Victorian Premier's Literary Awards

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. As of 2013, it is reportedly Australia's richest literary prize with the top winner receiving A$125,000 and category winners A$25,000 each.^[1]

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

From 1986 till 1997, the awards were presented as part of the Melbourne Writers Festival. In 1997 their administration was transferred to the State Library of Victoria.^[2] By 2004, the total prize money was A$180,000. In 2011, stewardship was taken over by the Wheeler Centre.

Winners 2011–present

Beginning in 2011,^[3] the awards were restructured into five categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Drama and Young People's. The winner of each receives $25,000. Of those five winners, one is chosen as the overall winner of the Victorian Prize for Literature and receives an additional $100,000. There are two other categories with different prize amounts: an honorary People's Choice Award voted on by readers, and an Unpublished Manuscript Award with a prize amount of $15,000.^[1] In 2022 an Award for Children's Literature valued at $25,000 was added, with entries being accepted in 2023.^[4] Another category was added in 2024, the John Clarke Prize for Humour Writing, honouring satirist John Clarke, for fiction, nonfiction and poetry.^[5]

Shortlists are maintained in the main article for each category.

Victorian Prize for Literature

Year	Author	Title	Ref.
2011	Kim Scott	That Deadman Dance	[6]
2012	Bill Gammage	The Biggest Estate on Earth	[7]
2013	Presented in January 2014 (see 2014 entry) for books published in 2013. Previous awards were based on the year of publication.
2014	Jennifer Maiden	Liquid Nitrogen	[8]
2015	Alan Atkinson	The Europeans in Australia: Volume Three: Nation	[9]
2016	Mary Anne Butler	Broken	[10]
2017	Leah Purcell	The Drover's Wife	[11]
2018	Sarah Krasnostein	The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman's Extraordinary Life in Death, Decay & Disaster	[12]
2019	Behrouz Boochani	No Friend But the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison	[13]
2020	S. Shakthidharan with Eamon Flack	Counting and Cracking	[14]
2021	Laura Jean McKay	The Animals in That Country	[15]
2022	Veronica Gorrie	Black and Blue: A Memoir of Racism and Resilience	[16]
2023	Jessica Au	Cold Enough for Snow	[17]
2024	Grace Yee	Chinese Fish	[18]
2025	Wanda Gibson	Three Dresses	[19]

Fiction

For winners from 1985 to 2010, see Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction.

Year	Author	Title	Ref.
2011	Kim Scott	That Deadman Dance	[6]
2012	Gillian Mears	Foal's Bread	[7]
2013	Presented in January 2014 (see 2014 entry) for books published in 2013. Previous awards were based on the year of publication.
2014	Alex Miller	Coal Creek	[8]
2015	Rohan Wilson	To Name Those Lost	[9]
2016	Mireille Juchau	The World Without Us	[10]
2017	Georgia Blain	Between a Wolf and a Dog	[11]
2018	Melanie Cheng	Australia Day	[12]
2019	Elise Valmorbida	The Madonna of the Mountains	[13]
2020	Christos Tsiolkas	Damascus	[14]
2021	Laura Jean McKay	The Animals in That Country	[15]
2022	Melissa Manning	Smokehouse	[16]
2023	Jessica Au	Cold Enough for Snow	[17]
2024	Melissa Lucashenko	Edenglassie	[18]
2025	Fiona McFarlane	Highway 13	[19]

Nonfiction

For winners from 1985 to 2010, see the Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-fiction.

Year	Author	Title	Ref.
2011	Mark McKenna	An Eye for Eternity: The Life Of Manning Clark	[6]
2012	Bill Gammage	The Biggest Estate on Earth	[7]
2013	Presented in January 2014 (see 2014 entry) for books published in 2013. Previous awards were based on the year of publication.
2014	Henry Reynolds	Forgotten War	[8]
2015	Alan Atkinson	The Europeans in Australia: Volume Three: Nation	[9]
2016	Gerald Murnane	Something for the Pain	[10]
2017	Madeline Gleeson	Offshore: Behind the Wire on Manus	[11]
2018	Sarah Krasnostein	The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman's Extraordinary Life in Death, Decay & Disaster	[12]
2019	Behrouz Boochani	No Friend But the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison	[13]
2020	Christina Thompson	Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia	[14]
2021	Paddy Manning	Body Count: How Climate Change Is Killing Us	[15]
2022	Amani Haydar	The Mother Wound	[16]
2023	Eda Gunaydin	Root & Branch: Essays on Inheritance	[17]
2024	Ellen van Neerven	Personal Score: Sport, Culture, Identity	[18]
2025	Susan Hampton	Anything Can Happen	[19]

Poetry

For winners from 1985 to 2010, see the C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry.

