The South Australian Literary Awards, until 2024 known as the Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature, comprise a group of biennially-granted literary awards established in 1986 by the

Government of South Australia The Government of South Australia, also referred to as the South Australian Government or the SA Government, is the executive branch of the state government, state of South Australia. It is modelled on the Westminster system, meaning that the h ...

. Formerly announced during Adelaide Writers' Week in March, as part of the

Adelaide Festival The Adelaide Festival of Arts, also known as the Adelaide Festival, an arts festival, takes place in the South Australian capital of Adelaide in March each year. Started in 1960, it is a major celebration of the arts and a significant cultural ...

, from 2024 the awards are announced in a dedicated ceremony in October. The awards include national as well as state-based prizes, and offer three fellowships for South Australian writers. Several categories have been added to the original four.

History

The Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature were created by the

in 1986 and awarded during Writers' Week as part of the Adelaide Festival. In 2020, the

State Library of South Australia The State Library of South Australia, or SLSA, formerly known as the Public Library of South Australia, located on North Terrace, Adelaide, is the official library of the Australian state of South Australia. It is the largest public research li ...

(SLSA) took over administration of the awards from Arts South Australia, and library director Geoff Strempel felt that the awards being presented in the late afternoon right at the end of a busy Writers' Week meant that they did not get the attention they deserved, especially compared with its interstate equivalents. From 2024, the awards are renamed the South Australian Literary Awards (a name in line with its interstate equivalents),and the awards ceremony takes place in the Mortlock Chamber of the SLSA towards the end of the year, away from the festival season. The first of the rebranded awards takes place in October 2024. The shortlist was announced on 9 August 2024.

Description

The Premier's Award is the richest prize, worth , and awarded for the best overall published work which has already won an award in one of the other categories. There is a total prize pool of , which is distributed 11 categories, including the Premier's Award. There are six national and five South Australian categories. Other national awards, worth each as of 2024, are the Fiction Award, Children's Literature Award, Young Adult Fiction Award, John Bray Poetry Award, and the Non-Fiction Award. South Australian awards and fellowships are the Jill Blewett Playwright's Award, the Arts South Australia/ Wakefield Press Unpublished Manuscript Award, the Barbara Hanrahan Fellowship, the Max Fatchen Fellowship (in honour of Adelaide author and journalist Max Fatchen), and the Tangkanungku Pintyanthi Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Fellowship. Applications for each year's awards are open until mid-December of the preceding year. The awards are jointly funded by the SA government and the Libraries Board of South Australia.

National awards

Premier's Award

Winners: * 1996 ''

The Future Eaters ''The Future Eaters'' is a 1994 non-fiction book by Australian author Tim Flannery. The book is an ecological history of Australia entailing how humans consume the resources they need for their future, and looking at the journey of the Aborigin ...

'' by

Tim Flannery Timothy Fridtjof Flannery (born 28 January 1956) is an Australian mammalogist, palaeontologist, environmentalist, conservationist, explorer, author, science communicator Science communication encompasses a wide range of activities tha ...

(Reed Books) * 1998 ''The Drowner'' by

Robert Drewe Robert Duncan Drewe (born 9 January 1943) is an Australian novelist, non-fiction and short story writer. Biography Robert Drewe was born on 9 January 1943 in Melbourne, Victoria. At the age of six, he moved with his family to Perth. He grew up ...

(

Pan MacMillan Pan Books is a British publishing imprint that first became active in the 1940s and is now part of the British-based Macmillan Publishers, owned by the Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group of Germany. History Pan Books began as an indepe ...

) * 2000 '' Mr. Darwin's Shooter'' by Roger McDonald (

Vintage Books Vintage Books is a trade paperback publishing imprint of Penguin Random House originally established by Alfred A. Knopf in 1954. The company was acquired by Random House in April 1960, and a British division was set up in 1990. After Random Ho ...

) * 2002 ''

True History of the Kelly Gang ''True History of the Kelly Gang'' is a novel by Australian writer Peter Carey, based loosely on the history of the Kelly Gang. It was first published in Brisbane by the University of Queensland Press in 2000. It won the 2001 Booker Prize a ...

