Prime Minister's Literary Awards

The Australian Prime Minister's Literary Awards were announced at the end of 2007 by the incoming Government. They are administered by the Department of the Environment,Water, Heritage and the Arts (Peter Garrett). [http://www.environment.gov.au/minister/garrett/2008/pubs/mr20080222a.pdf Call for entries] (Date|2008-02-22).]

The awards were designed as "a new initiative celebrating the contribution of Australian literature to the nation's cultural and intellectual life." The awards are to be held annually and provide a tax free prize of A$100,000 (as of 2008, making it Australia's richest literary awards) for Australian books, in the categories of fiction and non-fiction, as selected by a judging panel. "The awards are open to works written by Australian citizens and permanent residents. Authors, publishers and literary agents are eligible to enter works, first published in the calendar year prior to the awards." [http://www.arts.gov.au/literature/pmliteraryawards PM Literary Awards] ]

=The 2008 awards=

Panel

Six Australians were appointed by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts to the judging panels: three each for the Fiction and Non-fiction awards. [http://www.arts.gov.au/books/pmliteraryawards/2008_prime_ministers_literary_awards_-_judging_panels 2008 judging panels] ]

Fiction panel

*Peter Pierce, academic (chair)
*John Marsden, author
*Margaret Throsby, broadcaster

Non-Fiction panel

*Hilary Charlesworth, academic (chair)
*Sally Morgan, indigenous artist and author
*John Doyle, comedian and script writer

hort lists and winners

The final decisions on the short list and winners for the awards was made by the Prime Minister (Kevin Rudd) based on the judging panels’ recommendations. The following entries, out of more than 170 received, were selected for the Short List::"Listed in official short list order; winners in bold type."

Fiction

*"Burning In" by Mireille Juchau
*"El Dorado" by Dorothy Porter
*"Jamaica: A novel" by Malcolm Knox
*"Sorry" by Gail Jones
*"The Complete Stories" by David Malouf
*"The Widow and Her Hero" by Tom Keneally
*"The Zookeeper's War" by Steven Conte

Non-Fiction

*"A History of Queensland" by Raymond Evans
*"" by Clive James
*"My Life as a Traitor" by Zarah Ghahramani with Robert Hillman
*"Napoleon: The Path to Power, 1769–1799" by Philip Dwyer
*"Ochre and Rust: Artefacts and Encounters on Australian Frontiers" by Philip Jones
*"Shakespeare's Wife" by Germaine Greer
*"" by Paul Ham

References