Other Australian lit awards

The Australian Literature Society Gold Medal is Australia’s oldest award, presented by the ALS until 1974 and subsequently the Association for the Study of Australian Literature for “an outstanding literary work”.

2023: Debra Dank – We Come With This Place
2022: Andy Jackson – Human Looking
2021: Nardi Simpson – Song of the Crocodile
2020: Charmaine Papertalk Green — Nganajungu Yagu

2019: Pam Brown — click here for what we do
2018: Shastra Deo – The Agonis
2017: Zoe Morrison – Music and Freedom
2016: Brenda Niall – Mannix
2015: Jennifer Maiden – Drones and Phantoms
2014: Alexis Wright – The Swan Book
2013: Michelle de Kretser – Questions of Travel
2012: Gillian Mears – Foal’s Bread
2011: Kim Scott – That Deadman Dance
2010: David Malouf – Ransom

2009: Christos Tsiolkas – The Slap
2008: Michelle de Kretser – The Lost Dog
2007: Alexis Wright – Carpentaria
2006: Gregory Day – The Patron Saint of Eels
2005: Gail Jones – Sixty Lights
2004: Laurie Duggan – Mangroves
2003: Kate Jennings – Moral Hazard
2002: Richard Flanagan – Gould’s Book of Fish
2001: Rodney Hall – The Day We Had Hitler Home
2000: Drusilla Modjeska – Stravinsky’s Lunch

1999: Murray Bail – Eucalyptus
1998: James Cowan – A Mapmaker’s Dream
1997: Robert Dessaix – Night Letters
1996: Amanda Lohrey – Camille’s Bread
1995: Helen Demidenko – The Hand That Signed the Paper
1994: Louis Nowra – Radiance and The Temple
1993: Elizabeth Riddell – Selected Poems
1992: Rodney Hall – The Second Bridegroom
1991: Elizabeth Jolley – Cabin Fever
1990: Peter Porter – Possible Worlds

1989: Frank Moorhouse – Forty-seventeen
1988: Brian Matthews – Louisa
1987: Alan Wearne – The Nightmarkets
1986: Thea Astley – Beachmasters
1985: David Ireland – Archimedes and the Seagle
1984: Les Murray – The People’s Other World
1983: David Malouf – Child’s Play; Fly Away Peter
1980–82: No Award

1975–79: No Award
1974: David Malouf – Neighbours in a Thicket
1973: Francis Webb
1972: Alex Buzo – Macquarie (play)
1971: Colin Badger
1970: Manning Clark

1966: A. D. Hope
1965: Patrick White – The Burnt Ones
1964: Geoffrey Blainey – The Rush that Never Ended
1963: John Morrison – Twenty-Three : Stories
1962: Vincent Buckley – Masters in Israel
1960: William Hart-Smith – Poems of Discovery

1959: Randolph Stow – To the Islands
1957: Martin Boyd – A Difficult Young Man
1955: Patrick White – The Tree of Man
1954: Mary Gilmore – Fourteen Men
1952: Tom Hungerford – The Ridge and the River : A Novel
1951: Rex Ingamells – The Great South Land : An Epic Poem
1950: Jon Cleary – Just Let Me Be

1949: Percival Serle – Dictionary of Australian Biography
1948: Herz Bergner – Between Sky and Sea
1942: Kylie Tennant – The Battlers
1941: Patrick White – Happy Valley
1940: William Baylebridge – This Vital Flesh

1939: Xavier Herbert – Capricornia
1938: R. D. FitzGerald – Moonlight Acre
1937: Seaforth Mackenzie – The Young Desire It
1936: Eleanor Dark – Return to Coolami
1935: Winifred Birkett – Earth’s Quality
1934: Eleanor Dark – Prelude to Christopher
1933: G. B. Lancaster (Edith J. Lyttleton) – Pageant
1932: Leonard Mann – Flesh in Armour
1931: Frank Dalby Davison – Man-Shy
1930: Vance Palmer – The Passage

1929: Henry Handel Richardson – Ultima Thule
1928: Martin Mills (Martin Boyd) – The Montforts

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_Book_of_the_Year_Award:_Older_Readers

Established by William Baylebridge in honour of his aunt (d. 1922), this award was given to the “best volume of poetry” for an Australian author, and was highly-respected during its lengthy duration.

2012: Joint winners
Rawshock by Toby Fitch
Autoethnographic by Michael Brennan
The Collected Blue Hills by Laurie Duggan
Jaguar’s Dream by John Kinsella
Another Fine Morning in Paradise by Michael Sharkey
2010: Joint winners
Phantom Limb by David Musgrave
Patience, Mutiny by LK Holt
The Simplified World by Petra White

2008: The Australian Popular Songbook by Alan Wearne
2007: The Goldfinches of Baghdad by Robert Adamson
2006: The Past Completes Me: Selected Poems 1973–2003 by Alan Gould
2005: Next to Nothing by Noel Rowe
2004: Totem by Luke Davies
2003: Lost in the Foreground by Stephen Edgar
2002: Versary by Kate Lilley
2001: Darker and Lighter by Geoff Page