'' by Peter Carey (

University of Queensland Press University of Queensland Press (UQP) is an Australian publishing house based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in 1948 as a traditional university press, UQP now publishes books for general readers across fiction, non-fiction, poetry, children's ...

) * 2004 '' Wild Surmise'' by Dorothy Porter (

Picador A ''picador'' (; pl. ''picadores'') is one of the pair of horse-mounted bullfighters in a Spanish-style bullfight that jab the bull with a lance. They perform in the ''tercio de varas'', which is the first of the three stages in a stylized bull ...

) * 2006 ''

Sixty Lights ''Sixty Lights'' is a 2004 novel by Australian author Gail Jones. Themes The novel explores the themes of the family relationships, marriage, death and loss. The novel also explore deeper themes of an individuals inner mindscape, femininity ...

'' by Gail Jones (

) * 2008 ''Urban Myths: 210 Poems'' by

John Tranter John Ernest Tranter (29 April 1943 – 21 April 2023) was an Australian poet, publisher and editor. He published more than twenty books of poetry; devising, with Jan Garrett, the long running ABC radio program ''Books and Writing''; and foundin ...

(

) * 2010 ''Tales from Outer Suburbia'' by

Shaun Tan Shaun Tan (born 15 January 1974) is an Australian artist, writer and film maker. He won an Academy Award for '' The Lost Thing'', a 2011 animated short film adaptation of the 2000 picture book he wrote and illustrated. He also wrote and illustrat ...

(

Allen and 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 became one of the leading publishers of the twentieth century and established an Australian ...

) * 2012 ''

That Deadman Dance ''That Deadman Dance'' is the third novel by Western Australian author Kim Scott. It was first published in 2010 by Picador (Australia) and by Bloomsbury in the UK, US and Canada in 2012. It won the 2011 Regional Commonwealth Writers' Prize, th ...

'' by

Kim Scott Kim Scott (born 18 February 1957) is an Australian novelist of Aboriginal Australian ancestry. He is a descendant of the Noongar people of Western Australia. Biography Scott was born in Perth, Western Australia, in 1957, and is the eldest o ...

(Picador Australia) * 2014 ''

Cold Light ''Cold Light'' () is a 2004 Icelandic film directed by Hilmar Oddsson. Cast Release ''Cold Light'' premiered in Iceland on 1 January 2004. It was released on 26 September 2005. Awards It was Iceland's submission to the 77th Academy Awards ...

'' by

Frank Moorhouse Frank Thomas Moorhouse (21 December 1938 – 26 June 2022) was an Australian writer who won major national prizes for the short story, the novel, the essay and for script writing. His work has been published in the United Kingdom, France and t ...

* 2016 ''Figgy in the World'' by Tamsin Janu * 2018 ''The Last Garden'' by Eva Hornung * 2020 '' Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow'' by Jessica Townsend (Lothian) *2022 '' The Yield'' by

Tara June Winch Tara June Winch (born 2 December 1983) is an Australian writer. She is the 2020 winner of the Miles Franklin Award for her book '' The Yield''. Biography Tara June Winch was born in Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia on 2 December 1983. He ...

*2024 ''Childhood'' by Shannon Burns

Fiction Award

Winners: *

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

The Children's Bach ''The Children's Bach'' (1984) is a novella by Australian writer Helen Garner. It was her third published book and her second novel. It was well received critically both in Australia and abroad. Plot summary The novel, set in Melbourne, concer ...

'' by

Helen Garner Helen Garner (née Ford, born 7 November 1942) is an Australian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist. Garner's debut novel, first novel, ''Monkey Grip (novel), Monkey Grip'', published in 1977, immediately established her ...

(McPhee Gribble) *

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

''Julia Paradise'' by

Rod Jones Rod Jones may refer to: Sports American football *Rod Jones (cornerback) (born 1964), American football cornerback in the National Football League and sprinter *Rod Jones (offensive lineman) (born 1974), American football tackle in the National Foo ...

