Victorian Premier's Literary Award

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The Victorian Premier's Literary Awards were created by the Victorian Government with the aim of raising the profile of contemporary creative writing and Australia's publishing industry.

They were established in 1985 by John Cain, the Premier of Victoria at that time, to mark the centenary of the births of Vance and Nettie Palmer, two of Australia's best-known writers and critics who both made significant contributions to Victorian and Australian literary culture.

From 1986 through till 1997 they were presented as part of the Melbourne Writers Festival.

In 1997 the administration of the awards was transferred to the State Library of Victoria. By 2004 the award's total prize money was $180,000 AUD.

Past fiction winners included David Malouf (Antipodes, 1985) Amanda Lohrey (Camille’s Bread, 1996), Peter Carey (Illywhacker, 1986 and True History of the Kelly Gang, 2001), Kate Grenville (Dark Places, 1995) and Raimond Gaita (Romulus, My Father, 1998).

Past non-fiction winners include "Voyages to the South Seas: In search of Terres Australes" by Danielle Clode (2007), "Margaret Michaelis: Love, Loss and Photography" by Helen Ennis (2006), "Broken Song: T.G.H. Strehlow and Aboriginal Possession" by Barry Hill (2003), "The Boyds: A Family Biography" by Brenda Niall (2002), "Broken Circles: Fragmenting Indigenous Families 1800-2000" by Anna Haebich (2001) "The White" by Adrian Caesar (2000)

[edit] Awards Categories

  • The Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction
  • The Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-fiction
  • The Prize for Young Adult Fiction
  • The Prize for an Unpublished Manuscript by an Emerging Victorian Writer
  • The C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry
  • The Louis Esson Prize for Drama
  • The Alfred Deakin Prize for an Essay Advancing Public Debate
  • The Prize for Science Writing
  • The Village Roadshow Prize for Screen Writing
  • The Grollo Ruzzene Foundation Prize for Writing about Italians in Australia
  • The John Curtin Prize for Journalism
  • The Prize for Indigenous Writing (Biennal)
  • The Prize for a First Book of History (Biennal)
  • The Dinny O'Hearn Prize for Literary Translation. (Triennal)

[edit] External links