The Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards 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 - distinguished writers and critics who made significant contributions to Victorian and Australian literary culture. The current Premier, John Brumby (left) will dispense a generous $195,000 in prize money in 2008..
In 1997 the administration of the awards was transferred to the State Library of Victoria where the Official Site resides.
In recent time winners include Peter Careys's, Theft: A Love Story, Tara June Winch's Swallow the Air ,Scott Westerfeld's So Yesterday. The 2007 winner, Carpentaria by Alexis Wright also won last years Miles Franklin Award. Whilst the winner of the 2006 CJ Dennis Poetry John Tranter's Urban Myths: 210 Poems went on to win this years, 2008, Adelaide Festival Poetry Prize. On the money your judgeships.....
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards2008
THE PREMIER'S PICKS for 2008- September 3rd
Fiction
The Spare Room by Helen Garner
Non-fiction
The Ferocious Summer: Palmer's penguins and the warming of Antarctica by Meredith Hooper
Poetry
Press Release by Lisa Gorton
Drama
'When the Rain Stops Falling' by Andrew Bovell
Young Adult Fiction
Tomorrow All Will Be Beautiful by Brigid Lowry
First Book of History
The Lamb Enters the Dreaming by Robert Kenny
Essay
'Trapped in the Aboriginal Reality ' by Marcia Langton
Indigenous Writing
Anonymous Premonitions by Yvette Holt
Music Theatre Script
'The Wild Blue' by Anthony Crowley
Unpublished Manuscript
'Going Finish' by Mandy Maroney
Writing about Italians in Australia
Head Over Heel by Chris Harrison
Journalism
Out of Control by Richard Flanagan
2008 Shortlists
The Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction
Diary Of A Bad Year, JM Coetzee (Text Publishing)
The Lost Dog, Michelle de Kretser, (Allen & Unwin)
The Spare Room, Helen Garner, (Text Publishing)
The Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-fiction
Van Diemen’s Land, James Boyc, (Black Inc)
Napoleon, Philip Dwyer, (Allen & Unwin)
Ferocious Summer, Meredith Hooper, (Allen & Unwin)
Detainee 002, Leigh Sales (Melbourne University Publishing)
Muck, Craig Sherborne, (Black Inc)
The Prize for Young Adult Fiction
Solo, Alyssa Brugman, (Allen & Unwin)
Pool, Justin D’Ath, (Ford Street Publishing)
Tomorrow All Will Be Beautiful, Brigid Lowry, (Allen & Unwin)
The Prize for an Unpublished Manuscript by an Emerging Victorian Writer
Conditions of Return, Daniel Ducrou
Going Finish, Mandy Maroney
In Search of the Blue Tiger, Robert Power
The C J Dennis Prize for Poetry
Event, Judith Bishop, (Salt Publishing)
Press Release, Lisa Gorton, (Giramondo Publishing)
As We Draw Ourselves, Barry Hill, (Five Islands Press)
The Louis Esson Prize for Drama
'When the Rain Stops Falling', Andrew Bovell, (Brink Productions)
'The Story of the Miracles at Cookie’s Table' Wesley Enoch, (Currency Press)
'Toy Symphony', Michael Gow (Belvoir Street Theatre)
The Alfred Deakin Prize for an Essay Advancing Public Debate
'Out of Control: The Tragedy of Tasmania’s Forests', Richard Flanagan, (The Monthly)
'Trapped in the Aboriginal Reality Show', Marcia Langton, (Griffith Review)
'Love and Money', Anne Manne (Quarterly Essay)
'The Exiled Child', Meera Atkinson, (Griffith Review)
The Prize for a First Book of History
Van Diemen’s Land, James Boyce, (Black Inc)
The Lamb Enters the Dreaming, Robert Kenny, (Scribe)
Pistols! Treason! Murder!, Jonathan Walker, (Melbourne University Publishing)
The Prize for Indigenous Writing
Anonymous Premonitions, Yvette Holt, (University of Queensland Press)
Me, Antman & Fleabag, Gayle Kennedy, (University of Queensland Press)
Fight for Liberty and Freedom: The Origins of Australian Aboriginal Activism, John Maynard
(Aboriginal Studies Press)
The John Curtin Prize for Journalism