(McPhee Gribble) *

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

Oscar and Lucinda ''Oscar and Lucinda'' is a novel by Australian author Peter Carey. It won the 1988 Booker Prize the year it was released, and the 1989 Miles Franklin Award. It was shortlisted in 2008 for The Best of the Booker, in celebration of the prize's ...

'' by Peter Carey (

) *

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

'' The Great World'' by

David Malouf David George Joseph Malouf (; born 20 March 1934) is an Australian poet, novelist, short story writer, playwright and Libretto, librettist. Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2008, Malouf has lectured at both the University ...

(Chatto & Windus) *

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

'' Grand Days'' by

(William Heinemann Australia) *

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

Death of a River Guide ''Death of a River Guide'' is a 1994 novel by Australian author Richard Flanagan. ''Death of a River Guide'' was Flanagan's first novel. Synopsis As Aljaz Cosini lies dying at the bottom of a river in Tasmania he starts to experience a series of ...

'' by

Richard Flanagan Richard Miller Flanagan (born 1961) is an Australian writer, who won the 2014 Man Booker Prize for his novel ''The Narrow Road to the Deep North (novel), The Narrow Road to the Deep North'' and the 2024 Baillie Gifford Prize for ''Question 7'', ...

(McPhee Gribble/Penguin) *

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

The Drowner ''The Drowner'' (1996) is a novel by Australian author Robert Drewe. It was shortlisted for Miles Franklin Award, and won the Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction and New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards — Book of the Year in 1997. Plot sum ...

'' by

(

) *

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

'' Mr. Darwin's Shooter'' by Roger McDonald (

) *

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

'' by Peter Carey (

) *

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

Moral Hazard In economics, a moral hazard is a situation where an economic actor has an incentive to increase its exposure to risk because it does not bear the full costs associated with that risk, should things go wrong. For example, when a corporation i ...

'' by

Kate Jennings Catherine Ruth Jennings (20 May 1948 – 1 May 2021) was an Australian poet, essayist, memoirist, and novelist. Biography Born at Temora, Jennings grew up on a farm near Griffith, New South Wales. She attended the University of Sydney in the la ...

(

) *

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

'' by Gail Jones (

) *

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 ...

'' The Ballad of Desmond Kale'' by Roger McDonald (

) *

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 ...

Ransom Ransom refers to the practice of holding a prisoner or item to extort money or property to secure their release. It also refers to the sum of money paid by the other party to secure a captive's freedom. When ransom means "payment", the word ...

'' by

(Knopf/Random House) *

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

'' by

(Picador Australia) *

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

'' by

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

'' To Name Those Lost'' by Rohan Wilson *

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

''The Last Garden'' by Eva Hornung *

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

'' The Death of Noah Glass'' by Gail Jones (Text) *

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

'' The Yield'' by

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

''Permafrost'' by SJ Norman

Children's Literature Award

Winners: * 1986 ''The Long Night Watch'' by

Ivan Southall Ivan Francis Southall AM, DFC (8 June 192115 November 2008) was an Australian writer best known for young adult fiction. He wrote more than 30 children's books, six books for adults, and at least ten works of history, biography or other non-fi ...

( Methuen) * 1988 ''

Space Demons Space Demons is a young adult novel written by Gillian Rubinstein, first published in 1986. It details the story of four children playing a video game which both affects and is affected by their real lives. It is the first of a trilogy, followe ...

'' by

Gillian Rubinstein Gillian Rubinstein (born 29 August 1942) is an English-born children's author and playwright. Born in Potten End, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England, Rubinstein split her childhood between England and Nigeria, moving to Australia in 1973. As w ...

( Omnibus Books) * 1990 ''Beyond the Labyrinth'' by

(Hyland House) * 1992 ''The House Guest'' by Eleanor Nilsson (

Viking Penguin Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheimer and then acqui ...

) * 1994 ''Angel's Gate'' by

Gary Crew Gary David Crew (born 23 September 1947) is an Australian writer of young adult fiction Young adult literature (YA) is typically written for readers aged 12 to 18 and includes most of the themes found in adult fiction, such as family dysfun ...