1997: The Undertow: New and Selected Poems by John Kinsella
1995: Joint winners
New and Selected Poems by Kevin Hart[8]
Flying the Coop : New and Selected Poems 1972–1994 by Rhyll McMaster
Path of Ghosts: poems 1986–93 by Jemal Sharah
1993: The End of the Season by Philip Hodgins
1992: Joint winners
Empire of Grass by Gary Catalano
Peniel by Kevin Hart
1991: Dog Fox Field by Les Murray

1989: A Tremendous World in Her Head by Dorothy Hewett
1988: Under Berlin by John Tranter
1987: Occasions of Birds and Other Poems by Elizabeth Riddell
1986: Washing the Money : Poems with Photographs by Rhyll McMaster
1985: Joint winners
Selected Poems 1963–1983 by Robert Gray
The Amorous Cannibal by Chris Wallace-Crabbe
1984: The Three Fates and Other Poems by Rosemary Dobson
1983: Collected Poems by Peter Porter
1982: Tide Country by Vivian Smith
1981: Nero’s Poems: Translations of the Public and Private Poems of the Emperor Nero by Geoffrey Lehmann
1980: The Boys Who Stole the Funeral by Les Murray

1979: The Man in the Honeysuckle by David Campbell
1978: Sometimes Gladness: Collected Poems 1954–1978 by Bruce Dawe
1977: Selected Poems by Robert Adamson
1976: Selected Poems 1939–1975 by John Blight
1975: Selected Poems (1975) by Gwen Harwood
1974: Neighbours in a Thicket: Poems by David Malouf
1973: A Soapbox Omnibus by Rodney Hall
1972: Head-Waters by Peter Skrzynecki
1971: Joint winners
Collected Poems, 1942–1970 by Judith Wright
Collected Poems 1936–1970 by James McAuley
1970: Letters to Live Poets by Bruce Beaver

1969: A Counterfeit Silence: Selected Poems by Randolph Stow
1968: Selected Poems 1942–1968 by David Campbell
1967: Collected Poems 1936–1967 by Douglas Stewart
1966: The Talking Clothes: Poems by William Hart-Smith
1965: The Ilex Tree by Les Murray and Geoffrey Lehmann
1964: All the Room by David Rowbotham
1963: The North-Bound Rider by Ian Mudie
1962: Southmost Twelve by R. D. Fitzgerald
1961: Time on Fire by Thomas Shapcott
1960: Man in a Landscape by Colin Thiele

1959: The Wind at Your Door by R. D. Fitzgerald
1958: Antipodes in Shoes by Geoffrey Dutton
1957: Elegiac and Other Poems by Leonard Mann
1956: A Vision of Ceremony by James McAuley
1955: The Wandering Islands by A. D. Hope
1954: Thirty Poems by John Thompson
1953: Tumult of the Swans by Roland Robinson
1952: Between Two Tides by R. D. Fitzgerald
1951: The Great South Land: An Epic Poem by Rex Ingamells
1950: No award

1949: Woman to Man by Judith Wright
1948: A Drum for Ben Boyd by Francis Webb
1947: Pacific Sea by Nan McDonald

Miles Franklin’s will bequeathed this award to fund “a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases.” It is currently administered by wealth management firm Perpetual.

The most prominent winners of the award have been Thea Astley and Tim Winton (4 wins each) and Peter Carey and David Ireland (3 wins each). PW is among those who won twice; he refused to nominate any of his novels from Riders in the Chariot onward, to give opportunities to other writers.

1957 Patrick White Voss
1958 Randolph Stow To the Islands
1959 Vance Palmer The Big Fellow
1960 Elizabeth O’Conner The Irishman
1961 Patrick White Riders in the Chariot
1962 Thea Astley The Well Dressed Explorer
George Turner The Cupboard Under the Stairs
1963 Sumner Locke Elliott Careful, He Might Hear You
1964 George Johnston My Brother Jack
1965 Thea Astley The Slow Natives
1966 Peter Mathers Trap
1967 Thomas Keneally Bring Larks and Heroes
1968 Thomas Keneally Three Cheers for the Paraclete
1969 George Johnston Clean Straw for Nothing
1970 Dal Stivens A Horse of Air
1971 David Ireland The Unknown Industrial Prisoner
1972 Thea Astley The Acolyte
1973 No award
1974 Ronald McKie The Mango Tree
1975 Xavier Herbert Poor Fellow My Country
1976 David Ireland The Glass Canoe
1977 Ruth Park Swords and Crowns and Rings
1978 Jessica Anderson Tirra Lirra by the River
1979 David Ireland A Woman of the Future
1980 Jessica Anderson The Impersonators
1981 Peter Carey Bliss
1982 Rodney Hall Just Relations
1983 No award
1984 Tim Winton Shallows
1985 Christopher Koch The Doubleman
1986 Elizabeth Jolley The Well
1987 Glenda Adams Dancing on Coral
1988 No award

