The New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, also known as the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, were first awarded in 1979. They are among the richest literary awards in
Australia. Notable prizes include the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, the
Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry, and the Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction.
, the Awards are presented by the
NSW Government
The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of New South Wales. It is currently held by a coalition of the Liberal Party and the National Party. The Governmen ...
and administered by the
State Library of New South Wales in association with Create NSW, with support of Multicultural NSW and the
University of Technology Sydney
The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is a public research university located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Although its origins are said to trace back to the 1830s, the university was founded in its current form in 1988. As of 2021 ...
(UTS). Total prize money in 2019 was up to A$305,000, with eligibility limited to
writer
A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...
s,
translators
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...
and
illustrators with
Australian citizenship or permanent resident status.
History
The NSW Premier's Literary Awards were established in 1979 by the
New South Wales Premier Neville Wran
Neville Kenneth Wran, (11 October 1926 – 20 April 2014) was an Australian politician who was the Premier of New South Wales from 1976 to 1986. He was the national president of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1980 to 1986 and chairman ...
. Commenting on its purpose, Wran said: "We want the arts to take, and be seen to take, their proper place in our social priorities. If governments treat writers and artists with respect and understanding, the community will be more likely to do the same."
They were the first set of premier's awards offered in Australia.
The awards were not presented in 1998.
Judging
The winners of most of the prizes and awards are decided by a judging panel, with no input from Create NSW (former Arts NSW) or the
New South Wales Government
The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of New South Wales. It is currently held by a coalition of the Liberal Party and the National Party. The Governme ...
. The names of each year's judges are not announced until the final winners are decided. The judging has been the subject of controversy in the past, when in 2010, the panel decided not to bestow the Play Award on any of the applicants.
In November 2011, the NSW Government announced a review of the Premier's Literary Awards for 2012. An independent panel, chaired by journalist
Gerard Henderson
Gerard Henderson (born 1945) is an Australian author, columnist and political commentator. He founded and is executive director of The Sydney Institute, a privately funded Australian current affairs forum.
Education and earlier career
Henders ...
, reviewed both the Literary and the
Premier's History Awards, focussed on the governance, selection criteria and judging processes.
Following the review, the Awards are managed by the State Library of NSW, in association with Create NSW.
Categories
The following prizes and awards are currently given in the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards.
*
Christina Stead Prize for Fiction
*
Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction
*
Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry
*
Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature
*
Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children's Literature
*
NSW Multicultural Award (formerly Ethnic Affairs Commission Award, Community Relations Commission Award)
*
UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing
*Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting (formerly the Play Award)
*
Script Writing Award (formerly the separate Film, Television and Radio Writing Awards)
*
NSW Premier's Prize for Literary Scholarship
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*
People's Choice Award
The People's Choice Awards is an American awards show, recognizing people in entertainment, voted online by the general public and fans. The show has been held annually since 1975, with the winners originally determined using Gallup Polls until ...
*
Special Award
Special or specials may refer to:
Policing
* Specials, Ulster Special Constabulary, the Northern Ireland police force
* Specials, Special Constable, an auxiliary, volunteer, or temporary; police worker or police officer
Literature
* ''Specia ...
*
NSW Premier's Translation Prize
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, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
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, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
*Multicultural NSW Early Career Translator Prize
*Indigenous Writers Prize
*
Gleebooks Prize (currently inactive)
Christina Stead Prize for Fiction
The Christina Stead Prize is awarded for a work of fiction that may be either a novel or a collection of stories.
The recipient receives a A$40,000 prize .
[ It is named in honour of ]Christina Stead
Christina Stead (17 July 190231 March 1983) was an Australian novelist and short-story writer acclaimed for her satirical wit and penetrating psychological characterisations. Christina Stead was a committed Marxist, although she was never a me ...
, an Australian novelist and short-story writer. The first recipient was David Malouf
David George Joseph Malouf AO (; born 20 March 1934) is an Australian poet, novelist, short story writer, playwright and librettist. Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2008, Malouf has lectured at both the University of Que ...
, who was awarded the Prize for his novella ''An Imaginary Life
''An Imaginary Life'' is a 1978 novella written by David Malouf.
Story outline
It tells the story of the Roman poet Ovid
Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (anci ...
'' in 1979. In 2019 Michelle de Kretser
Michelle de Kretser (born 1957) is an Australian novelist who was born in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon), and moved to Australia in 1972 when she was 14.
Education and literary career
De Kretser was educated at Methodist College, Colombo, and in Melbo ...
won with '' The Life to Come and'' equalled Peter Carey's record of three wins.
Award winners
Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction
The Douglas Stewart Prize is awarded for a prose work that is not fiction. The recipient receives a A$40,000 prize .[ It is named in honour of Douglas Stewart, a noted Australian literary editor.] The first recipient was Manning Clark
Charles Manning Hope Clark, (3 March 1915 – 23 May 1991) was an Australian historian and the author of the best-known general history of Australia, his six-volume ''A History of Australia'', published between 1962 and 1987. He has been descri ...