( William Heinemann Australia) * 1996 ''The Third Day, the Frost'' by John Marsden (

) * 1998 ''The Listmaker'' by Robin Klein (Viking Penguin) * 2000 ''Deadly, Unna?'' by

Phillip Gwynne Phillip Gwynne (born 1958) is an Australian author. He is best known for his 1998 debut novel, '' Deadly, Unna?'', a rites-of-passage story which uses Australian rules football as a backdrop to explore race relations in a small town in South Aust ...

( Puffin Penguin) * 2002 ''

Lirael ''Lirael'' (called ''Lirael: Daughter of the Clayr'' in some regions) is a fantasy novel by Garth Nix, first published in 2001. Named for its central female character, ''Lirael'' is the second in his Old Kingdom trilogy, preceded by ''Sabriel'' ...

'' by

Garth Nix Garth Richard Nix (born 19 July 1963) is an Australian writer who specialises in children's and young adult fantasy novels, notably the ''The Old Kingdom, Old Kingdom'', ''The Seventh Tower, Seventh Tower'' and ''The Keys to the Kingdom, Keys t ...

(

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

) * 2004 ''Abyssinia'' by

Ursula Dubosarsky Ursula Dubosarsky (born ''Ursula Coleman''; 1961 in Sydney, Australia) 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 ambigui ...

(

) * 2006 ''It's Not All About You, Calma!'' by

Barry Jonsberg Barry Jonsberg (born 1951) is an Australian author and teacher who was born in Liverpool, England. He earned two degrees in English and Psychology from Liverpool University and was a college lecturer in Crewe, Cheshire before moving to Australi ...

(

) * 2008 '' Don't Call Me Ishmael'' by

Michael Gerard Bauer Michael Gerard Bauer (born 1955 in Brisbane) is an Australian full-time children's and young adult author, and was formerly an English teacher. Biography Bauer was born in Brisbane and attended Marist College Ashgrove before attending the Univ ...

(Omnibus Scholastic) * 2010 ''Tales from Outer Suburbia'' by

(

) * 2012 ''Taj and the Great Camel Trek'' by Roseanne Hawke (

) * 2014 ''A Very Unusual Pursuit'' by

Catherine Jinks Catherine Jinks (born 1963) is an Australian writer of fiction books for all age groups. She has won many awards including the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award four times, the Victorian Premier's Literary Award, the ...

* 2016 ''Figgy in the World'' by Tamsin Janu * 2018 ''Dragonfly Song'' by

Wendy Orr Wendy Orr is a Canadian-born Australian writer born in Edmonton, Alberta. She is probably best known as the author of ''Nim's Island'', which was made into a film in 2008 starring Jodie Foster, Abigail Breslin and Gerard Butler Gerard J ...

* 2020 ''Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow'' by Jessica Townsend (Lothian) * 2022 ''We Are Wolves'' by Katrina Nannestad * 2024 ''Scar town'' by

Tristan Bancks Tristan Bancks (21 December 1974) is an Australian children's and teen's author, with a background in filmmaking and acting. As an actor, he is known for his role as Tug O'Neale on ''Home and Away'' between 1992 and 1994. Biography Bancks tr ...

Young Adult Fiction Award

(Offered 2012– ) Winners: * 2012 ''All I Ever Wanted'' by Vikki Wakefield * 2014 ''Friday Brown'' by Vikki Wakefield * 2016 ''Are You Seeing Me?'' by Darren Groth * 2018 ''My Sister Rosa'' by

Justine Larbalestier Justine Larbalestier ( ; born 23 September 1967) is an Australian writer of young adult fiction best known for her 2009 novel, '' Liar''. Personal life Larbalestier was born and raised in Sydney. She now alternates residence between Sydney and ...

