Biography Award was established in 1996 to encourage the highest standards of writing biography and autobiography and to promote public interest in those genres.

The National Biography Award is administered and presented by the NSW State Library (official site) on behalf of its generous benefactors Geoffrey Cains and Michael Crouch AO.

Past winners of the prize include East of Time by Jacob G. Rosenberg, Robert Hillman's for The Boy in the Green Suit: An Innocent Abroad in the Middle East, Peter Rose's Rose Boys: a Memoir of Life with Robert, and Roberta Sykes's 1998 winner, the extraordinary, Snake Cradle: Autobiography of a Black Woman- More details of past and present winners and shortlists.

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Ned Kelly Awards

The Ned Kelly Awards (named for the famous Australian bushranger Ned Kelly) are Australia's leading literary awards for crime writing in both the crime fiction and true crime genres. They were established in 1996 by the Crime Writers Association of Australia to reward excellence in the field of crime writing within Australia.

The genre of crime writing has long been popular, but it wasn't until the early 1990's that a local growth of writing within the genre occurred in Australia. By the middle of the decade support for the field had grown sufficiently that it was decided to establish the Ned Kelly Awards.

The awards are effectionately referred to as 'The Neddies' within the community. Winners are announced during the Melbourne Writers' Festival each year- More details of past and present winners and shortlists.

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Nita Kibble Literary Award

The Nita Kibble Literary Award - is for women writers of a published book of fiction or nonfiction classifiable as 'life writing'. Life writing for the purpose of this award includes novels, autobiography, biography, travel and other writing with a strong personal element.

Nita Kibble (1879-1962) was the first woman to be a librarian with the State Library of New South Wales. She held the position of Principal Research Librarian from 1919 until her retirement in 1943. Nita Kibble was a founding member of the Australian Institute of Librarians.- More details of past and present winners and shortlists.

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Northern Territory Awards

The Australian Northern Territory Literary Awards are offered annually and are administered by the Northern Territory Library. The award gives prizes for poetry, essay, short story and youth literarture. In 2008 the Charles Darwin University Bookshop joined as a new sponsor and is offering a travel short story award. Existing sponsors are Dymocks Booksellers, Charles Darwin University and the Kath Manzie Estate. Please support them in return.

As the prizes are given for mostly locally produced work they are not widely distributed, although this years winner, Ochre and Dust, can be easily tracked down as it has also won the inaugural Prime Minister's Literary Award for Non-fiction. That said, the Northern Territory Library makes available the winning short stories, essays and poems in a free download. PDF form each year. They are well worth a read so please check them out as some of the work is stunning. More details of past and present winners and shortlists.

NSW Premier's Literary Awards

In 1978 the New South Wales Government inaugurated the annual New South Wales Premiers Literary Awards to honour distinguished achievement by Australian writers. The Awards are announced during the Sydney Writers' Festival. Arts NSW (official site) administers the NSW Premier's Literary Awards. 11 prizes ranging in value from $5,000 to $40,000 are offered:

The Christina Stead Prize for Fiction ($40,00)
The UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing ($5,000)

The Community Relations Commission Award ($15,000)

Gleebooks Prize ($10,000)

The Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction ($40,000)
The Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry ($30,000)
The Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children's Literature ($30,000)
The Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature ($30,000)
The Play Award ($30,000)
The Script Writing Award ($30,000)
The Biennial Prize for Literary Scholarship ($30,000)

More details of past and present winners and shortlists.

New South Wales Premier’s History Awards

Sponsored by the New South Wales Department of the Arts, Sport and Recreation, through Arts NSW.

The awards, conducted in association with the History Council of New South Wales, were first presented in 1997 to honour distinguished achievement in history by Australian citizens and permanent residents of Australia. They assist in establishing values and standards in historical research and publication and encourage everyone to appreciate and learn from the work of our historians. The prizes include the:

Australian History Prize | General History Prize | Community and Regional History Prize | Young People's History Prize | John and Patricia Ward History Prize

Past winners have included K.S. Inglis, Patricia Jalland, Inga Clendinnen, Bruce Scates and Raelene Frances, Trevor Graham, Christopher Clark, Nadia Wheatley, and Grace Karskens.

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Prime Minister's Literary Awards

The 2008 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards) are a welcome new initiative celebrating the contribution of Australian literature to the nation’s cultural and intellectual life. The awards recognise literature’s importance to our national identity, community and economy.

A tax free prize of $100 000 will be awarded to the work judged to be of the highest literary merit in each of two categories:

* Fiction
* Non-Fiction

The awards are open to works written by living Australian citizens and permanent residents. More details of past and present winners and shortlists.