1989 Peter Carey Oscar and Lucinda
1990 Tom Flood Oceana Fine
1991 David Malouf The Great World
1992 Tim Winton Cloudstreet
1993 Alex Miller The Ancestor Game
1994 Rodney Hall The Grisly Wife
1995 Helen Demidenko The Hand That Signed the Paper
1996 Christopher Koch Highways to a War
1997 David Foster The Glade Within the Grove
1998 Peter Carey Jack Maggs
1999 Murray Bail Eucalyptus
2000 Thea Astley Drylands
Kim Scott Benang
2001 Frank Moorhouse Dark Palace
2002 Tim Winton Dirt Music
2003 Alex Miller Journey to the Stone Country
2004 Shirley Hazzard The Great Fire
2005 Andrew McGahan The White Earth
2006 Roger McDonald The Ballad of Desmond Kale
2007 Alexis Wright Carpentaria
2008 Steven Carroll The Time We Have Taken
2009 Tim Winton Breath
2010 Peter Temple Truth
2011 Kim Scott That Deadman Dance
2012 Anna Funder All That I Am
2013 Michelle de Kretser Questions of Travel
2014 Evie Wyld All the Birds, Singing
2015 Sofie Laguna The Eye of the Sheep
2016 A. S. Patrić Black Rock White City
2017 Josephine Wilson Extinctions
2018 Michelle de Kretser The Life to Come
2019 Melissa Lucashenko Too Much Lip
2020 Tara June Winch The Yield
2021 Amanda Lohrey The Labyrinth
2022 Jennifer Down Bodies of Light
2023 Shankari Chandran Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens

Founded by former Angus & Robertson director Colin Roderick, this award (administered by James Cook University in QLD) for a book which “deals with any aspect of Australian life”.

2023: Sarah Holland-Batt, The Jaguar
2022: Emily Bitto, Wild Abandon
2021: Sofie Laguna, Infinite Splendours
2020: Sally Young, Paper Emperors: The rise of Australia’s newspaper empires

2019: Robert Drewe, The True Colour of the Sea
2018: Jock Serong, On the Java Ridge
2017: Josephine Wilson, Extinctions
2016: Gail Jones, A Guide to Berlin
2015: Not Awarded
2014: Michael Wilding, Wild Bleak Bohemia : Marcus Clarke, Adam Lindsay Gordon and Henry Kendall – A Documentary
2013: Ashley Hay, The Railwayman’s Wife & Stephen Edgar, Eldershaw
2012: Thomas Keneally, The Daughters of Mars
2011: Gillian Mears, Foal’s Bread
2010: Karen Kissane, Worst of Days: Inside the Black Saturday Firestorm

2009: Michael Cathcart, The Water Dreamers
2008: Graham Freudenberg, Churchill and Australia & James Boyce, Van Diemen’s Land
2007: Malcolm Knox, Jamaica
2006: Deborah Robertson, Careless
2005: Peter Temple, The Broken Shore
2004: Alan Wearne, The Lovemakers & Tim Winton, The Turning
2003: Thomas Keneally, The Tyrant’s Novel
2002: Don Watson, Recollections of a Bleeding Heart: A Portrait of Paul Keating PM
2001: Peter Rose, Rose Boys
2000: Peter Carey, True History of the Kelly Gang

1999: Christopher Koch, Out of Ireland
1998: Robert Dessaix, (And So Forth)
1997: Peter Edwards, A Nation at War
1996: Tim Flannery, Roger Martin and Alexandra Szalay, Illustrator Peter Schouten, Tree Kangaroos
1995: Judy Cassab, Diaries
1994: Patrick Buckridge, The Scandalous Penton: A Biography of Brian Penton
1993: Cassandra Pybus, Gross Moral Turpitude: The Orr Case Reconsidered
1992: Ruth Park, A Fence Around the Cuckoo
1991: Joan Dugdale, Struggle of Memory
1990: Roland Griffiths-Marsh, Sixpenny Soldier

1989: Chris Symons, John Bishop: A Life for Music
1988: Peter Carey, Oscar and Lucinda
1987: Nancy Phelan, Home Is the Sailor and the Best of Intentions
1986: Fr Tom Boland, James Duhig
1985: John Gunn, The Defeat of Distance: Qantas 1919-1939
1984: Alan Gould, The Man Who Stayed Below
1983: Dudley McCarthy, Gallipoli to the Somme
1982: Geoffrey Serle, John Monash: A Biography
1981: Gavin Souter, A Company of Heralds
1980: Allan Grocott, Convicts, Clergymen and Churches

1979: Thea Astley, Hunting the Wild Pineapple
1978: Leslie Rees, History of Australian Drama
1977: Alan Marshall, The Complete Stories of Alan Marshall
1976: Gavin Souter, Lion and Kangaroo
1975: Denis Murphy, TJ Ryan
1974: David Malouf, Neighbours in a Thicket : Poems
1973: Dorothy Green, Ulysses Bound: Henry Handel Richardson and Her Fiction
1972: Sir Keith Hancock, Discovering Monaro
1971: Geoffrey Serle, The Rush to Be Rich
1970: Margaret Lawrie, Myths and Legends of Torres Strait

1969: Francis Webb, Collected Poems
1968: Gavin Souter, A Peculiar People
1967: Douglas Stewart, Collected Poems, 1936-1967

Not an Australia-specific award but up until 2013 this was designed for novels written by Commonwealth citizens in English. Since then it has been opened to any English-language novel which many (this author included) feel has diluted its power and appeal, with the United States being the only non-Commonwealth country to have had much luck in the ten years since.

Peter Carey is one of the only people to have won the award twice (from five nominations), as has more recent immigrant to Australia J.M. Coetzee (from six nominations).