* 2020 ''Small Spaces'' by Sarah Epstein (Walker Books) * 2022 ''The Gaps'' by Leanne Hall * 2024 ''Completely normal (and other lies)'' by Biffy James

John Bray Poetry Award

Honours John Jefferson Bray (1912–1995), Chief Justice of South Australia, academic and poet for his distinguished services to Australian poetry. Winners: *

''Selected Poems – 1963–1983'' by Robert Gray (Angus & Robertson) *

''The Daylight Moon'' by Les Murray (Angus & Robertson) *

''Bone Scan'' by

Gwen Harwood Gwen Harwood (née Gwendoline Nessie Foster, 8 June 19205 December 1995) was an Australian poet and librettist. Harwood is regarded as one of Australia's finest poets, publishing over 420 works, including 386 poems and 13 librettos. She won num ...

(Angus & Robertson) *

''Last Poems'' by Vincent Buckley (McPhee Gribble) *

''Between Glances'' by Andrew Lansdown (Fremantle Arts Centre Press) *

''The Silo: A Pastoral Symphony'' by John Kinsella (Fremantle Arts Centre Press) *

''The Blue Cloud of Crying'' by

Peter Boyle Peter Lawrence Boyle (October 18, 1935 – December 12, 2006) was an American actor. He is known for his character actor roles in film and television and received several awards including a Primetime Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. ...

(Hale & Ironmonger) *

''The Harbour'' by Dimitris Tsaloumas (

) *

''Around Here'' by Cath Kenneally ( Wakefield Press) *

'' Wild Surmise'' by Dorothy Porter (

) *

Totem A totem (from or ''doodem'') is a spirit being, sacred object, or symbol that serves as an emblem of a group of people, such as a family, clan, lineage (anthropology), lineage, or tribe, such as in the Anishinaabe clan system. While the word ...

'' by

Luke Davies Luke Davies (born 1962) is an Australian writer of poetry, novels and screenplays. His best known works are '' Candy: A Novel of Love and Addiction'' (which was adapted for the screen in 2006) and the screenplay for the film ''Lion'', which ea ...

(

) *

''Urban Myths: 210 Poems'' by

(

) *

''The Other Way Out'' by Bronwyn Lea (Giramondo poets) *

''Taller When Prone'' by Les Murray (Black Inc) *

''The Sunlit Zone'' by Lisa Jacobson (Five Islands Press) *

''Waiting for the Past'' by Les Murray *

''Missing Up'' by

Pam Brown Pamela Jane Barclay Brown (born 1948) is an Australian poet. Career Pam Brown was born in Seymour, Victoria. Most of her childhood was spent on military bases in Toowoomba and Brisbane. Since her early twenties, she has lived in Melbourne an ...

''Archival-Poetics'' by Natalie Harkin (Vagabond) *

''Fifteeners'' by

Jordie Albiston Jordie Albiston (30 September 1961 – 28 February 2022) was an Australian poet. Early life Jordie Albiston grew up in Melbourne, the second of four children. She studied music at the Victorian College of the Arts before completing a docto ...

''At the altar of touch'', by Gavin Yuan Gao

Non-Fiction Award

Winners: * 1986 ''A History of Prince Alfred College'' by R M Gibbs (Peacock Publications) * 1988 ''The Myriad Faces of War'' by Trevor Wilson (Polity/Blackwells) * 1990 ''Satura'' by John Bray ( Wakefield Press) * 1992 ''Patrick White – A Life'' by David Marr (

Random House Australia Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the followi ...

) * 1994 ''Sort of a Place Like Home: Remembering the Moore River Native Settlement'' by Susan Maushart (Fremantle Arts Centre Press) * 1996 ''The Future Eaters'' by

(Reed Books) * 1998 ''Claiming a Continent: A History of Australia'' by David Day (

) * 2000 ''Throw'im Way Leg: An Adventure'' by

(

Text Publishing Text Publishing is an Australian publisher of fiction and non-fiction, based in Melbourne, Victoria. Company background Text Media was founded in Melbourne in 1990 by Diana Gribble and Eric Beecher, along with designer Chong Weng Ho and oth ...