Year	Author	Title	Ref.
2011	Cate Kennedy	The Taste of River Water	[6]
2012	John Kinsella	Armour	[7]
2013	Presented in January 2014 (see 2014 entry) for books published in 2013. Previous awards were based on the year of publication.
2014	Jennifer Maiden	Liquid Nitrogen	[8]
2015	Jill Jones	The Beautiful Anxiety	[9]
2016	Alan Loney	Crankhandle	[12]
2017	Maxine Beneba Clarke	Carrying the World	[11]
2018	Bella Li	Argosy	[12]
2019	Kate Lilley	Tilt	[13]
2020	Charmaine Papertalk Green	Nganajungu Yagu	[14]
2021	David Stavanger	Case Notes	[15]
2022	Maria Takolander	Trigger Warning	[16]
2023	Gavin Yuan Gao	At the Altar of Touch	[17]
2024	Grace Yee	Chinese Fish	[18]
2025	Jeanine Leane	Gawimarra: Gathering	[19]

Writing for Young Adults

For winners from 1985 to 2010, see the Victorian Premier's Prize for Young Adult Fiction.

Year	Author	Title	Ref.
2011	Cassandra Golds	The Three Loves of Persimmon	[6]
2012	John Larkin	The Shadow Girl	[7]
2013	Presented in January 2014 (see 2014 entry) for books published in 2013. Previous awards were based on the year of publication.
2014	Barry Jonsberg	My Life as an Alphabet	[8]
2015	Claire Zorn	The Protected	[9]
2016	Marlee Jane Ward	Welcome to Orphancorp	[10]
2017	Randa Abdel-Fattah	When Michael met Mina	[11]
2018	Demet Divaroren	Living on Hope Street	[12]
2019	Ambelin Kwaymullina and Ezekiel Kwaymullina	Catching Teller Crow	[13]
2020	Helena Fox	How It Feels to Float	[14]
2021	Cath Moore	Metal Fish, Falling Snow	[15]
2022	Felicity Castagna	Girls in Boys' Cars	[16]
2023	Kate Murray	We Who Hunt the Hollow	[17]
2024	Lili Wilkinson	A Hunger of Thorns	[18]
2025	Emma Lord	Anomaly	[19]

Drama

For winners from 1985 to 2010, see the Louis Esson Prize for Drama.

Year	Author	Title
2011	Patricia Cornelius	Do not go gentle…	[6]
2012	Lally Katz	A Golem Story	[7]
2013	Presented in January 2014 (see 2014 entry) for books published in 2013. Previous awards were based on the year of publication.
2014	Patricia Cornelius	Savages	[8]
2015	Angus Cerini	Resplendence	[9]
2016	Mary Anne Butler	Broken	[10]
2017	Leah Purcell	The Drover's Wife	[11]
2018	Michele Lee	Rice	[12]
2019	Kendall Feaver	The Almighty Sometimes	[13]
2020	S. Shakthidharan with Eamon Flack	Counting and Cracking	[14]
2021	Angus Cerini	Wonnangatta	[15]
2022	Dylan Van Den Berg	Milk	[16]
2023	John Harvey	The Return	[17]
2024	S. Shakthidharan and Eamon Flack	The Jungle and the Sea	[18]
2025	Nathan Maynard	37	[19]

People's Choice Award

Year	Author	Title	Ref.
2011	Anna Krien	Into The Woods: The Battle for Tasmania's Forests	[6]
2012	Aidan Fennessy	National Interest	[7]
2013	Presented in January 2014 (see 2014 entry) for books published in 2013. Previous awards were based on the year of publication.
2014	Hannah Kent	Burial Rites	[8]
2015	Tim Low	Where Song Began	[9]
2016	Miles Allinson	Fever of Animals	[10]
2017	Randa Abdel-Fattah	When Michael met Mina	[11]
2018	Alison Evans	Ida	[12]
2019	Bri Lee	Eggshell Skull	[13]
2020	Chloe Higgins	The Girls	[14]
2021	Louise Milligan	Witness	[15]
2022	Rebecca Lim	Tiger Daughter	[16]
2023	Karlie Noon and Krystal De Napoli	Astronomy: Sky Country	[17]
2024	Antony Loewenstein	The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World	[18]
2025	Robert Skinner	I'd Rather Not	[19]

Unpublished Manuscript

For winners from 2003 to 2010, see the main article. No award was presented in 2011.