, who was awarded the Prize for the fourth volume in his series ''A History of Australia'' in 1979. Drusilla Modjeska, with three wins, has won the Prize more than any other individual. In 2019 Billy Griffiths and Sarah Krasnostein
Sarah Krasnostein is an American-Australian non-fiction writer and legal academic.
Education
Krasnostein completed a BA/LLB (honours) degree from the University of Melbourne in 2005. She was admitted as an attorney of the State of New York i ...
were joint winners.
Award winners
Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry
The Kenneth Slessor Prize is awarded for a book of poetry, whether collected poems or a single poem of some length, and was first awarded in 1980. The recipient receives a A$30,000 prize .[ It is named in honour of ]Kenneth Slessor
Kenneth Adolphe Slessor (27 March 190130 June 1971) was an Australian poet, journalist and official war correspondent in World War II. He was one of Australia's leading poets, notable particularly for the absorption of modernist influences int ...
, a noted Australian poet and journalist. The first recipient was David Campbell, who won the Prize posthumously. In 2011, NSW poet Jennifer Maiden
Jennifer Maiden (born 1949) is an Australian poet. She was born in Penrith, New South Wales, and has had 36 books published: 28 poetry collections, 6 novels and 2 nonfiction works. Her current publishers are Quemar Press in Australia and Bloo ...
became the only individual to win the award three times. The latest recipient was Peter Boyle in 2020.
Award winners
Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature
The Ethel Turner Prize is awarded for work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry written for young people of secondary school level. The recipient receives a A$30,000 prize .[ It is named in honour of Ethel Turner, author of the children's classic, '']Seven Little Australians
''Seven Little Australians'' is a classic Australian children's literature novel by Ethel Turner, published in 1894. Set mainly in Sydney in the 1880s, it relates the adventures of the seven mischievous Woolcot children, their stern army father ...
''.
The Children's Literature section of the Premier's Literary Awards began as a single award in 1979, but was redefined in 1999 to create the Patricia Wrightson Prize (for writing for a primary school audience) and the Ethel Turner Prize (for a secondary school audience). The Ethel Turner Award was also given to all previous winners in the Children's Literature section. The Prize was first won, jointly, by Patricia Wrightson and Jenny Wagner
Jenny Wagner (born 1984) is a German physicist, cosmologist, and book author.
In her research, she aims at identifying the impact of models and more general assumptions on the interpretation of data within a given theoretical framework, and th ...
in 1979. The most recent recipients are James Roy and Noël Zihabamwe for their co-authored novel ''One Thousand Hills''. Australian author Ursula Dubosarsky
Ursula Dubosarsky (born ''Ursula Coleman''; 1961 in Sydney) is an Australian writer of fiction and non-fiction for children and young adults, whose work is characterised by a child's vision and comic voice of both clarity and ambiguity. She ha ...
and writer Jaclyn Moriarty
Jaclyn Moriarty (born 1968 in Perth) is an Australian novelist, most known for her young adult literature. She is a recipient of the Davitt Award and the Aurealis Award for best children's fiction.
Biography
Moriarty was raised in the north-west ...
have each won the prize three times.
Award winners
Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children's Literature
The Patricia Wrightson Prize is awarded for work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry written for children up to secondary school level. The recipient receives a A$30,000 prize .[
The Children's Literature section of the Premier's Literary Awards began as a single award in 1979, but was redefined in 1999 to create the Patricia Wrightson Prize (for writing for a primary school audience) and the Ethel Turner Prize (for a secondary school audience).] The Patricia Wrightson Prize was created in honour of children's author Patricia Wrightson, who won the first Ethel Turner Prize in 1979. The first recipient was Odo Hirsch
Odo Hirsch (born 1962) is the pen name of David Kausman, an Australian author of children's books. He was born in Melbourne, where he trained to be a doctor, but moved to London, where he currently lives.
After working as a doctor in both Melbour ...
, for his debut children's book, ''Antonio S and the Mystery of Theodore Guzman''. The most recent recipient is Leanne Hall, author of ''Iris and the Tiger''. Kierin Meehan is the only author who has won the Prize more than once.
Award winners
NSW Multicultural Award
This Award was first established in 1980, when it was known as the Ethnic Affairs Commission Award. Later known as the Community Relations Commission Award, and from 2012 referred to as the Community Relations Commission for Multicultural NSW Award, or from 2014 just Multicultural NSW Award, the prize money is worth A$20,000 .[
It is offered for: "a book of fiction or non-fiction, memoir or history; a play, musical drama or comedy, theatrical monologue or other theatrical performance; a book of collected poems or a single poem of substantial length published in book form; the screenplay of a feature or documentary film or episode of a television program...; or the script of a radio play or documentary which is deemed by the judges to have made a significant contribution to Australian literature, poetry, theatre, film, radio or television and which also considers any aspect of the Australian migration experience; and/or aspects of cultural diversity and multiculturalism in Australian society."
]
Award winners
UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing
The UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing (originally the UTS Award for New Writing) is given for a published book of fiction by an author who has not previously published a work of fiction that is book-length. It was established in 2005, and the winner receives a prize .[ from the University of Technology, Sydney.]