'The Search for Edna Lavilla' Eurydice Aroney and Sharon Davis
(Radio Eye, ABC Radio National)
"
Shame Job: Circle of Abuse, Nick Farrow and Sarah Ferguson
(Sunday Program, Nine Network Australia)
"Out of Control: The Tragedy of Tasmania’s Forests", Richard Flanagan
(The Monthly)
The Prize for Best Music Theatre Script
"The Hanging of Jean Lee' , Libretto by Jordie Albiston and Abe Pogos
Composed by Andrée Greenwell
Based upon the verse history by Jordie Albiston
(The Studio, Sydney Opera House)
'The Wild Blue', Music, lyrics and book by Anthony Crowley
(St Martins Theatre)
Crossing Live
Words by Matthew Saville
Music by Bryony Marks
(Chambermade)
The Grollo Ruzzene Foundation Prize for Writing about Italians in Australia
See Naples and Die, Penelope Green, (Hachette Australia)
Head Over Heel, Chris Harrison, (Murdoch Books)
Antonio’s Seed, Merry Watson, (Jeremiah’s Circle Publishing)
Victorian Premier's Literary Award Winners 2007
2007 Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction
- Winner
Carpentaria, Alexis Wright, Giramondo
Judges report- Alexis Wright (right) , in Carpentaria, has created an epic centred on the town of Desperance, in the vast Gulf country of northwestern Queensland. Where lives are shaped and measured by the annual destructive cyclonic floods and the daily cleansing tides. At the novel’s heart is Norm Phantom, patriarch of his family and leader of the Pricklebush people.
Carpentaria demonstrates that Wright is an inventive writer of great reach. Indeed, it is almost audacious in its scope and ambition. In her marrying of the oral tradition with the written word Wright takes a bold stylistic risk, but it has paid off with a complicated net of stories coming vibrantly alive on the page. Wright has created a strong, confident and vivid voice with a healthy dose of sly humour
The Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-fiction
- Winner
Voyages to the South Seas: In Search of Terres Australes, Danielle Clode (left)
The Miegunyah Press/Melbourne University Publishing in association with the State Library of Victoria
Judges report- Danielle Clode's Voyages to the South Seas: In Search of Terres Australes utilises the creative and intellectual skills of the writer to tell the little-known story of the French exploration of, and engagement with, the Pacific landscape during the late 18th and early decades of the 19th century. This is both a scholarly and narrative-driven book that unfolds its history through the cast of real life characters who helped to form it.
The C J Dennis Prize for Poetry- Winner
Jack, Judy Johnson (right)- poets website
Pandanus Books
Judges report -The verse-novel is a genre that has become fashionable, but with varied degrees of success. Jack is one of the rare triumphs in this mode. The narrative is compelling, characters powerful, and the setting at once squalid and rich. The tension sustained here between a claustrophobic pearling lugger and the seductive tropical seas is unrelenting. And so, the reader is trapped.
Back to top
2007 Louis Esson Prize for Drama- Winner
'A Single Act' Jane Bodie
Melbourne Theatre Company
2007 Prize for Young Adult Fiction- Winner
Notes from the Teenage Underground, Simmone Howell (left)
Pan Macmillan Australia
Judges report- Simmone Howell’s debut, Notes from the Teenage Underground,captures with near perfect pitch the edgy,wild voices and antics of three teenage girls, counter pointed by their bursts of anguish and despair. They intend to make their mark by creating a Warhol-inspired ‘happening’ and making an ‘underground’ (UG) movie. The book pays tribute to popular culture and the desire to be ‘cool’, as well as to the protagonists’ intellectual pursuits (movies and writing). Add sizzling wit and a sharp understanding of teenage concerns and we have a book equally attractive to boys and girls.
