Cocko
02-Sep-2008, 00:16
WINNERS OF 2008 PREMIER'S LITERARY AWARDS ANNOUNCED
Award winning Melbourne novelist, screen writer and journalist Helen Garner has taken out the prestigious Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction in the 2008 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards (http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/programs/literary/pla/index.html).
Premier John Brumby tonight announced Garner was among a dozen writers who will share in a $210,000 prize pool and said the awards recognised the abundant talent of Victorian and Australian writers.
“We know Victoria has the best and most engaged literary scene in Australia and it’s fantastic to recognise these authors in the midst of the Melbourne Writers Festival and just after our City of Literature endorsement by UNESCO,” Mr Brumby said.
“These awards reveal the abundant talent of established and emerging Australian writers and for 24 years these awards have worked to raise the profile of contemporary Australian literature.”
The 2008 Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction was awarded to Helen Garner for her novel The Spare Room. In the non-fiction category, the Nettie Palmer Prize was awarded to Meredith Hooper for The Ferocious Summer: Palmer’s Penguins and the Warming of Antarctica. Both authors receive $30,000 in prize money.
Mr Brumby said the prestigious awards were one of Australia’s most diverse literary prize programs.
“Each year, the awards go from strength to strength and this year we are pleased to award, for the first time, the $15,000 Prize for Best Music Theatre Script – an award which acknowledges the strength of musical theatre in Victoria,” Mr Brumby said.
The inaugural award was presented to Anthony Crowley for The Wild Blue.
“All 12 of the awards are a celebration of Victoria’s passion for literature and writing in all its forms,” Mr Brumby said.
The first award of the night, the Prize for an Unpublished Manuscript by an Emerging Victorian Writer was presented by Arts Minister Lynne Kosky.
“Now in its fifth year, this special prize fosters and supports Victoria’s emerging authors, in fact, all six authors shortlisted for this award in 2006 and 2007 have gone on to successfully obtain commercial publishing contracts,” Ms Kosky said.
The 2008 award was won by Mandy Maroney for her novel Going Finish is, an examination of the loss of childhood innocence in 1970s Papua New Guinea.
Other winners in the awards included:
• Marcia Langton – awarded the Alfred Deakin Prize for an Essay Advancing Public Debate
• Brigid Lowry - awarded The Prize for Young Adult Fiction, and
• Richard Flanagan received the John Curtin Prize for Journalism. Flanagan has been awarded the Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction previously in 1998 and 2002.
The awards ceremony was a fitting bookend for the 2008 Melbourne Writer’s Festival which closed on 31 August. The move to a new home at Federation Square proved a boon for the festival with final attendance figures expected to exceed 45,000.
The awards dinner featured Jennifer Byrne, host of ABC 1’s First Tuesday Bookclub, as MC. A keynote address was delivered by celebrated Melbourne author Alice Pung.
The Premier’s Literary Awards are administered by the State Library of Victoria. The full list of winners and judges follows.
