The Kathleen Mitchell Award is a bi-annual Australian
literature prize
A literary award or literary prize is an award presented in recognition of a particularly lauded literary piece or body of work. It is normally presented to an author.
Organizations
Most literary awards come with a corresponding award ceremony. Ma ...
for young authors. It was established in 1996 and is awarded every second year with prize money originally being
A$5000, by 2012 that amount had grown to A$ 15,000 and in 2014 it increased to A$ 20,000. After not being awarded in 2016 it was awarded again in 2019 with a prize money of A$ 15,000.
The prize was established in the will of Kathleen Mitchell with the following aim: ''"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"''. The price is managed by The Trust Company and a committee of 3 jurors is awarding the price every 2 years. Only Australian authors under the age of 30 are eligible to participate.
''
The Australian
''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...
'' called it a "leading literary award".
Winners
*2019
Holden Sheppard, ''Invisible Boys''
*2016 No award
*2014
Majok Tulba, ''Beneath the Darkening Sky''
*2012
Melanie Joosten, ''Berlin Syndrome''
*2010
Nam Le, ''The Boat''
*2008
Randa Abdel-Fattah
Randa Abdel-Fattah (born 6 June 1979) is an Australian writer. Randa was born in Australia and her debut novel, '' Does My Head Look Big in This?'', was published in 2005.
Early life and education
Abdel-Fattah was born in Sydney, New South Wal ...
, ''Ten Things I Hate About Me''
*2006
Markus Zusak, ''
The Book Thief
''The Book Thief'' is a historical fiction novel by the Australian author Markus Zusak, and is his most popular book. Published in 2005, ''The Book Thief'' became an international bestseller and was translated into 63 languages and sold 16 mil ...
''
*2004
Lucy Lehmann, ''The Showgirl and the Brumby''
*2002 No award
*2000
Julia Leigh
Julia Leigh (born 1970) is an Australian novelist, film director and screenwriter. In 2011 her debut feature film '' Sleeping Beauty'' was selected to screen in official competition at the Cannes Film Festival. She is an author of two award-wi ...
, ''The Hunter''
*1998
James Bradley
James Bradley (1692–1762) was an English astronomer and priest who served as the third Astronomer Royal from 1742. He is best known for two fundamental discoveries in astronomy, the aberration of light (1725–1728), and the nutation of the ...
, ''
Wrack''
*1996
Sonya Hartnett
Sonya Louise Hartnett (born 1968) is an Australian author of fiction for adults, young adults, and children. She has been called "the finest Australian writer of her generation". For her career contribution to "children's and young adult liter ...
, ''Sleeping Dogs''
References
{{Reflist
External links
Kathleen Mitchell Award new website
Kathleen Mitchell Award old website (archived)
Australian literary awards
Awards established in 1996
Literary awards honouring young writers