New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards

The New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, also known as the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, were first awarded in 1979. They are among the richest literary awards in Australia. Notable prizes include the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, the [|Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry], and the Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction.
, the Awards are presented by the NSW Government and administered by the State Library of New South Wales in association with Create NSW, with support of Multicultural NSW and the University of Technology Sydney. Total prize money in 2019 was up to A$305,000, with eligibility limited to writers, translators and illustrators with Australian citizenship or permanent resident status.

History

The NSW Premier's Literary Awards were established in 1979 by the New South Wales Premier Neville Wran. Commenting on its purpose, Wran said: "We want the arts to take, and be seen to take, their proper place in our social priorities. If governments treat writers and artists with respect and understanding, the community will be more likely to do the same." They were the first set of premier's awards offered in Australia.
The awards were not presented in 1998 as the eligibility dates were amended.

Judging

The winners of most of the prizes and awards are decided by a judging panel, with no input from Create NSW or the New South Wales Government. The names of each year's judges are not announced until the final winners are decided. The judging has been the subject of controversy in the past, when in 2010, the panel decided not to bestow the Play Award on any of the applicants.
In November 2011, the NSW Government announced a review of the Premier's Literary Awards for 2012. An independent panel, chaired by journalist Gerard Henderson, reviewed both the Literary and the Premier's History Awards, focussed on the governance, selection criteria and judging processes. Following the review, the Awards are managed by the State Library of NSW, in association with Create NSW.

Categories

The following prizes and awards are currently given in the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards.

Christina Stead Prize for Fiction
Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction
Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry
Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature
Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children's Literature
NSW Multicultural Award
UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing
Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting
Betty Roland Prize for Script Writing
NSW Premier's Prize for Literary Scholarship
People's Choice Award
Special Award
NSW Premier's Translation Prize
Multicultural NSW Early Career Translator Prize
Indigenous Writers Prize
Gleebooks Prize
Christina Stead Prize for Fiction

The Christina Stead Prize is awarded for a work of fiction that may be either a novel or a collection of stories. The recipient receives a A$40,000 prize as of 2021. It is named in honour of Christina Stead, an Australian novelist and short-story writer. The first recipient was David Malouf, who was awarded the Prize for his novella An Imaginary Life in 1979. In 2019 Michelle de Kretser won with The Life to Come and equalled Peter Carey's record of three wins.

Award winners

Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction

The Douglas Stewart Prize is awarded for a prose work that is not fiction. The recipient receives a A$40,000 prize as of 2021. It is named in honour of Douglas Stewart, a noted Australian literary editor. The first recipient was Manning Clark, who was awarded the Prize for the fourth volume in his series A History of Australia in 1979. Drusilla Modjeska, with three wins, has won the Prize more than any other individual. In 2019 Billy Griffiths and Sarah Krasnostein were joint winners.

Award winners

Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry

The Kenneth Slessor Prize is awarded for a book of poetry, whether collected poems or a single poem of some length, and was first awarded in 1980. The recipient receives a A$30,000 prize as of 2021. It is named in honour of Kenneth Slessor, a noted Australian poet and journalist. The first recipient was David Campbell, who won the Prize posthumously. In 2011, NSW poet Jennifer Maiden became the only individual to win the award three times.

Award winners

Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature

The Ethel Turner Prize is awarded for work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry written for young people of secondary school level. The recipient receives a A$30,000 prize as of 2021. It is named in honour of Ethel Turner, author of the children's classic, Seven Little Australians.
The Children's Literature section of the Premier's Literary Awards began as a single award in 1979, but was redefined in 1999 to create the Patricia Wrightson Prize and the Ethel Turner Prize. The Ethel Turner Award was also given to all previous winners in the Children's Literature section. The Prize was first won, jointly, by Patricia Wrightson and Jenny Wagner in 1979. Australian author Ursula Dubosarsky and writer Jaclyn Moriarty have each won the prize three times.

Award winners

Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children's Literature

The Patricia Wrightson Prize is awarded for work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry written for children up to secondary school level. The recipient receives a A$30,000 prize as of 2021.
The Children's Literature section of the Premier's Literary Awards began as a single award in 1979, but was redefined in 1999 to create the Patricia Wrightson Prize and the Ethel Turner Prize. The Patricia Wrightson Prize was created in honour of children's author Patricia Wrightson, who won the first Ethel Turner Prize in 1979. The first recipient was Odo Hirsch, for his debut children's book, Antonio S and the Mystery of Theodore Guzman. The most recent recipient is Leanne Hall, author of Iris and the Tiger. Kierin Meehan is the only author who has won the Prize more than once.

