The Australian Prime Minister's Literary Awards (PMLA) were announced at the end of 2007 by the incoming

First Rudd ministry The first Rudd ministry (Labor) was the 64th ministry of the Government of Australia. It was led by the country's 26th Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd. The first Rudd ministry succeeded the fourth Howard ministry, which dissolved on 3 December 20 ...

following the 2007 election. They are administered by the Minister for the Arts.Call for entries
(22 February 2008) The awards were designed as "a new initiative celebrating the contribution of

Australian literature Australian literature is the literature, written or literary work produced in the area or by the people of the Australia, Commonwealth of Australia and its preceding colonies. During its early Western culture, Western history, Australia was a ...

to the nation's cultural and intellectual life." The awards are held annually and initially provided a tax-free prize of A$100,000 in each category, making it Australia's richest literary award in total. In 2011, the prize money was split into $80,000 for each category winner and $5,000 for up to four short-listed entries. The award was initially given in four categories – fiction, non-fiction, young adult and children's fiction – as selected by three judging panels. In 2012, a poetry category was added and the former

Prime Minister's Prize for Australian History The Prime Minister's Prize for Australian History was created by the Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard following the Australian History Summit held in Canberra on 17 August 2006. The Summit looked at how the Australian government could stre ...

was incorporated into the award. To be eligible, writers "must be a citizen or permanent resident of Australia."

History

For the inaugural

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

awards, six Australians were appointed by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts to the judging panels: three each for the fiction and non-fiction awards. The final decisions on the shortlist and winners for the awards was made by Prime Minister (

Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian diplomat and former politician who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and June to September 2013. He held office as the Leaders of the Australian Labo ...

) based on the judging panels' recommendations. Two new award categories were announced on 30 March

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

: "young adults' fiction" and "children's fiction." The prize for both new awards was also $100,000; its entries were judged by one judging panel. Entries for the

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

awards opened in January 2011 and an annual timetable was implemented: the shortlist was announced in late May and winners in early July. The awards were restructured to provide greater recognition for shortlisted authors. In each category, the winning book was awarded $80,000; $5,000 was awarded to up to four shortlisted titles. The eligibility criteria were extended to include

e-book An ebook (short for electronic book), also spelled as e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in electronic form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Al ...

s, and wordless picture books were eligible in the children's fiction category. The panellists from 2010 were returned for 2011. In 2012, a new award for poetry was announced and the Prize for Australian History was incorporated.

Winners

Winners and shortlists

Australian history

Children's fiction

Fiction

Nonfiction

Poetry

Young adult fiction

Notes

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://www.arts.gov.au/pmla/ Australian literary awards Australian fiction awards Australian children's literary awards Australian non-fiction book awards Awards established in 2007 Prime Minister of Australia 2007 establishments in Australia Australian history awards