Archived Grant Opportunity View - GO3392

The Prime Minister’s Literary Awards (the Awards) is an annual program which accepts books published in the previous calendar year.

The Awards celebrate the contribution of Australian literature and history to the nation’s cultural and intellectual life.

The Awards play an important role in supporting a national appreciation of Australian literature. Entries are sought for books of high literary merit, and in the case of Australian history, scholarly accomplishment.

The Australian history category recognises outstanding work that contributes significantly to an understanding of Australian history.

They provide acknowledgement and prizes to the authors and illustrators that have published the best works of Australian literature each year.

The Awards are administered through an open competitive process. Awards are presented in six categories; fiction, non-fiction, young adult literature, children’s literature, poetry and Australian history. Up to $100,000 will be awarded in each category—$80,000 for the winning entry and $5,000 each for a maximum of four shortlisted entries. All prizes are tax-free.

The following criteria apply to entries (please refer to the Guidelines for category specific eligibility criteria). 

 Eligible entries:

• The entry must have been first published or released between 1 January 2019 and 31 December 2019.

• Entries must have been made available for general sale, broadcast or distribution in Australia between 1 January 2019 and 31 December 2019 and be available to the general public via more than one distribution outlet.

• The entry must be published or produced in the English language.

• Books must have an International Standard Book Number (ISBN).

• Books must be deposited to the National Library of Australia (and relevant state library/libraries) as is required for legal deposit under the Copyright Act 1968. For more information on this criterion please refer to: www.nla.gov.au/legal-deposit/what-is-legal-deposit.

• Books primarily published electronically are eligible as long as they are also available in some kind of hard copy format, for example, by print-on-demand.

• Books must be edited by a professional editor.

• Authors and producers are required to have considered any legal risks associated with their work, particularly in relation to copyright and defamation law.

The 2020 Prime Minister's Literary Awards are for works first published or released between 1 January 2019 and 31 December 2019.

$600,000.00

From $5,000.00 to $80,000.00

Entrants are encouraged to submit an online entry form to the Department of Communications and the Arts (the Department) at www.arts.gov.au/pmliteraryawards. A separate entry form must be completed for each title (work).

In addition, eight (8) published copies of the relevant work must be received by the Department by the closing date. If you are entering a recording or documentary for the Australian history category you will also need to provide eight copies of your entry in a format that can be provided to the judges.

There is no entry fee for the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards.

Works may be entered by publishers, literary agents, authors, producers or broadcasters. People or organisations entering a work on behalf of an author or producer are assumed to be submitting the entry with the consent of the author or producer. It is the responsibility of the person submitting the entry to ensure that the author or producer’s consent is obtained before entering the work (confirmation of consent may be requested by the Department).