) * 2002 ''Leviathan: The Unauthorised Biography of Sydney'' by

John Birmingham John Birmingham (born 7 August 1964) is a British-born Australian author, known for the 1994 memoir ''He Died with a Felafel in His Hand'', the ''Axis of Time'' trilogy, and the well-received space opera series, the ''Cruel Stars'' trilogy. ...

(

) * 2004 ''Unearthed: The Aboriginal Tasmanians of Kangaroo Island'' by Rebe Taylor ( Wakefield Press) * 2006 ''Velocity'' by

Mandy Sayer Mandy Sayer (born 1963) is an Australian novelist and narrative non-fiction writer. She was born in 1963 in the Sydney suburb of Marrickville, the third of three children. She began writing poetry and stories at the age of six. Her parents separ ...

(

) * 2008 ''Sunrise West'' by Jacob G Rosenberg (Brandl & Schlesinger) * 2010 ''Stella Miles Franklin'' by Jill Roe (Fourth Estate /

) * 2012 ''An Eye for Eternity: The Life of Manning Clark'' by

Mark McKenna Mark McKenna (born 5 May 1996) is an Irish actor, singer, songwriter, and producer. He is known for having starred in the film ''Sing Street'' and the YouTube Premium Original series '' Wayne''. Career McKenna made his film debut in 2016 in ' ...

* 2014 ''Madness: A Memoir'' by Kate Richards * 2016 ''What Days Are For'' by

Robert Dessaix Robert Dessaix (born 1944), also known as Robert Jones, is an Australian novelist, essayist and journalist. Early life and education Robert Dessaix was born in Sydney, Australia, and was adopted at an early age by Tom and Jean Jones, after w ...

* 2018 ''The Boy Behind the Curtain'' by

Tim Winton Timothy John Winton (born 4 August 1960) is an Australian writer. He has written novels, children's books, non-fiction books, and short stories. In 1997, he was named a Living Treasure by the National Trust of Australia, and has won the ...

*2020 '' The Bible in Australia'' by

Meredith Lake Meredith Lake (born 1980) is an Australian author, historian of religion and broadcaster. Early life and education Lake grew up in Sydney in a devout Anglican household. She has a PhD from the University of Sydney, exploring religious narrati ...

(NewSouth) *2022 ''Olive Cotton: A Life in Photography'' by Helen Ennis *2024 ''Childhood'' by Shannon Burns

South Australian awards & fellowships

Jill Blewett Playwright's Award

(Offered 1992− ) Winners: * 1992 ''

Bran Nue Dae __NOTOC__ ''Bran Nue Dae'' is a 1990 musical set in Broome, Western Australia, that tells stories and of issues relating to Indigenous Australians. It was written by Jimmy Chi and his band Kuckles and friends, and was the first Aboriginal Aust ...

'' by

Jimmy Chi James Ronald Chi (1948 – 26 June 2017) was an Australian composer, musician and playwright. His best known work is the 1990 musical ''Bran Nue Dae'', which was adapted for film in 2009. Early life and education James Ronald Chi was born in B ...

(Kuckles and Bran Nue Dae Productions) * 1994 ''Sweetown'' by Melissa Reeves (Red Shed) * 1996 ''Because You Are Mine'' by

Daniel Keene Daniel Keene (born 1955) is an Australian playwright whose work has been performed throughout the world. Career Keene's plays have been performed in Australia, France, Poland and the United States. Many of his plays have been published in Fr ...

(Red Shed) * 1998 ''Wolf Lullaby'' by Hilary Bell (Griffin Theatre Company) * 2000 ''Who's Afraid of the Working Class?'' by

Andrew Bovell Andrew Bovell (born 1962) is an Australian writer for theatre, film and television. Life Bovell was born on 23 November 1962 in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia and completed his secondary school education in Perth. He graduated from the Universi ...

Patricia Cornelius Patricia Cornelius (born 1952) is an Australian playwright and co-founder of Melbourne Workers Theatre. Career Cornelius has written many plays, including ''Slut'' (2008, Platform Youth Theatre), ''The Call'' (2009, Griffin Theatre Company), ...

