The Iremonger Award for Writing on Public Issues is an annual Australian literary prize that was awarded from 2003 to 2009 by Australian publisher

Allen & Unwin George Allen & Unwin was a British publishing company formed in 1911 when Sir Stanley Unwin purchased a controlling interest in George Allen & Co. It went on to become one of the leading publishers of the twentieth century and to establish an ...

to commemorate publisher and author John Iremonger and "foster the sort of ideas that he was so good at cultivating".''Australian Book Review, April 2004. Advances''
/ref> The award is made "for works of political, social and cultural commentary with contemporary Australian relevance" and offers a prize of $10,000 as well as guaranteed publication, royalties and editorial support.Allen & Unwin ''The Iremonger Award''
The judges for the first award, made in 2004, included Anne Manne and David Marr. The award has three judges, one from Allen & Unwin and two independent judges who "know what’s happening at the moment and have a unique perspective".Rebecca Kaiser, editorial director at Allen & Unwin, cited in "Award honours man of passion" in ''Festival News: The Newsletter of the Sydney Writers' Festival
In 2009, Allen and Unwin announced that no manuscript of sufficient merit had been submitted for the award, which would therefore be suspended for the foreseeable future. Should the award be revived, details will be announced on the Allen and Unwin website.

John Iremonger

John Iremonger, who died of cancer in August 2002, worked in the publishing industry in Australia for 35 years. He started the independent publishing company, Hale and Iremonger, in 1977, with

Greens Greens may refer to: *Leaf vegetables such as collard greens, mustard greens, spring greens, winter greens, spinach, etc. Politics Supranational * Green politics * Green party, political parties adhering to Green politics * Global Greens * Europ ...

MP,

Sylvia Hale Sylvia Phyllis Hale (born 12 July 1942) is an Australian social justice, community and environmental campaigner, and a former politician. She was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 2003 to 2010 for the Greens. Personal l ...

, but left the partnership in 1980 to join Allen & Unwin when its publishing director Patrick Gallagher offered him a job. Iremonger's career at Allen & Unwin lasted 22 years, which included a four-year break to run

Melbourne University Press Melbourne University Publishing (MUP) is the book publishing arm of the University of Melbourne. History MUP was founded in 1922 as Melbourne University Press to sell text books and stationery to students, and soon began publishing books itself. ...

. He was also an editor of the ''

ANU Anu ( akk, , from wikt:𒀭#Sumerian, 𒀭 ''an'' “Sky”, “Heaven”) or Anum, originally An ( sux, ), was the sky father, divine personification of the sky, king of the gods, and ancestor of many of the list of Mesopotamian deities, dei ...

Historical Journal'' in 1966, and a member of the editorial committee in 1967. "He had an enormous impact on Australian publishing. He had a deeply inquiring mind, a strong sense of what was right and wrong and a deep human compassion".

Winners

*2004: ''Australian Heartlands: Making Space for Hope in the Suburbs'' by Brendan Gleeson *2005: ''Inside Spin'' by Bob Burton *2006: ''The End of Charity'' by Nic Frances with Maryrose Cuskelly *2007: ''Once Were Radicals'' by Irfan Yusuf *2008: ''A Sorry State of Affairs'' by Stephen GrayThe Iremonger Award 2008 (Allen & Unwin Media Release)
/ref>

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iremonger Award, The Australian non-fiction book awards Awards established in 2003