Australian nominees and winners include:

1970: Shirley Hazzard – shortlist – The Driver’s Seat

1970: Patrick White – shortlist- The Vivisector

1972: Thomas Keneally – shortlist – The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith

1975: Thomas Keneally – shortlist – Gossip from the Forest

1979: Thomas Keneally – shortlist – Confederates

1982: Thomas Keneally – winner – Schindler’s Ark

1985: Peter Carey – shortlist – Illywhacker

1988: Peter Carey – winner – Oscar and Lucinda

1993: David Malouf – shortlist – Remembering Babylon

1995: Tim Winton – shortlist – The Riders

1997: Madeleine St John – shortlist – The Essence of the Thing

2001: Peter Carey – winner – True History of the Kelly Gang

2002: Tim Winton – shortlist – Dirt Music

2003: J.M. Coetzee – longlist- Elizabeth Costello

2004: Shirley Hazzard – longlist – The Great Fire

2004: Gail Jones – longlist – Sixty Lights

2005: J.M. Coetzee – longlist – Slow Man

2006: Kate Grenville – shortlist – The Secret River

2006: Peter Carey – longlist – Theft: A Love Story

2008: Steve Toltz – shortlist – A Fraction of the Whole

2008: Michelle de Kretser – longlist – The Lost Dog

2009: J.M. Coetzee – shortlist – Summertime

2010: Peter Carey – shortlist – Parrot and Olivier in America

2010: Christos Tsiolkas – longlist – The Slap

2014: Richard Flanagan – winner – The Narrow Road to the Deep North

2016: J.M. Coetzee – longlist – The Schooldays of Jesus

The Fellowship of Australian Writers awarded this lifetime achievement award in poetry until 2015.

2015 Gig Ryan
2014 Alan Wearne
2013 Judith Beveridge
2012 Tim Thorne
2011 Jennifer Harrison
2010 Peter Steele
2009 Jennifer Strauss
2008 Robert Gray
2007 John Kinsella
2006 Geoff Page
2005 Fay Zwicky
2004 Kris Hemensley
2003 Philip Salom
2002 Dimitris Tsaloumas
2001 Dorothy Porter
2000 J. S. Harry
1999 Kevin Hart
1998 Jennifer Maiden
1997 Not awarded
1996 Dorothy Hewett
1995 Co-winners
Thomas Shapcott
Robert Adamson
1994 Judith Rodriguez
1993 Geoffrey Dutton
1992 Co-winners
R. A. Simpson
Oodgeroo Noonuccal
1991 Elizabeth Riddell
1990 Not awarded
1989 Chris Wallace-Crabbe
1988 Roland Robinson
1987 Not awarded
1986 Not awarded
1985 Les Murray
1984 Not awarded
1983 Bruce Dawe
1982 Vincent Buckley
1981 Not awarded
1980 John Blight
1979 Not awarded
1978 Rosemary Dobson
1977 Gwen Harwood
1976 A. D. Hope
1975 Judith Wright
1974 R. D. Fitzgerald

White used his winnings from the 1973 Nobel Prize to establish a trust for this prize, which was originally $25,000 (now $15,000). The award does not require nominations, with the panel instead choosing a writer who has not received adequate recognition, usually one later in their career. The award is announced shortly after the Melbourne Cup horse race, “the race that stops a nation”, which was a deliberate choice by PW to move the nation’s attention back to the arts.

2022 Antigone Kefala
2021 Adam Aitken
2020 Gregory Day
2019 Jordie Albiston
2018 Samuel Wagan Watson
2017 Tony Birch
2016 Carmel Bird
2015 Joan London
2014 Brian Castro
2013 Louis Nowra
2012 Amanda Lohrey
2011 Robert Adamson
2010 David Foster
2009 Beverley Farmer
2008 John Romeril
2007 David Rowbotham
2006 Morris Lurie
2005 Fay Zwicky
2004 Nancy Phelan
2003 Janette Turner Hospital
2002 Tom Hungerford
2001 Geoff Page
2000 Thomas Shapcott
1999 Gerald Murnane
1998 Alma De Groen
1997 Vivian Smith
1996 Elizabeth Harrower
1995 Elizabeth Riddell
1994 Dimitris Tsaloumas
1993 Amy Witting
1992 Peter Cowan
1991 David Martin
1990 Robert Gray
1989 Thea Astley
1988 Roland Robinson
1987 William Hart-Smith
1986 John Morrison
1985 Judah Waten (posthumous)
1984 Rosemary Dobson
1983 Marjorie Barnard
1982 Bruce Beaver
1981 Dal Stivens
1980 Bruce Dawe
1979 Randolph Stow
1978 Gwen Harwood
1977 Sumner Locke Elliott
1976 John Blight
1975 David Campbell
1974 Christina Stead

The Age initiated this award in the aftermath of PW’s Nobel win, and the award gradually became part of the Melbourne Writers festival, separating into a fiction, non-fiction, and poetry category. In 2013, the award ceased, but was revived in 2021.