, Melissa Reeves &

Christos Tsiolkas Christos Tsiolkas is an Australian author, playwright, and screenwriter. He is especially known for '' The Slap'', which was both well-received critically and highly successful commercially. Several of his books have been adapted for film and t ...

(Melbourne Workers Theatre) * 2002 ''Small Faith'' by Josh Tyler * 2004 '' Beautiful Words: A Trilogy'' by Sean Riley * 2006 ''This Uncharted Hour'' by

Finegan Kruckemeyer Finegan Kruckemeyer (born 1981) is an Australian playwright. Early life Kruckemeyer was born in 1981 in Cork, Ireland, of a German father and Irish mother. The family moved to Adelaide, South Australia when Finegan was eight years old, and h ...

* 2008 ''Merger – Art, Life and the Other Thing'' by Duncan Graham * 2010 ''This Place'' by Nina Pearce * 2012 ''A Cathedral'' by Nicki Bloom * 2014 ''Replay'' by Philip Kavanagh * 2016 ''Cut'' by Duncan Graham AND ''Blessed'' by Fleur Kilpatrick (joint winners) * 2018 ''19 Weeks'' by Emily Steel * 2020 ''Forgiveness'' by Piri Eddy * 2022 ''Calendar Days'' by Peter Beaglehole * 2024 ''Paradise lost'' by Melissa-Kelly Franklin

Arts SA/Wakefield Press Unpublished Manuscript Award

(Offered 1998– ) * 1998 ''Counting the Rivers'' by Pearlie McNeil * 2000 (No winner) * 2002 ''The Black Dream'' by Corrie Hosking * 2004 ''Goddamn Bus of Happiness'' by Stefan Laszczuk * 2006 ''The Quakers'' by Rachel Hennessy * 2008 ''The Second Fouling Mark'' by Stephen Orr * 2010 ''End of the Night Girl'' by Amy T Matthews * 2012 ''The First Week'' by Margaret Merrilees * 2014 ''Here Where We Live'' by Cassie Flanagan-Willanski * 2016 ''Mallee Boys'' by Charlie Archbold * 2018 ''A New Name for the Colour Blue'' by Annette Marner *2020 ''In the Room with the She Wolf'' by Jelena Dinic *2022 ''The Comforting Weight of Water'' by Roanna McClelland *2024 ''Salt Upon the Water'' by Lyn Dickens

Barbara Hanrahan Fellowship

(Offered 1994– ) Winners: * 1994 Barry Westburg * 1996 Moya Costello * 1998 Cath Kenneally * 2000 Jan Owen * 2002 Graham Rowlands * 2004 Kirsty Brooks * 2006

Mike Ladd Mike Ladd is an American alternative hip-hop artist. Based in Paris, France, ''The Guardian'' once described him as "the king of the hip-hop concept." Early life Mike Ladd was born in Boston, Massachusetts. As a child, he lived in India and Zimb ...

* 2008 Steve Evans * 2010 Patrick Allington * 2012 Nicki Bloom * 2014 Jennifer Mills * 2016 Carol Lefevre * 2018 Jude Aquilina * 2020 Aidan Coleman * 2022 Rachel Mead * 2024 ''Radiance: a state of being'' by Molly Murn

Max Fatchen (formerly Carclew) Fellowship

(Carclew Fellowship 1988–2012; renamed Max Fatchen Fellowship from 2014, in honour of children's writer Max Fatchen, who died in 2012.) Winners: * 1988 Geoff Goodfellow * 1990 Anne-Marie Mykyta * 1992 Anne Brookman * 1994 Peter McFarlane * 1996

Chris Tugwell Chris Tugwell is an Australian dramatist, screenwriter, and author. Best known as a playwright, his most successful play was ''X-Ray'', which he also produced. He was a dancer and actor before turning to writing full-time. He also teaches scre ...

* 1998

Phil Cummings Phil Cummings is a South Australian children's fiction author. Born in Port Broughton, his first book, "Goodness Gracious", was published in 1989.Heuzenroeder, Catherine (1 July 2012).Children's author draws from book of life. ABC RiverRetrieved ...