Year	Author	Title	Ref.
2012	Graeme Simsion	The Rosie Project	[20]
2013	Maxine Beneba Clarke	Foreign Soil
2014	Miles Allinson	Fever of Animals
2015	Jane Harper	The Dry	[9]
2016	Melanie Cheng	Australia Day	[10]
2017	Christian White	Decay Theory	[11]
2019	Victoria Hannan	Kokomo	[13]
2020	Rhett David	Hovering	[14]
2021	André Dao	Anam	[15]
2022	Keshe Chow	Fauna of Mirrors	[16]
2023	Mick Cummins	One Divine Night	[17]
2024	Rachel Morton	Panajachel	[18]
2025	Chris Ames	I Made This Just for You	[19]

Indigenous Writing

Year	Author	Title	Ref.
2004	Vivienne Cleven	Her Sister's Eye	[21]
2006	Tara June Winch	Swallow the Air	[21]
2008	Yvette Holt	Anonymous Premonition	[21]
2010	Larissa Behrendt	Legacy	[21]
2012	Anita Heiss	Am I Black Enough For You?	[22]
2014	Melissa Lucashenko	Mullumbimby	[23]
2016	Tony Birch	Ghost River	[24]
2019	Kim Scott	Taboo	[13]
2021	Archie Roach	Tell Me Why: The Story of My Life and My Music	[15]
2022	Veronica Gorrie	Black and Blue: A Memoir of Racism and Resilience	[16]
2023	Lystra Rose	The Upwelling	[17]
2024	Daniel Browning	Close to the Subject: Selected Works	[18]
2025	Amy McQuire	Black Witness	[19]

Children's Literature

Year	Author	Title	Ref.
2024	Remy Lai	Ghost Book	[18]
2025	Wanda Gibson	Three Dresses	[19]

John Clarke Prize for Humour Writing

Year	Author	Title	Ref.
2025	Robert Skinner	I'd Rather Not	[19]

Defunct award categories (1985–2010)

From 1985 to 2010 prizes were offered in some or all of the below categories.

• Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction
• Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-fiction
• Prize for Young Adult Fiction
• C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry
• Louis Esson Prize for Drama
• Alfred Deakin Prize for an Essay Advancing Public Debate (after Alfred Deakin)
• Prize for Science Writing (biennial)
• Village Roadshow Prize for Screen Writing
• Grollo Ruzzene Foundation Prize for Writing about Italians in Australia
• John Curtin Prize for Journalism
• Prize for Best Music Theatre Script
• Prize for Indigenous Writing (Biennial)
• Prize for a First Book of History (Biennial)
• Dinny O'Hearn Prize for Literary Translation (Triennial)
• A.A. Phillips Prize for Australian Studies
• Alan Marshall Prize for Children's Literature
• Prize for First Fiction

See also

• Victorian Community History Awards
• Wheeler Centre

Notes

1. Steger, Jason (28 January 2014). "Liquid Nitrogen poet Jennifer Maiden wins Australia's richest literature prize". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
2. "State Library Victoria".
3. Sanders, Zora (21 April 2011). "Victorian Premier's Literary Awards to be the Richest in Australia". Meanjin. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
4. "VPLAs add children's award". Books+Publishing. 24 October 2022. Retrieved 28 October 2022.
5. "New prize for humour writing added to VPLAs". Books+Publishing. 16 September 2024. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
6. ""Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2011"". The Wheeler Centre. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
7. ""Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2012"". The Wheeler Centre. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
8. "Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2014". Victorian Premier's Literary Awards. 2014. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
9. "Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2015". Victorian Premier's Literary Awards. 2015. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
10. "Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2016". Victorian Premier's Literary Awards. 2016. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
11. "Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2017". Victorian Premier's Literary Awards. 2017. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
12. "Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2018". Victorian Premier's Literary Awards. 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
13. "Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2019". Victorian Premier's Literary Awards. 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
14. "Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2020". Victorian Premier's Literary Awards. 2020. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
15. "Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2021". Victorian Premier's Literary Awards. 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
16. "Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2022". Victorian Premier's Literary Awards. 2022. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
17. "Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2023". Victorian Premier's Literary Awards. 2023. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
18. "Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2024". Wheeler Centre. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
19. Story, Hannah (19 March 2025). "Growing up, Wanda got old dresses for Xmas. Her book about it just won $125k". ABC News. Retrieved 19 March 2025.
20. "The Rosie Project". Shelf Awareness. 12 June 2013. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
21. "Victorian Premier's Literary Awards – Prize for Indigenous Writing". AustLit: Discover Australian Stories. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
22. "Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Indigenous Writing: Winner and Shortlist Announced". Wheeler Centre. 5 September 2012. Archived from the original on 23 February 2014. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
23. Hornbeck, Susan (4 September 2014). "Congratulations to Melissa Lucashenko: Victorian Premier's Literary Awards". Griffith Review. Archived from the original on 4 December 2015. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
24. "Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2017". The Wheeler Centre. Archived from the original on 28 April 2018. Retrieved 1 May 2018.

External links

• State Library of VictoriaArchived 15 June 2005 at the Wayback Machine