Overall Award (until 2012 only)

1974 David Foster The Pure Land
1975 Thea Astley A Kindness Cup
1976 A. D. Hope A Late Picking : Poems 1965-1974
1977 Not awarded
1978 Christopher Koch The Year of Living Dangerously
1979 Roger McDonald 1915: A Novel of Gallipoli
1980 David Ireland A Woman of the Future
Murray Bail Homesickness
1982 David Malouf Fly Away Peter
1983 Elizabeth Jolley Mr Scobie’s Riddle
1984 Nicholas Hasluck The Bellarmine Jug
1985 Peter Carey Illywhacker
1986 Joan London Sister Ships
1987 Jessica Anderson Stories from the Warm Zone
1988 Frank Moorhouse Forty-Seventeen
1989 Marsden Hordern Mariners are Warned: John Lort Stokes and HMA Beagle
1990 Gwen Harwood Blessed City
1991 David Marr Patrick White: A Life
1992 Marion Halligan Lover’s Knots
1993 Elizabeth Jolley The George’s Wife
1994 Peter Carey The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith
1995 Tim Flannery The Future Eaters
1996 Thea Astley The Multiple Effects of Rainshadow
1997 Peter Carey Jack Maggs
1998 Elliot Perlman Three Dollars
1999 K.S. Inglis Sacred Places: War Memorials in the Australian Landscape
2000 Amy Witting Isobel on the Way to the Corner Shop
2001 Rosemary Dobson Untold Lives and Later Poems
2002 Don Watson Recollections of a Bleeding Heart: Paul Keating PM
2003 Sonya Hartnett Of a Boy
2004 Luke Davies Totem
2005 Gay Bilson Plenty: Digressions on Food
2006 Jennifer Maiden Friendly Fire
2007 Peter Cochrane Colonial Ambition: Foundations of Australian Democracy
2008 Don Watson American Journeys
2009 Steven Amsterdam Things We Didn’t See Coming
2010 Alex Miller Lovesong
2011 Fiona McGregor Indelible Ink
2012 James Boyce 1835: The Founding of Melbourne & The Conquest of Australia

Fiction

1974 David Foster The Pure Land
1975 Thea Astley A Kindness Cup
1976 A. D. Hope A Late Picking : Poems 1965-1974
1977 No award
1978 Christopher Koch The Year of Living Dangerously
1979 Roger McDonald 1915: A Novel of Gallipoli
1980 David Ireland A Woman of the Future
Murray Bail Homesickness
1981 Blanche d’Alpuget Turtle Beach
1982 David Malouf Fly Away Peter
1983 Elizabeth Jolley Mr Scobie’s Riddle
1984 Nicholas Hasluck The Bellarmine Jug
1985 Peter Carey Illywhacker
1986 Joan London Sister Ships and Other Stories
1987 Jessica Anderson Stories from the Warm Zone
1988 Frank Moorhouse Forty-Seventeen
1989 Elizabeth Jolley My Father’s Moon
1990 Glenda Adams Longleg
1991 Brian Castro Double-Wolf
1992 Marion Halligan Lover’s Knots
1993 Elizabeth Jolley The George’s Wife
1994 Peter Carey The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith
1995 Rod Jones Billy Sunday
1996 Thea Astley The Multiple Effects of Rainshadow
1998 Elliot Perlman Three Dollars
1999 James Bradley The Deep Field
2000 Amy Witting Isobel on the Way to the Corner Shop
2001 Peter Carey True History of the Kelly Gang
2002 Joan London Gilgamesh
2003 Sonya Hartnett Of a Boy
2004 Andrew McGahan The White Earth
2005 Gail Jones Sixty Lights
2006 Christos Tsiolkas Dead Europe
2007 David Malouf Every Move You Make
2008 Tim Winton Breath
2009 Steven Amsterdam Things We Didn’t See Coming
2010 Alex Miller Lovesong
2011 Fiona McGregor Indelible Ink
2012 Gillian Mears Foal’s Bread
2021 Robbie Arnott The Rain Heron
2022 Miles Allinson In Moonland
2023 Robbie Arnott Limberlost

Non-Fiction

1974 Manning Clark A History of Australia (Vol. 3)
1975 Not awarded
1976 Hugh Stretton Capitalism, Socialism and the Environment
1977 Not awarded
1978 Patsy Adam-Smith The Anzacs
1979 Not awarded
1980 Not awarded
1981 Eric Charles Rolls A Million Wild Acres
1982 Geoffrey Serle John Monash: A Biography
1983 Lloyd Robson History of Tasmania
1984 John Rickard HB Higgins: The Rebel and Judge
1985 Chester Eagle Mapping the Paddocks
1985 Hugh Lunn Vietnam: A Reporter’s War
1986 Garry Kinnane George Johnston: A Biography
1987 Robert Hughes The Fatal Shore
1988 Robin Gerster Big-Noting: The Heroic Theme in Australian War Writing
1989 Marsden Hordern Mariners are Warned: John Lort Stokes and HMA Beagle
1990 Gwen Harwood Blessed City
1991 David Marr Patrick White: A Life
1992 Ruth Park A Fence Around the Cuckoo
1993 Janet McCalman Journeyings
1994 Jim Davidson Lyrebird Rising
1995 Tim Flannery The Future Eaters
1997 Roberta Sykes Snake Cradle
1998 John Kinsella The Hunt
1999 K.S. Inglis Sacred Places: War Memorials in the Australian Landscape
2000 Kim Mahood Craft for a Dry Lake
2001 Nadia Wheatley The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift
2002 Don Watson Recollections of a Bleeding Heart: Paul Keating Prime Minister
2003 Ann Galbally Charles Condor: The Last Bohemian
2004 Peter Robb A Death in Brazil
2005 Gay Bilson Plenty: Digressions on Food
2006 Mandy Sayer Velocity
2007 Peter Cochrane Colonial Ambition: Foundations of Australian Democracy
2008 Don Watson American Journeys
2009 Guy Rundle Down to the Crossroads
2010 Kate Howarth Ten Hail Marys
2011 Jim Davidson A Three-Cornered Life
2012 James Boyce 1835: The Founding of Melbourne & The Conquest of Australia
2022 Bernadette Brennan Leaping into Waterfalls: The Enigmatic Gilliam Mears
2023 Kim Mahood Wandering with Intent