Award winners

NSW Multicultural Award

This Award was first established in 1980, when it was known as the Ethnic Affairs Commission Award. Later known as the Community Relations Commission Award, and from 2012 referred to as the Community Relations Commission for Multicultural NSW Award, or from 2014 just Multicultural NSW Award, the prize money is worth $20,000 as of 2021.
It is offered for: "a book of fiction or non-fiction, memoir or history; a play, musical drama or comedy, theatrical monologue or other theatrical performance; a book of collected poems or a single poem of substantial length published in book form; the screenplay of a feature or documentary film or episode of a television program...; or the script of a radio play or documentary which is deemed by the judges to have made a significant contribution to Australian literature, poetry, theatre, film, radio or television and which also considers any aspect of the Australian migration experience; and/or aspects of cultural diversity and multiculturalism in Australian society."

Award winners

Year	Title	Author	Publisher	Ref
1980	Australia through Italian Eyes	Stephanie Lindsay Thompson	Oxford University Press
1981	For the Patriarch	Angelo Loukakis	University of Queensland Press
1982	The Long Farewell	Don Charlwood	Allen Lane
1983	Faith of Our Fathers	Spiro Zavos	University of Queensland Press
1984	A Universe of Clowns	Serge Liberman	Phoenix Publications
1985	Oh Lucky Country	Rosa Cappiello	University of Queensland Press
1986	No Snow In December	Maria Lewitt	Heinemann Publishers
1987	Dreamtime Nightmares	Bill Rosser	Penguin Books Australia
1991	Jewels and Ashes	Arnold Zable	Scribe Publications
1992	Inside Outside	Andrew Riemer	HarperCollins Angus & Robertson
1993	The Crocodile Fury	Beth Yahp	HarperCollins Angus & Robertson
1994	Aphrodite and the Others	Gillian Bouras	McPhee Gribble
1995	The First Book of Samuel	Ursula Dubosarsky	Penguin Books Australia
1996	Caravanserai	Hanifa Deen	Allen & Unwin
1997	The Fiftieth Gate	Mark Raphael Baker	HarperCollins Australia
1998	Not awarded
1999	Mortal Divide: the Autobiography of Yiorgos Alexandroglou	George Alexander	Brandl & Schlesinger
2000	The Binna-Binna Man	Meme McDonald and Boori Monty Pryor	Allen & Unwin
2001	Rabbit-Proof Fence	Christine Olsen	Jabal Films
2002	Visits Home: Migration Experiences between Italy and Australia	Loretta Baldassar	Melbourne University Press
2003	Secrets and Spies: The Harbin Files	Mara Moustafine	Random House Australia
2004	Against Paranoid Nationalism: Searching for Hope in a Shrinking Society	Ghassan Hage	Pluto Press Australia
2005	A Certain Maritime Incident: the sinking of SIEV X	Tony Kevin	Scribe Publications
2006	The Secret River	Kate Grenville	Text Publishing
2007	The Arrival	Shaun Tan	Hachette Australia
2008	Sunrise West	Jacob G. Rosenberg	Brandl & Schlesinger
2009	Destination Australia: migration to Australia since 1901	Eric Richards	UNSW Press
2010	Leave to Remain: A Memoir	Abbas El-Zein	Penguin Books Australia
2011	The English Class	Ouyang Yu	Transit Lounge Publishing
2012	Good Living Street: The Fortunes of My Viennese Family	Tim Bonyhady	Allen & Unwin
2013	Don't Go Back to Where You Came From	Tim Soutphommasane	NewSouth
2014	Questions of Travel	Michelle de Kretser	Allen & Unwin
2014	The Secret River	Andrew Bovell	Currency Press
2015	Black and Proud: The story of an AFL photo	Matthew Klugman and Gary Osmond	NewSouth
2016	Good Muslim Boy	Osamah Sami	Hardie Grant
2017	The Hate Race	Maxine Beneba Clarke	Hachette Australia
2018	The Permanent Resident	Roanna Gonsalves	UWA
2019	The Lebs	Michael Mohammed Ahmad	Hachette Australia
2020	The Pillars	Peter Polites	Hachette Australia
2021	Throat	Ellen van Neerven	University of Queensland Press
2022	Still Alive: Notes from Australia's Immigration Detention System	Safdar Ahmed	Twelve Panels Press
2023	The Eulogy	Jackie Bailey	Hardie Grant
2024	Stay for Dinner	Sandhya Parappukkaran, illustrated by Michelle Pereira	Hardie Grant
2025	36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem	Nam Le	Scribner