Nominations now open for the 2020 Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature
Nominations are now open for the 2020 Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature, one of Australia’s richest and most prestigious literary awards. The awards celebrate South Australia's writing culture by offering national and State-based literary prizes, as well as three fellowships for South Australian writers.
For the first time the State Library of South Australia is managing the awards which are presented every two years during Adelaide Writers’ Week. The awards offer a total prize pool of $167,500 across six national and five South Australian categories, including the coveted Premier’s Award worth $25,000 for the overall winner.
Introduced in 1986 by the Government of South Australia, the awards provide an opportunity to highlight the importance of our unique South Australian writers and contribute to and support community engagement with literature. The categories include:
National Awards for published works
- Premier’s Award ($25,000)
- Children’s Literature Award ($15,000)
- Young Adult Fiction Award ($15,000)
- Fiction Award ($15,000)
- John Bray Poetry Award ($15,000)
- Non-Fiction Award ($15,000)
South Australian Awards and Fellowships
- Jill Blewett Playwright’s Award ($12,500)
- Arts South Australia Wakefield Press Unpublished Manuscript Award ($10,000)
- Barbara Hanrahan Fellowship ($15,000)
- Max Fatchen Fellowship ($15,000)
- Tangkanungku Pintyanthi Fellowship ($15,000)
Geoff Strempel, Director State Library of South Australia, says, “We are delighted to be managing one of Australia’s most prestigious literary awards. In addition to collecting and preserving the state’s history, the Library plays a pivotal role in connecting people to the collections and the stories held within them. Managing these awards is another way we can share the stories of South Australian and Australian writers, and help to nurture and encourage upcoming and established writers.”
Nominations for the 2020 Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature close at 5pm on Wednesday 31 July 2019.
MEDIA ENQUIRIES
Geoff Strempel, Director
State Library of South Australia
Phone: 08 8207 7204
Mobile: 0416 041 743
geoff.strempel@sa.gov.au