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2008
The Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction
The Spare Room
by Helen Garner
Text Publishing
The Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-fiction
The Ferocious Summer: Palmer’s Penguins and the Warming of Antarctica
by Meredith Hooper
Allen & Unwin
The CJ Dennis Prize for Poetry
Press Release
by Lisa Gorton
Giramondo Publishing
The Louis Esson Prize for Drama
When the Rain Stops Falling
by Andrew Bovell
Brink Productions
The Prize for Young Adult Fiction
Tomorrow All Will Be Beautiful
by Brigid Lowry
Allen & Unwin
The Prize for a First Book of History
The Lamb Enters the Dreaming: Nathanael Pepper and the Ruptured World
by Robert Kenny
Scribe
The Alfred Deakin Prize for an Essay Advancing Public Debate
Trapped in the Aboriginal Reality Show
by Marcia Langton
Griffith Review
The Prize for Indigenous Writing
Anonymous Premonition
by Yvette Holt
University of Queensland Press
The Prize for the Best Music Theatre Script
The Wild Blue
by Anthony Crowley
St. Martins Theatre
The Prize for an Unpublished Manuscript by an Emerging Victorian Writer
Going Finish
by Mandy Maroney
The Grollo Ruzzene Foundation Prize for Writing about Italians in Australia
Head Over Heel
by Chris Harrison
Murdoch Books
The John Curtin Prize for Journalism
Out of Control: The Tragedy of Tasmania’s Forests
by Richard Flanagan
The Monthly
Judges of the 2008 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards
The Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction
Lyn Gallacher (convenor), Joel Becker and Peter Mews
The Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-fiction
Judith Armstrong (convenor), Stephen Armstrong, Peter Cochrane, Mary Dalmau, and Jenny Lee
The Prize for Young Adult Fiction
Anna Ryan-Punch (convenor), Simmone Howell and Kirsty Murray
The CJ Dennis Prize for Poetry
Jennifer Strauss (convenor), Claire Gaskin and Peter Rose
The Louis Esson Prize for Drama
Ailsa Piper (convenor), Mary Lou Jelbart and Wendy Lasica
The Alfred Deakin Prize for an Essay Advancing Public Debate
Peter Browne (convenor), Sarah L’Estrange and Terry Lane
The John Curtin Prize for Journalism
Michael Gawenda (convenor), Greg Hywood and Richard Watts
The Prize for a First Book of History
Tony Birch (convenor), Helen MacDonald and Alistair Thomson
The Prize for Indigenous Writing
Philip Morrissey (convenor), Jane Harrison and Bruce Sims
The Prize for the Best Musical Theatre Script
Guy Noble (convenor), Robyn Archer and Robert Dessaix
The Prize for an Unpublished Manuscript by an Emerging Victorian Writer
Kevin Brophy (convenor), Liam Davison and Louise Swinn
The Grollo Ruzzene Foundation Prize for Writing about Italians in Australia
Robert Pascoe (convenor), Piero Genovesi and Adriana Nelli
Award winning Melbourne novelist, screen writer and journalist Helen Garner has taken out the prestigious Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction in the 2008 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards (http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/programs/literary/pla/index.html).
Premier John Brumby tonight announced Garner was among a dozen writers who will share in a $210,000 prize pool and said the awards recognised the abundant talent of Victorian and Australian writers.
“We know Victoria has the best and most engaged literary scene in Australia and it’s fantastic to recognise these authors in the midst of the Melbourne Writers Festival and just after our City of Literature endorsement by UNESCO,” Mr Brumby said.
“These awards reveal the abundant talent of established and emerging Australian writers and for 24 years these awards have worked to raise the profile of contemporary Australian literature.”
The 2008 Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction was awarded to Helen Garner for her novel The Spare Room. In the non-fiction category, the Nettie Palmer Prize was awarded to Meredith Hooper for The Ferocious Summer: Palmer’s Penguins and the Warming of Antarctica. Both authors receive $30,000 in prize money.
Mr Brumby said the prestigious awards were one of Australia’s most diverse literary prize programs.
“Each year, the awards go from strength to strength and this year we are pleased to award, for the first time, the $15,000 Prize for Best Music Theatre Script – an award which acknowledges the strength of musical theatre in Victoria,” Mr Brumby said.
The inaugural award was presented to Anthony Crowley for The Wild Blue.
“All 12 of the awards are a celebration of Victoria’s passion for literature and writing in all its forms,” Mr Brumby said.
The first award of the night, the Prize for an Unpublished Manuscript by an Emerging Victorian Writer was presented by Arts Minister Lynne Kosky.
“Now in its fifth year, this special prize fosters and supports Victoria’s emerging authors, in fact, all six authors shortlisted for this award in 2006 and 2007 have gone on to successfully obtain commercial publishing contracts,” Ms Kosky said.