Poetry (until 2012 only)

Year Author Title
1993 John Tranter At the Florida
1994 Dorothy Porter The Monkey’s Mask
1995 Chris Wallace-Crabbe Selected poems 1956–1994
1996 Eric Beach Weeping for Lost Babylon
1997 Emma Lew The Wild Reply
1997 Peter Porter Dragons in their Pleasant Places
1998 John Kinsella The Hunt and Other Poems
1999 R. A. Simpson The Impossible, and other Poems
2000 Peter Minter Empty Texas
2001 Rosemary Dobson Untold Lives and Later Poems
2002 Robert Gray After Images
2003 Laurie Duggan Mangroves
2004 Luke Davies Totem
2005 Dipti Saravanamuttu The Colosseum
2006 Jennifer Maiden Friendly Fire
2007 Robert Adamson The Goldfinches of Baghdad
2008 J. S. Harry Not Finding Wittgenstein
2009 Peter Porter Better Than God
2010 Jennifer Maiden Pirate Rain
2011 John Tranter Starlight: 150 Poems
2012 Mal McKimmie The Brokenness Sonnets I-III And Other Poems

The most recognisable honour of the NSW Premier’s Awards, this $40,000 prize goes to novels or short story collections.

Year Title Author
1979 An Imaginary Life David Malouf
1980 War Crimes Peter Carey
1981 The Impersonators Jessica Anderson
1982 Bliss Peter Carey
1983 The Cure Peter Kocan
1984 Milk Beverley Farmer
1985 Milk and Honey Elizabeth Jolley
1986 Postcards from Surfers Helen Garner
1987 Dancing on Coral Glenda Adams
1988 Final Things John Sligo
1989 Broken Words Helen Hodgman
1990 Reaching Tin River Thea Astley
1991 JF Was Here Nigel Krauth
1992 The Death of Napoleon Simon Leys
1993 Remembering Babylon David Malouf
1994 Seasonal Adjustments Adib Khan
1995 Just Like That Lily Brett
1996 Leaning Towards Infinity Sue Woolfe
1997 The Drowner Robert Drewe
1998 No award
1999 Mr Darwin’s Shooter Roger McDonald
2000 The Salt of Broken Tears Michael Meehan
2001 Conditions of Faith Alex Miller
2002 Dirt Music Tim Winton
2003 Moral Hazard Kate Jennings
2004 Shanghai Dancing Brian Castro
2005 The Turning Tim Winton
2006 The Secret River Kate Grenville
2007 Theft: A Love Story Peter Carey
2008 The Lost Dog Michelle de Kretser
2009 The Good Parents Joan London
2010 Summertime J.M. Coetzee
2011 Lovesong Alex Miller
2012 That Deadman Dance Kim Scott
2013 Mateship with Birds Carrie Tiffany
2014 Questions of Travel Michelle de Kretser
2015 The Snow Kimono Mark Henshaw
2016 Locust Girl: A Lovesong Merlinda Bobis
2017 The Museum of Modern Love Heather Rose
2018 The Book of Dirt Bram Presser
2019 The Life to Come Michelle de Kretser
2020 The Yield Tara June Winch
2021 A Room Made of Leaves Kate Grenville
2022 Dark as Last Night Tony Birch
2023 Women I Know Katerina Gibson

This $40,000 prize is awarded for any form of non-fiction prose.

