NSW Premier's Literary Awards | State Library of New South Wales

NSW Premier's Literary Awards | State Library of New South Wales

2013 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards: winners & Shortlist

Total prize money for the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards in 2013, including sponsored awards, is up to $315,000. Writers and illustrators whose works are nominated must be living Australian citizens or persons holding permanent resident status.
Click on category title to view judges' reports.

Christina Stead Prize (Fiction, $40,000)

Winner: Mateship with Birds, Carrie Tiffany (Pan Macmillan Australia)

• The Voyage, Murray Bail (Text Publishing)
• The Daughters of Mars, Tom Keneally (Random House Australia)
• Foal’s Bread, Gillian Mears (Allen & Unwin)
• Cold Light, Frank Moorhouse (Random House Australia)
• Mateship with Birds, Carrie Tiffany (Pan Macmillan Australia)
• Animal People, Charlotte Wood (Allen & Unwin)

UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing ($5,000)

Winner:  The Last Thread, Michael Sala (Affirm Press)

• Eleven Seasons, Paul D. Carter (Allen & Unwin)
• The Burial, Courtney Collins (Allen & Unwin)
• Sufficient Grace, Amy Espeseth (Scribe)
• Running Dogs, Ruby Murray (Scribe)
• The Weight of a Human Heart, Ryan O’Neill (Black Inc.)
• The Last Thread, Michael Sala (Affirm Press)

Douglas Stewart Prize (Non-fiction, $40,000)

Winner: The Office: A Hard Working History, Gideon Haigh (Melbourne University Publishing)

• Exile: The Lives and Hopes of Werner Pelz, Roger Averill (Transit Lounge)
• Ben Jonson: A Life, Ian Donaldson (Oxford University Press)
• The Biggest Estate on Earth, Bill Gammage (Allen & Unwin)
• Double Entry, Jane Gleeson-White (Allen & Unwin)
• The Office: A Hard Working History, Gideon Haigh (Melbourne University Publishing)

Kenneth Slessor Prize (Poetry, $30,000)

Winner: Ruby Moonlight, Ali Cobby-Eckermann (Magabala Books)

• Ruby Moonlight, Ali Cobby-Eckermann (Magabala Books)
• First Light, Kate Fagan (Giramondo)
• Open Sesame, Michael Farrell (Giramondo)
• The Welfare of My Enemy, Anthony Lawrence  (Puncher & Wattman)
• Ladylike, Kate Lilley (UWA Publishing)
• Here, There and Elsewhere, Vivian Smith (Giramondo)

Patricia Wrightson Prize (Children’s Literature, $30,000)

Winner: The Ghost of Miss Annabel Spoon, Aaron Blabey (Penguin Group Australia)

• The Ghost of Miss Annabel Spoon, Aaron Blabey (Penguin Group Australia)
• Brotherband 1: The Outcasts, John Flanagan (Random House Australia)
• Pookie Aleera is Not My Boyfriend, Steven Herrick (University of Queensland Press)
• A Bear and a Tree, Stephen Michael King (Penguin Group Australia)
• The Tender Moments of Saffron Silk: Kingdom of Silk Series # 6, Glenda Millard (author) and Stephen Michael King (illustrator) (HarperCollins Australia)
• Dragonkeeper Book 4: Blood Brothers, Carole Wilkinson (Walker Books Australia)

Ethel Turner Prize (Young People’s Literature, $30,000)

Winner: A Corner of White, Jaclyn Moriarty (Pan Macmillan Australia)

• Three Summers, Judith Clarke (Allen & Unwin)
• The Ink Bridge, Neil Grant (Allen & Unwin)
• Sea Hearts, Margo Lanagan (Allen & Unwin)
• A Corner of White, Jaclyn Moriarty (Pan Macmillan Australia)
• Into that Forest, Louis Nowra (Allen & Unwin)
• Unforgotten, Tohby Riddle (Allen & Unwin)

Nick Enright Prize (Playwriting, $30,000)

Winner: The Damned, Reg Cribb (Black Swan State Theatre Company)

• The Damned, Reg Cribb (Black Swan State Theatre Company)
• Return to Earth, Lally Katz (Currency Press, Melbourne Theatre Company)
• Day One. A Hotel, Evening, Joanna Murray-Smith (Red Stitch Actor’s Theatre)
• Happy Ending, Melissa Reeves (Melbourne Theatre Company)
• Food, Steve Rodgers (Belvoir, Force Majeure)
• A Hoax, Rick Viede (Currency Press, La Boit Theatre Co, Griffin Theatre Co)

Betty Roland Prize (Scriptwriting, $30,000)

Winner: Dead Europe, Louise Fox (See-saw films)

• Rake (Season 2 Episode 4): R v Floyd, Andrew Knight (ABC TV / Essential Media Entertainment)
• The Left to Die Boat, Sharon Davis & Geoffrey Parish (ABC Radio National)
• Dead Europe, Louise Fox (See-saw films)
• Burning Man, Jonathan Teplitzky (Meercat films)

Community Relations Commission for a multicultural NSW Award ($20,000)

Winner: Don’t Go Back to Where You Came From, Tim Soutphommasane (New South Publishing)

• All Windows Open and Other Stories, Hariklia Heristanidis (Clouds of Magellan)
• Don’t Go Back to Where You Came From, Tim Soutphommasane (New South Publishing)
• Beneath the Darkening Sky, Majok Tulba (Penguin Group Australia)
• Anguli Ma: A Gothic Tale, Chi Vu (Giramondo)

NSW Premier’s Translation Prize ($30,000)

Winner: Mr Peter Boyle

• Mr Peter Boyle
• Ms Alison Entrekin
• Professor Brian Nelson
• Professor Ouyang Yu

The NSW Premier's Translation Prize is offered biennially. The Prize is intended to acknowledge the contribution made to literary culture by Australian translators.
Proposed by the International PEN Sydney, it is funded by the NSW Government and the Community Relations Commission for a multicultural NSW, with a commemorative medallion sponsored by Sydney PEN.

Special Award

David Ireland AM
Under exceptional circumstances, the judges may propose that a Special Award be made, either for an Australian literary work that is not readily covered by existing Awards categories or in recognition of an Australian writer's achievements generally.

People's Choice

Animal People, Charlotte Wood (Allen & Unwin)

Book of the Year

Ruby Moonlight, Ali Cobby-Eckermann (Magabala Books)