 

Queensland Premiers

The Queensland Premier's Literary Awards were inaugurated in 1999 and have grown to become a leading literary awards program within Australia, with $225 000 in prize money offered across 14 categories: Fiction Book Award $25 000 - Emerging Queensland Author - Manuscript Award $20 000- Unpublished Indigenous Writer - The David Unaipon Award $15 000 - History Book Award $15 000 Non-Fiction Book Award $15 000 - Children's Book - The Dymocks Literacy Foundation Award $15 000 - Young Adult Book Award $15 000 - Science Writer Department of State Development Award $15 000 - Poetry Collection Arts Queensland Judith Wright Calanthe Award $15 000 - Australian Short Story Collection - Arts Queensland Steele Rudd Award $15 000 - Literary or Media Work Advancing Public Debate - The Harry Williams Award $15 000 - Film Script - Pacific Film & Television Commission Award $15 000 - Television Script - QUT Creative Industries Award $15 000 - Drama Script (Stage) Award$15 000 More details of past and present winners and shortlists.

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Romantic Book of the Year (Australia) The R*bys

The premier award of the Romantic Writers Of Australia, and the only one of its kind in Australia. Voted on by Australian readers, this contest is open to any Australian or New Zealand romance author who writes long or short romance novels..

More details of past and present winners and shortlists.

Sir Julius Vogel Awards

The Sir Julius Vogel awards are fan voted awards for various endeavours in the science fiction, fantasy or horror fields by New Zealanders. Professional nominations can be for novels, short stories, art and others. Fan nominations can be for fanzine, writing, art, services to fandom, services to science fiction and more. The awards are administered by The Science Fiction and Fantasy Association of New Zealand.

Sir Julius Vogel was a Prime Minister of New Zealand, and wrote in 1889 what was probably the first full length Science Fiction novel by a New Zealander, Anno Domini 2000 - A Woman's Destiny.

This book was strongly centred around New Zealand, and was a utopian view of the future in which women would hold many positions of authority. "Predictions" which have come true. More details of past and present winners and shortlists.

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Stanner Award

The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) established the Stanner Award in 1985 in recognition of the significant contribution of the late Emer. Professor W.E.H. (Bill) Stanner to the establishment and development of the Institute.

The Stanner Award comprises a certificate and a prize of $1,000 to the author of the successful publication.

One award may be given each year for the best published contribution to Australian Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Studies that is considered by Council to be a significant work of scholarship in Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Studies and which reflects the dynamic nature of Professor Stanner’s life and work More details of past and present winners and shortlists.

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Tasmanian Awards

The Tasmania Book Prizes celebrated works published in the previous two years. In 2005 the inaugural Tasmania Prize was won by David Hansen's John Glover and the Colonial Picturesque.

As a reflection of the growing status and popularity of writing and publishing in Tasmania, a new suite of book prizes has now been established: the Tasmania Book Prize ($25,000), the Margaret Scott Prize ($5000), and the University of Tasmania Prize ($5000). More details of past and present winners and shortlists.

Victorian Premier's Literary Awards

The Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards were established in 1985 by John Cain, the Premier of Victoria at that time, to mark the centenary of the births of Vance and Nettie Palmer - distinguished writers and critics who made significant contributions to Victorian and Australian literary culture. The current Premier, John Brumby (left) will dispense a generous $195,000 in prize money in 2008. Awards are given across 12 categories.

In 1997 the administration of the awards was transferred to the State Library of Victoria. More details of past and present winners and shortlists.

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Waverley Library Award for Literature

The CAL Waverley Library Award for Literature. Known affectionately as the 'The Nib', is Australia's premier literary award acknowledging excellence in research by Australian authors writing literary works. The award is now in its 7th year, and with a new sponsor, Copyright Agency Limited’s (CAL) Cultural Fund providing increased prize money. Good on CAL for supporting an important award in an important literary niche. Waverley is a local council located in the major Australian City of Sydney. More

WA Premier's Literary Awards

Annual literary awards were inaugurated by the Western Australian Government in 1982 to honour and celebrate the literary achievements of Western Australian writers. Until 1990 they were called the WA Week Literary Awards. They are now known as the Western Australian Premier's Book Awards The Awards have the following categories:

* Fiction * Poetry* Scripts* Non-fiction* Children's Books* Young Adults

Works that make a major contribution to the understanding of Western Australia's past will also be eligible for the West Australian History Award. Prize-money of $7,500 is awarded to winners in each category and all category winners, and the winner of the West Australian History Award, will be eligible to win the Premier's Prize of $20,000.

Last year's winner, of the Premiers Prize, Shaun Tan's The Arrival, has gone on to win many more more prizes both here and internationally More details of past and present winners and shortlists.

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