The Prize for Science Writing- Winner
The Silent Deep: The Discovery, Ecology and Conservation of the Deep Sea, Tony Koslow
University of New South Wales Press
Judges report- Tony Koslow, a deep sea ecologist, wonderfully chronicles the exploration of the deep sea and provides the reader with a current and remarkable view of arguably the last frontier on planet Earth. Beautifully illustrated with early scientific drawings and stunning colour photographs, Koslow’s clear writing brings the reader close to bizarre worlds, their incredible biodiversity and the impact that humans are having on them.
- 2007 Grollo Ruzzene Foundation Prize for Writing about Italians in Australia
- Madonna of the Eucalypts, Karen Sparnon(Text Publishing) -
-
- The Alfred Deakin Prize for an Essay Advancing Public Debate
'The Writer in a Time of Terror', Frank Moorhouse Griffith Review
2007 Village Roadshow Prize for Screen Writing
The Tumbler, Chris Thompson
A Mondayitis/Ztudio production
2007 Prize for an Unpublished Manuscript by an Emerging Victorian Writer
The Ghost Writer, Nick Gadd
- The John Curtin Prize for Journalism
-
-
- 'Muslim Leader Blames Women for Sex Attacks' (plus associated stories),
- Richard Kerbaj (The Australian)
- Back to top
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards: Other short listed 2007
The Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction
The Time We Have Taken, Steven Carroll
(Fourth Estate/Harper Collins Australia)
Feather Man, Rhyll McMaster
(Brandl and Schlesinger)
- The Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-fiction
- Whose ABC? The Australian Broadcasting Corporation 1983-2006, Ken Inglis
(Black Inc)
Life Class: The Education of a Biographer, Brenda Niall
(Melbourne University Press/Melbourne University Publishing)
Unpolished Gem Alice Pung
(Black Inc)
Writing Never Arrives Naked: Early Aboriginal Cultures of Writing
- in Australia,Penny van Toorn
(Aboriginal Studies Press)
The C J Dennis Prize for Poetry
The Goldfinches of Baghdad, Robert Adamson
(Flood Editions)
Montale: A Biographical Anthology, John Watson
(Puncher & Wattman)
The Louis Esson Prize for Drama
A Single Act, Jane Bodie
(Melbourne Theatre Company)
Asylum- Kit Lazaroo
(La Mama/HereTheatre)
It Just Stopped
- Stephen Sewell
(Malthouse Theatre)
- Back to top
The Prize for Young Adult Fiction
Gravity, Scot Gardner
(Pan Macmillan)- Black Water, David Metzenthen
(Penguin Books Australia)
The Prize for Science Writing
Swimming in Stone: The Amazing Gogo Fossils of the Kimberley, John Long
(Fremantle Arts Centre Press)- Climate Change: Turning Up the Heat, A Barrie Pittock
(CSIRO Publishing)
The Alfred Deakin Prize for an Essay Advancing Public Debate
'The Exiled Chil'd, Meera Atkinson
(Griffith Review)- "Voting for Jesus: Christianity and Politics in Australia', Amanda Lohrey
(Quarterly Essay/Black Inc)
-
'White Guilt, Victimhood and the Quest for a Radical Centre', Noel Pearson
(Griffith Review)
The Village Roadshow Prize for Screen Writing-
'Ten Empty', Brendan Cowell and Anthony Hayes
(Yeah Right/Dragonfly Pictures)- 'The Home Song Stories', Tony Ayres
(Porchlight Films)
The Prize for an Unpublished Manuscript by an Emerging Victorian Writer
Dissection, Jacinta Halloran- The Wog Manual, Amra Pajalic
The Grollo Ruzzene Foundation Prize for Writing about Italians in Australia
Chewing Gum in Holy Water: Mario Valentini’s Childhood in the - Abruzzo MountainsCheryl Hardacre & Mario Valentini (Allen & Unwin)
- The Grand Experiment: Two Boys, Two Cultures, Anouk Ride
(Hachette Livre Australia)
The John Curtin Prize for Journalism
'Hicks on Tria'l, Amanda Collinge and Jenny Brockie
(‘Insight’/SBS Television)-
- Cruising', Malcolm Knox
(The Monthly)
- Back to top
Premier's Literary Award Winners 2006
The Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction - Theft: A Love Story
by Peter Carey
Knopf/Random House
The Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-fiction
- Margaret Michaelis: Love, Loss and Photography
by Helen Ennis
National Gallery of Australia
The C J Dennis Prize for Poetry- Urban Myths: 210 Poems
by John Tranter
University of Queensland Press
The Louis Esson Prize for Drama- 'Three Furies: Scenes from the Life of Francis Bacon'
by Stephen Sewell
Adelaide Festival
The Prize for Young Adult Fiction- Theodora's Gift
by Ursula Dubosarsky
Penguin Books Australia
- The Prize for a First Book of History
- Human Remains: Dissection and Its Histories
by Helen MacDonald
Melbourne University Publishing
The Alfred Deakin Prize for an Essay Advancing Public Debate- 'Is the Media Asleep? from Do Not Disturb: Is the Media Failing Australia?'