* 2000 Ian Bone * 2002 Ruth Starke * 2004 Marguerite Hann-Syme * 2006 Christine Harris * 2008 Rosanne Hawke * 2010 Nicole Plüss * 2012

Janeen Brian Janeen Brian (born 1948) is a South Australian writer of children's books. A primary school teacher prior to 1990, when she started writing full time, she published her 100th book in September, 2016. Brian's work for middle school children ''Yo ...

* 2014 Helen Dinmore (writing as Catherine Norton) * 2016 Marianne Musgrove * 2018

Danielle Clode Danielle Clode is an Australian author of literary nonfiction, history and children's books. She is an associate professor of creative writing at Flinders University. Early life and education Clode was born in Adelaide in 1968 and spent her ea ...

* 2020 Sally Heinrich * 2022 Poppy Nwosu * 2024 ''The children of Elphinstone'', by James A Cooper

Tangkanungku Pintyanthi Fellowship

(Offered 2014– ; full name Tangkanungku Pintyanthi Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Fellowship) Winners: * 2014

Ali Cobby Eckermann Ali Cobby Eckermann (born 1963) is an Australian poet of Aboriginal Australian ancestry. She is a Yankunytjatjara woman born on Kaurna land in South Australia. Eckermann has written poetry collections, verse novels and a memoir, and has been ...

for ''Hopes Crossing'' * 2016 Ali Cobby Eckermann for ''Too Afraid to Cry'' * 2018 Edoardo Crismani * 2022 Karen Wyld * 2024 ''Monologues, poems and ramblings for you, them, us… and me…'' by Alexis West

Historic awards

Innovation award

(Offered 2004–2010)
Winners: * 2004 ''The Eastern Slope Chronicle'' by Ouyang Yu (Brandl and Schlesinger) * 2006 by MTC Cronin (Shearsman Books) * 2008 ''Someone Else: Fictional Essays'' by

John Hughes John Hughes may refer to: Arts and Entertainment Literature *John Hughes (poet) (1677–1720), English poet *John Hughes (1790–1857), English author *John Ceiriog Hughes (1832–1887), Welsh poet *John Hughes (writer) (born 1961), Australian au ...

(

Giramondo Publishing Giramondo Publishing (Giramondo Publishing Company) is an independent Australian literary small press founded in 1995. It is a publisher of poetry, fiction and non-fiction by Australian and overseas writers, and works in translation from Chinese ...

) * 2010 ''Barley Patch'' by

Gerald Murnane Gerald Murnane (born 25 February 1939) is an Australian novelist, short story writer, poet and essayist. Perhaps best known for his 1982 novel ''The Plains'', he has won acclaim for his distinctive prose and exploration of memory, identity and ...

(

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The Mayne Award for Multimedia

Formerly the Faulding Award for Multimedia (offered 1998 to 2004).
Winners: * 1998 FlightPaths: Writing Journeys by Julie Clarke, Rob Finlayson, Tom Gibson, Denise Higgins, Bernie Jannsen, Nazid Kimmie and Adrian Marshall * 2000 Carrier by Melinda Rackham (www.subtle.net/carrier) * 2002 Poems in a Flash @ The Stalking Tongue website Jayne Fenton Keane and David Keane (www.poetinresidence.com) * 2004 Concatenation by Geniwate

References

{{reflist Awards established in 1986 Australian literary awards Culture of South Australia 1986 establishments in Australia

History

Description

National awards

Premier's Award

Fiction Award

Children's Literature Award

Young Adult Fiction Award

John Bray Poetry Award

Non-Fiction Award

South Australian awards & fellowships

Jill Blewett Playwright's Award

Arts SA/Wakefield Press Unpublished Manuscript Award

Barbara Hanrahan Fellowship

Max Fatchen (formerly Carclew) Fellowship

Tangkanungku Pintyanthi Fellowship

Historic awards

Innovation award

The Mayne Award for Multimedia

See also

References