Year Title Author
1979 A History of Australia Volume IV Manning Clark
1980 Barwick David Marr
1981 A Fortunate Life A.B. Facey
1982 Rebels and Precursors Richard Haese
1983 Robert J. Hawke Blanche d’Alpuget
1984 The Archibald Paradox Sylvia Lawson
1985 The Moon Man Elsie Webster
1986 A Paper Prince George Munster
The Kurnai of Gippsland, Volume One Phillip Pepper with Tess De Araugo
1987 The Irish In Australia Patrick O’Farrell
1988 Louisa Brian Matthews
1989 His Mother’s Country Maslyn Williams
1990 The Snowy Siobhan McHugh
1991 Sitting In Barry Hill
Poppy Drusilla Modjeska
1992 Patrick White David Marr
1993 Robert Menzies Forgotten People Judith Brett
Put Your Whole Self In Meme McDonald
1994 Australia’s Spies and Their Secrets David McKnight
The Scandalous Penton Patrick Buckridge
1995 The Orchard Drusilla Modjeska
1996 Hunters and Collectors: The Antiquarian Imagination in Australia Tom Griffiths
1997 The Europeans in Australia: A History, Volume One Alan Atkinson
1999 H M Bark Endeavour Ray Parkin
2000 Stravinsky’s Lunch Drusilla Modjeska
2001 Craft for a Dry Lake Kim Mahood
2002 The Poison Principle Gail Bell
2003 Looking for Blackfellas’ Point: An Australian History of Place Mark McKenna
2004 Dancing with Strangers Inga Clendinnen
2005 The Idea of Home: autobiographical essays John Hughes
2006 East of Time Jacob G. Rosenberg
2007 Things I Didn’t Know: a Memoir Robert Hughes
2008 Slicing the Silence: Voyaging to Antarctica Tom Griffiths
2009 The Tall Man: Death and Life on Palm Island Chloe Hooper
2010 Kill Khalid: Mossad’s failed hit … and the rise of Hamas Paul McGeough
2011 Malcolm Fraser: The Political Memoirs Malcolm Fraser and Margaret Simons
2012 An Eye for Eternity: The Life of Manning Clark Mark McKenna
2013 The Office: A Hard Working History Gideon Haigh
2014 Boy, Lost: A Family Memoir Kristina Olsson
Rendezvous with Destiny Michael Fullilove
2015 The Bush Don Watson
2016 Reckoning: A Memoir Magda Szubanski
2017 Our Man Elsewhere: In Search of Alan Moorehead Thornton McCamish
2018 Passchendaele: Requiem for Doomed Youth Paul Ham
2019 Deep Time Dreaming: Uncovering Ancient Australia (joint winner) Billy Griffiths
The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman’s Extraordinary Life in Death, Decay and Disaster (joint winner) Sarah Krasnostein
2020 Tiberius with a Telephone: The Life and Stories of William McMahon Patrick Mullins
2021 The Warrior, the Voyager, and the Artist: Three Lives in an Age of Empire Kate Fullagar
2022 The Winter Road: A Story of Legacy, Land and a Killing at Croppa Creek Kate Holden
2023 We Come With This Place Debra Dank

The NSW Awards also offer this honour, valued at $30,000, to poetry volumes or long poems.

Year Title Author
1980 Man in the Honeysuckle David Campbell
1981 Astral Sea Alan Gould
1982 Kaddish and Other Poems Fay Zwicky
1983 Tide Country Vivian Smith
1984 The People’s Other World Les A. Murray
1985 Your Shadow Kevin Hart
1986 Selected Poems 1963-83 Robert Gray
1987 Blood and Bone Philip Hodgins
1988 The Domesticity of Giraffes Judith Beveridge
1989 Under Berlin John Tranter
1990 The Clean Dark Robert Adamson
1991 The Winter Baby Jennifer Maiden
1992 Selected Poems Elizabeth Riddell
1993 Translations from the Natural World Les A. Murray
1994 Ghosting William Buckley Barry Hill
1995 Coming Home From the World Peter Boyle
1996 Weeping for Lost Babylon Eric Beach
Selected Poems J. S. Harry
1997 The Viewfinder Anthony Lawrence
1999 Race Against Time Lee Cataldi
2000 Mines Jennifer Maiden
2001 Africa Ken Taylor
2002 The Lovemakers Alan Wearne
2003 Screens Jets Heaven: New and Selected Poems Jill Jones
2004 Dear Deliria: New & Selected Poems Pam Brown
2005 Smoke Encrypted Whispers Samuel Wagan Watson
2006 Latecomers Jaya Savige
2007 Urban Myths:210 Poems John Tranter
2008 Two Kinds of Silence Kathryn Lomer
2009 Man Wolf Man L. K. Holt
2010 the sonnet according to ‘m’ Jordie Albiston
2011 Pirate Rain Jennifer Maiden
2012 New and Selected Poems Gig Ryan
2013 Ruby Moonlight Ali Cobby Eckermann
2014 Novelties Fiona Hile
2015 Earth Hour David Malouf
2016 brush Joanne Burns
2017 Ghostspeaking Peter Boyle
2018 Argosy Bella Li
2019 Interval Judith Bishop
2020 Enfolded in the Wings of a Great Darkness Peter Boyle
2021 Throat Ellen van Neerven
2022 accelerations & inertias Dan Disney
2023 The Singer and Other Poems Kim Cheng Boey

This $30,000 prize goes to a superior work for highschool-age students, whether fiction, non-fiction, or poetry. Until 1999, this award encompassed work for all ages, but has since been restricted to this age group. A separate award, the Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children’s Literature, now supports works for children primary school age and below.

