QUEENSLAND PREMIER AWARDS OUTSTANDING AUSTRALIAN LITERARY TALENT
Premier Anna Bligh tonight applauded 14 outstanding Australian writers who won the top honours in the 2010 Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards, and shared a prize pool of $225,000.
(Media-Newswire.com) - Premier Anna Bligh tonight applauded 14 outstanding Australian writers who won the top honours in the 2010 Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards, and shared a prize pool of $225,000.
J.M. Coetzee took out the top prize of $25,000 for his novel Summertime, the third instalment of fictionalised memoirs ( the first two being Boyhood and Youth ), which details the life of John Coetzee from the perspective of five people who have known him.
Emerging Queensland author Noel Mengel was awarded $20,000 and will be offered a publishing contract with the University of Queensland Press for his manuscript RPM, a fictional portrait of small-town life and its challenges.
Jeanine Leane took out the Unpublished Indigenous Writer – Arts Queensland David Unaipon Award and was awarded $15,000 for Purple Threads, a sad, hilarious and moving yarn of a house full of strong Aboriginal women.
Authors Mark Tredinnick, Sally Murphy, Richard Yaxley, Sonya Pemberton, Peter Boyle, Karen Hitchcock, Clive Hamilton, Ian Hoskins and script writers Shirley Barrett, Rick Viede and John Misto were also winners.
“I’m pleased that once again this year we have kept the judges hard at work with a strong number of entries and a consistently high standard of writing,” Premer Bligh said.
“The 14 winners were selected from 62 shortlisted entrants from an outstanding pool of nominations received from across Australia.
“The winning stories are an important reflection of our culture, our history and our Australian identity today, and my congratulations go to all of the shortlisted and winning entrants in this year’s awards.
"Each year the Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards celebrate the established and aspiring Australian writers across a broad range of genres and help aspiring authors get onto our bookshelves, televisions and film screens.
“It is through these awards that we can find and nurture tomorrow’s literary stars.”
The winners were announced at a ceremony at the State Library of Queensland on the eve of the Brisbane Writers Festival. Visit www.brisbanewritersfestival.com.au for information on the Brisbane Writers Festival.
2010 Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards winners
Fiction Book Award
J.M. Coetzee for Summertime, Random House Australia
Emerging Queensland Author – Manuscript Award
Noel Mengel for RPM
Unpublished Indigenous Writer – Arts Queensland David Unaipon Award
Jeanine Leane for Purple Threads
Non-Fiction Book Award
Mark Tredinnick for The Blue Plateau: A Landscape Memoir, University of Queensland Press
History Book – Faculty of Arts, University of Queensland Award
Ian Hoskins for Sydney Harbour: A history, University of New South Wales Press
Children’s Book – Mary Ryan’s Award
Sally Murphy for Toppling, Walker Books Australia
Young Adult Book Award
Richard Yaxley for Drink the Air, Richard Yaxley
Science Writer Award
Sonya Pemberton for Catching Cancer, December Films and Pemberton Films
Poetry Collection – Arts Queensland Judith Wright Calanthe Award
Peter Boyle for Apocrypha, Vagabond Press
Australian Short Story Collection – Arts Queensland Steele Rudd Award
Karen Hitchcock for Little White Slips, Picador
Literary or Media Work Advancing Public Debate – The Harry Williams Award
Clive Hamilton for Requiem for a Species: Why we resist the truth about climate change, Allen & Unwin
Film Script – Screen Queensland Award
Shirley Barrett for South Solitary, Macgowan Films Pty Ltd
Drama Script ( Stage ) Award
Rick Viede for Whore
Television Script – QUT Creative Industries Award
John Misto for Sisters of War, Australian Broadcasting Corporation/Pericles Film Productions Pty Ltd
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