The 2008 award was won by Mandy Maroney for her novel Going Finish is, an examination of the loss of childhood innocence in 1970s Papua New Guinea.
Other winners in the awards included:
• Marcia Langton – awarded the Alfred Deakin Prize for an Essay Advancing Public Debate
• Brigid Lowry - awarded The Prize for Young Adult Fiction, and
• Richard Flanagan received the John Curtin Prize for Journalism. Flanagan has been awarded the Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction previously in 1998 and 2002.
The awards ceremony was a fitting bookend for the 2008 Melbourne Writer’s Festival which closed on 31 August. The move to a new home at Federation Square proved a boon for the festival with final attendance figures expected to exceed 45,000.
The awards dinner featured Jennifer Byrne, host of ABC 1’s First Tuesday Bookclub, as MC. A keynote address was delivered by celebrated Melbourne author Alice Pung.
The Premier’s Literary Awards are administered by the State Library of Victoria. The full list of winners and judges follows.
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2008
The Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction
The Spare Room
by Helen Garner
Text Publishing
The Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-fiction
The Ferocious Summer: Palmer’s Penguins and the Warming of Antarctica
by Meredith Hooper
Allen & Unwin
The CJ Dennis Prize for Poetry
Press Release
by Lisa Gorton
Giramondo Publishing
The Louis Esson Prize for Drama
When the Rain Stops Falling
by Andrew Bovell
Brink Productions
The Prize for Young Adult Fiction
Tomorrow All Will Be Beautiful
by Brigid Lowry
Allen & Unwin
The Prize for a First Book of History
The Lamb Enters the Dreaming: Nathanael Pepper and the Ruptured World
by Robert Kenny
Scribe
The Alfred Deakin Prize for an Essay Advancing Public Debate
Trapped in the Aboriginal Reality Show
by Marcia Langton
Griffith Review
The Prize for Indigenous Writing
Anonymous Premonition
by Yvette Holt
University of Queensland Press
The Prize for the Best Music Theatre Script
The Wild Blue
by Anthony Crowley
St. Martins Theatre
The Prize for an Unpublished Manuscript by an Emerging Victorian Writer
Going Finish
by Mandy Maroney
The Grollo Ruzzene Foundation Prize for Writing about Italians in Australia
Head Over Heel
by Chris Harrison
Murdoch Books
The John Curtin Prize for Journalism
Out of Control: The Tragedy of Tasmania’s Forests
by Richard Flanagan
The Monthly
Judges of the 2008 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards
The Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction
Lyn Gallacher (convenor), Joel Becker and Peter Mews
The Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-fiction
Judith Armstrong (convenor), Stephen Armstrong, Peter Cochrane, Mary Dalmau, and Jenny Lee
The Prize for Young Adult Fiction
Anna Ryan-Punch (convenor), Simmone Howell and Kirsty Murray
The CJ Dennis Prize for Poetry
Jennifer Strauss (convenor), Claire Gaskin and Peter Rose
The Louis Esson Prize for Drama
Ailsa Piper (convenor), Mary Lou Jelbart and Wendy Lasica
The Alfred Deakin Prize for an Essay Advancing Public Debate
Peter Browne (convenor), Sarah L’Estrange and Terry Lane
The John Curtin Prize for Journalism
Michael Gawenda (convenor), Greg Hywood and Richard Watts
The Prize for a First Book of History
Tony Birch (convenor), Helen MacDonald and Alistair Thomson
The Prize for Indigenous Writing
Philip Morrissey (convenor), Jane Harrison and Bruce Sims
The Prize for the Best Musical Theatre Script
Guy Noble (convenor), Robyn Archer and Robert Dessaix
The Prize for an Unpublished Manuscript by an Emerging Victorian Writer
Kevin Brophy (convenor), Liam Davison and Louise Swinn
The Grollo Ruzzene Foundation Prize for Writing about Italians in Australia
Robert Pascoe (convenor), Piero Genovesi and Adriana Nelli