The award was renamed in 2008 to honour Glenda Adams
Glenda Emilie Adams (née Felton; 30 December 1939 – 11 July 2007) was an Australian novelist and short story writer, probably best known as the winner of the 1987 Miles Franklin Award for '' Dancing on Coral''. She was a teacher of creative ...
, the Australian novelist and short story writer who died in 2007.
Award winners
Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting
The Play Award, established in 1983, is given to a play or musical which has been produced in Australia. The winner is chosen based purely on the merit of the written text, and they receive a A$30,000 prize .[ The award was first given to playwright Nicholas Enright and composer Terence Clarke for the musical '']Variations
Variation or Variations may refer to:
Science and mathematics
* Variation (astronomy), any perturbation of the mean motion or orbit of a planet or satellite, particularly of the moon
* Genetic variation, the difference in DNA among individua ...
''. Writers Daniel Keene and Stephen Sewell have each won the Award three times.
In 2010, the judges decided not to shortlist any plays for the Award, instead bestowing a $30,000 grant for new playwrights. Their decision was widely criticised by many of Australia's most experienced playwrights. Gil Appleton, head of the judging panel, called for all future judges to see a performance of the play rather than judging the work on the script alone.
Award winners
Betty Roland Prize for Script Writing
In 1984, the Film Writing Award and the Television Writing Award were established, followed by the Radio Writing Award in 1988. In 1990, these three awards were amalgamated into the Script Writing Award. It is given for the script of a film, radio program or television program, which may be fiction or a documentary. The winner is chosen based purely on the merit of the written text, and they receive a A$30,000 prize .[ The award was first given jointly to the film scripts for '' Sweetie'' and '']An Angel at My Table
''An Angel at My Table'' is a 1990 biographical drama film directed by Jane Campion. The film is based on Janet Frame's three autobiographies, ''To the Is-Land'' (1982), ''An Angel at My Table'' (1984), and ''The Envoy from Mirror City'' (1984 ...
''. Directors Jane Campion
Dame Elizabeth Jane Campion (born 30 April 1954) is a New Zealand filmmaker. She is best known for writing and directing the critically acclaimed films ''The Piano'' (1993) and '' The Power of the Dog'' (2021), for which she has received a tot ...
and Rolf de Heer have each won the Award twice.
Award winners
NSW Premier's Prize for Literary Scholarship
Awarded biennially, the Prize for Literary Scholarship was made to a book, CD-ROM or DVD which presents an original perspective on one or more published works. The winner received a A$30,000 prize. It was discontinued and has not been awarded since 2010.
Award winners
People's Choice Award
This award was established in 2009 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the awards. The Award is based on votes by New South Wales residents from the works shortlisted for the Christina Stead Prize for fiction. The award was first won by Steve Toltz for his novel, ''A Fraction of the Whole
''Fraction of the Whole'' is a 2008 novel by Steve Toltz. It follows three generations of the eccentric Dean family in Australia and the people who surround them.
Characters
Jasper Dean
Jasper Dean is Martin Dean's illegitimate son and Terry D ...
''.
Award winners
Book of the Year
The winner of the New South Wales Book of the Year is chosen from among the winners of that year's awards, with the award worth an extra A$10,000 .
Award winners
Special Award
The Special Award can be proposed by the judges for a work that doesn't easily fit into the existing prizes, or as a general recognition of a writer's achievements. The winner received a A$10,000 prize .[
]
Award winners
NSW Premier's Translation Prize
Awarded biennially, the Translation Prize is offered to Australian translators who translate works into English from other languages. The winner receives a A$30,000 prize .[ It will next be awarded in 2023.]
Award winners
Multicultural NSW Early Career Translator Prize
The Multicultural NSW Early Career Translator Prize was established in 2015. It is sponsored by Multicultural NSW and the winner currently receives a A$5,000 prize. The award acknowledges translators in the first ten years of their practice.
Award winners
Indigenous Writers' Prize
The inaugural Indigenous Writers' Prize was awarded in 2016. The prize is offered biennially and the winner receives a A$30,000 prize. The prize is intended to acknowledge the contribution made to Australian literary culture by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers. The first award was shared by joint winners, Bruce Pascoe for his book ''Dark Emu'' and Ellen van Neerven for ''Heat and Light''.
Award winners
Gleebooks Prize for Critical Writing
The Gleebooks Prize was established in 1995 and was offered for Australian critical writing. The winner received a A$10,000 prize. It was last awarded in 2009 to David Love and its current status is unknown.
Award winners
See also
* New South Wales Premier's History Awards
The NSW Premier's History Awards honour distinguished achievement in the interpretation of history, through both the written word and non-print media by Australian citizens and permanent residents of Australia.
History
The State Government of New ...
*List of Australian literary awards
A list of Australian literary awards and prizes:
Literature
* ABC Fiction Award (2005–2009)
* ACT Book of the Year
* ACT Writing and Publishing Awards
* Ada Cambridge Prize
*The Age Book of the Year – discontinued after 2012; reinstitu ...
References
{{reflist
External links
ArtsNSW – NSW Premier’s Literary Awards
Australian fiction awards
Awards established in 1979
Australian non-fiction book awards
Australian theatre awards