by David Marr
Black Inc
The Village Roadshow Prize for Screen Writing- 'Noise'
by Matthew Saville
Retroactive Films
The Prize for Indigenous Writing
Swallow the Air (Black Australian Writing)
by Tara June Winch
University of Queensland Press
The Prize for an Unpublished Manuscript by an Emerging Victorian Writer
Rohypnol
by Andrew Hutchinson
The Grollo Ruzzene Foundation Prize for Writing about Italians in Australia
When in Rome: Chasing La Dolce Vita
by Penelope Green
Hachette Livre Australia
The John Curtin Prize for Journalism
'Information Idol: How Google is Making Us Stupid'
by Gideon Haigh
The Monthly
'The Tall Man'
by Chloe Hooper
The Monthly
Back to top
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards: Winners 2005
The Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction- Surrender
by Sonya Hartnett
Viking/Penguin
The Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-fiction- Twilight of Love: Travels with Turgenev
by Robert Dessaix
Picador/Pan Macmillan
The C J Dennis Prize for Poetry- <More or Less Than 1-100>
by MTC Cronin
Shearsman Books
The Louis Esson Prize for Drama- 'The Spook'
by Melissa Reeves
Company B. Belvoir St.
- Back to top
The Prize for Young Adult Fiction
So Yesterday
by Scott Westerfeld
Penguin Books Australia
The Prize for Science Writing
Astonishing Animals
by Tim Flannery and Peter Schouten
Text Publishing
The Alfred Deakin Prize for an Essay Advancing Public Debate
Living in a Material World
by Randa Abdel-Fattah
Griffith Review
The Village Roadshow Prize for Screen Writing- 'Revealing Gallipoli'
by Wain Fimeri
December Films
The Prize for an Unpublished Manuscript by an Emerging Victorian Writer- I Hate Martin Amis et al
by Peter Barry
The Grollo Ruzzene Foundation Prize for Writing about Italians in Australia- A Spoonful of Zucchero
by Kate Taylor
Little Red Apple Publishing
- Back to top
Premier's Literary Awards Winners 2004
The Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction- Slow Water
by Annamarie Jagose
Vintage/Random House
The Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-Fiction- Car Wars: How the Car Won Our Hearts and Conquered Our Cities
by Graeme Davison
Allen & Unwin
The CJ Dennis Prize for Poetry- Wolf Notes
by Judith Beveridge
Giramondo
The Louis Esson Prize for Drama- 'Myth, Propaganda and Disaster in Nazi Germany and Contemporary America: A Drama in 30 Scenes'
by Stephen Sewell. Playbox/Currency
The Prize for Young Adult Fiction- Black Juice
by Margo Lanagan- Allen & Unwin
The Prize for Indigenous Writing- Her Sister’s Eye
by Vivienne Cleven
University of Queensland Press
The Alfred Deakin Prize for an Essay Advancing Public Debate- 'The Mood We Are In: Circa Australia Day 2004'
by Barry Hill
Overland Magazine
The Village Roadshow Prize for Screen Writing- Somersault
by Cate Shortland
Red Carpet Productions
The Prize for an Unpublished Manuscript by an Emerging Victorian Writer- Thai Died
by Angela Savage
The Prize for a First Book of History- Unearthed: The Aboriginal Tasmanians of Kangaroo Island
by Rebe Taylor
Wakefield Press
-
-
-
-
Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction Winners 1985 to 2007 in brief