Year Title Author
1979 John Brown, Rose and the Midnight Cat Jenny Wagner
The Dark Bright Water Patricia Wrightson (Special Children’s book)
1980 Mr Archimedes’ Bath Pamela Allen
Land of the Rainbow Snake Catherine Berndt (Special Children’s book)
1981 When the Wind Changed Ruth Park and Deborah Niland
Seventh Pebble Eleanor Spence
1982 Whistle Up the Chimney Nan Hunt and Craig Smith
1983 Who Sank the Boat? Pamela Allen
Five Times Dizzy Nadia Wheatley (Special children’s book)
1984 Possum Magic Mem Fox and Julie Vivas
1985 The House That was Eureka Nadia Wheatley
1986 The True Story of Spit MacPhee James Aldridge
1987 A Rabbit Named Harris Nan Hunt and Betina Ogden
1988 Answers to Brut Gillian Rubinstein
1989 You Take the High Road Mary Pershall
1990 The Blue Chameleon Katherine Scholes
1991 Strange Objects Gary Crew
1992 All in the Blue Unclouded Weather Robin Klein
1993 Tjarany Roughtail Gracie Greene, Lucille Gill and Joe Tramacchi
1994 The White Guinea Pig Ursula Dubosarsky
1995 Mr Enigmatic Jenny Pausacker
1996 Johnny Hart’s Heroes David Metzenthen
1997 The Two Bullies Junko Morimoto
1999 The Divine Wind Garry Disher
2000 The Binna-Binna Man Meme McDonald and Boori Monty Pryor
2001 Feeling Sorry for Celia Jaclyn Moriarty
2002 Soldier Boy: The True Story of Jim Martin, the Youngest Anzac Anthony Hill
2003 The Messenger Markus Zusak
2004 Boys of Blood and Bone David Metzenthen
2005 By the River Steven Herrick
2006 Theodora’s Gift Ursula Dubosarsky
2007 The Red Shoe Ursula Dubosarsky
2008 Town James Roy
2009 A Brief History of Montmaray Michelle Cooper
2010 When the Hipchicks Went to War Pamela Rushby
2011 Graffiti Moon Cath Crowley
2012 Only Ever Always Penni Russon
2013 A Corner of White Jaclyn Moriarty
2014 Zac and Mia AJ Betts
2015 The Cracks in the Kingdom Jaclyn Moriarty
2016 Laurinda Alice Pung
2017 One Thousand Hills James Roy and Noël Zihabamwe
2018 The Ones That Disappeared Zana Fraillon
2019 Amelia Westlake Erin Gough
2020 Lenny’s Book of Everything Karen Foxlee
2021 The End of the World Is Bigger than Love Davina Bell
2022 The Gaps Leanne Hall
2023 The Upwelling Lystra Rose

This $5,000 award is for debut works of book-length fiction.

Year Title Author
2005 The Last Ride Denise Young
2006 An Accidental Terrorist Steven Lang
2007 Swallow the Air Tara June Winch
2009 Feather Man Rhyll McMaster
2009 The Boat Nam Le
2010 Document Z Andrew Croome
2011 Traitor Stephen Daisley
2012 The Roving Party Rohan Wilson
2013 The Last Thread Michael Sala
2014 The Night Guest Fiona McFarlane
2015 An Elegant Young Man Luke Carman
2016 An Astronaut’s Life Sonja Dechian
2017 Letter to Pessoa Michelle Cahill
2018 The Book of Dirt Bram Presser
2019 Boy Swallows Universe Trent Dalton
2020 Real Differences S L Lim
2021 Cherry Beach Laura McPhee-Browne
2022 Hold Your Fire Chloe WIlson
2023 We Come With This Place Debra Dank

Publisher Allen & Unwin administers this award alongside the Australian newspaper and Vogel bread company Stevns. The winner must be a writer under the age of 35, and the unpublished manuscript receives $20,000 and a commitment to be published by Allen & Unwin.

2023 – Anna McGahan, Immaculate
2022 – Nell Pierce, A Place Near Eden
2021 – Emma Batchelor, Now That I See You
2020 – K. M. Kruimink, A Treacherous Country
2019 – No prize awarded
2018 – Emily O’Grady, The Yellow House
2017 – Marija Peričić, The Lost Page
2016 – Katherine Brabon, The Memory Artist
2015 – Murray Middleton, When There’s Nowhere Else to Run
2014 – Christine Piper, After Darkness
2013 – No prize awarded
2012 – Paul D. Carter, Eleven Seasons
2011 – Rohan Wilson, The Roving Party
2010 – not awarded
2009 – Kristel Thornell, Night Street and Lisa Lang, Utopian Man
2008 – Andrew Croome, Document Z
2007 – Stefan Laszczuk, I Dream of Magda
2006 – Belinda Castles, The River Baptists
2005 – Andrew O’Connor, Tuvalu
2004 – Julienne van Loon, Road Story
2003 – Nicholas Angel, Drown Them in the Sea and Ruth Balint, Troubled Waters
2002 – Danielle Wood, The Alphabet of Light and Dark
2001 – Sarah Hay, Skins
2000 – Stephen Gray, The Artist is a Thief
1999 – Hsu-Ming Teo, Love and Vertigo
1998 – Jennifer Kremmer, Pegasus in the Suburbs
1997 – Eva Sallis, Hiam
1996 – Bernard Cohen, The Blindman’s Hat
1995 – Richard King, Kindling Does For Firewood
1994 – Darren Williams, Swimming in Silk
1993 – Helen Demidenko, The Hand That Signed the Paper
1992 – Fotini Epanomitis, The Mule’s Foal
1991 – Andrew McGahan, Praise
1990 – Gillian Mears, The Mint Lawn
1989 – Mandy Sayer, Mood Indigo
1988 – Tom Flood, Oceana Fine
1987 – Jim Sakkas, Ilias
1986 – Robin Walton, Glace Fruits
1985 – No prize awarded
1984 – Kate Grenville, Lilian’s Story
1983 – Jenny Summerville, Shields of Trell
1982 – Brian Castro, Birds of Passage and Nigel Krauth, Matilda, My Darling
1981 – Chris Matthews, Al Jazzar and Tim Winton, An Open Swimmer
1980 – Archie Weller, The Day of the Dog (Weller was initially runner-up to Paul Radley, who was disqualified after admitting that his manuscript was actually written by his uncle, who was also older than 35).