Back to top
2007
Carpentaria
Alexis Wright
Giramondo
2006
Theft: A Love Story
Peter Carey
Knopf/Random House
2005
Surrender
Sonya Hartnett
Viking/Penguin
2004
Slow Water
Annamarie Jagose
Vintage/Random House
2003
Shanghai Dancing
Brian Castro
Giramondo
2002
Gould’s Book of Fish: A Novel in Twelve Fish
Richard Flanagan
Picador/Pan Macmillan Australia
2001
True History of the Kelly Gang
Peter Carey
University of Queensland Press
2000
Out of Ireland
Christopher Koch
Doubleday/Random House Australia
1999
Mr Darwin’s Shooter
Roger McDonald
Random House Australia
1998
The Sound of One Hand Clapping
by Richard Flanagan
Pan Macmillan
Back to top
1997
The Drowner
Robert Drewe
Pan Macmillan
1996
Camille’s Bread
Amanda Lohrey
HarperCollins
1995
Dark Places
Kate Grenville
Pan Macmillan
1994
What I Have Written
John A Scott
McPhee Gribble
1993
After China
Brian Castro
Allen & Unwin
1992
Double-wolf
Brian Castro
Allen & Unwin
1991
Still Murder
Finola Moorhead
Penguin Books
1990
Oceana Fine
Tom Flood
Allen & Unwin
1989
Captivity Captive
Rodney Hall
McPhee Gribble
1988
Holden’s Performance
Murray Bail
Penguin Books
Back to top
1987
Second Sight
Janine Burke
Greenhouse
1986
Illywhacker
Peter Carey
University of Queensland Press
1985
Antipodes
David Malouf
Chatto & Windus
The Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-fiction Winners 1985-2007 in brief
2007
Voyages to the South Seas: In Search of Terres Australes
Danielle Clode
The Miegunyah Press/Melbourne University Pubishing
2006
Margaret Michaelis : Love, Loss and Photography
Helen Ennis
National Gallery of Australia
2005
Twilight of Love: Travels with Turgenev
Robert Dessaix
Picador/Pan Macmillan
2004
Car Wars: How the Car Won Our Hearts and Conquered Our Cities
Graeme Davison
Allen & Unwin
2003
Broken Song: TGH Strehlow and Aboriginal Possession
Barry Hill
Knopf/Random House
2002
The Boyds: A Family Biography
Brenda Niall
The Miegunyah Press at Melbourne University Press
2001
Broken Circles: Fragmenting Indigenous Families 1800-2000
Anna Haebich
Fremantle Arts Centre Press
2000
The White
Adrian Caesar
Picador/Pan Macmillan
1999
M
Peter Robb
Duffy & Snellgrove
Back to top
1998
Romulus, My Father
Raimond Gaita
Text Publishing
1997
Midnight in Sicily
Peter Robb
Duffy and Snellgrove
1996
Hunters and Collectors
Tom Griffiths
Cambridge University Press
1995
Georgiana
Brenda Niall
The Miegunyah Press
1994
Lyrebird Rising
Jim Davidson
The Miegunyah Press
1993
Mr Bligh’s Bad Language
Greg Denning
Cambridge University Press
1992
Patrick White: A Life
David Marr
Random House
1991
Wild Card
Dorothy Hewett
McPhee Gribble
1990
The Sixpenny Soldier
Roland Griffiths-Marsh
Collins/Angus & Robertson
Back to top
1989
Paradise Lost and Found
Oskar Spate
Australian National University Press
1988
Louisa
Brian Matthews
McPhee Gribble
1987
Political Essays
Hugh Stretton
Cambridge University Press
1986
Evil Angels
John Bryson
Viking
1985
The Boy Adeodatus
Bernard Smith
Penguin Books
Back to top
| 
Over 100 Australian and International Award Details. Winners. Shorts. News. All Genres. Enter here>>
Digg
Delicious
Facebook
Stumble Upon
Furl
Magnolia
Reddit
