ACT Writing and Publishing Awards
The ACT Writing and Publishing Awards are an Australian literary award presented by the ACT Writers Centre for the best books in the categories of non-fiction, fiction, poetry and children's literature written in the Canberra region. They have been awarded since 2004. The winners in each category receive a $500 prize.
The Anne Edgeworth Fellowship is for an emerging ACT region writer, and commemorates Anne Edgeworth.
The June Shenfield Poetry Award is for an emerging Australian poet, and is awarded in collaboration with Demos Journal.
The Marjorie Graber-McInnis Short Story Award is for an emerging ACT region writer. It was established to commemorate the late short story writer Graber-McInnis, who lived in Canberra.
The Michael Thwaites Poetry Award was previously known as the ACT Writers Centre Poetry Award.
The Publishing awards span four categories of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and children's books.
List of winners
2004
- Non-fiction – Huts in the Victorian Alps by Klaus Hueneke
- Fiction – You by Narelle Wickham
- Poetry – Indigo Book of Modern Australian Sonnets by Geoff Page
2005
- Non-fiction – Days of Innocents edited by Hilary Trotter
- Fiction – Trouble in the Garden by Peter Frankis
- Poetry – Unfinished Journey by Michael Thwaites
- Children's – The Year of the Mean Queen by Graeme Hume and Caroline Ambrus
2006
- Non-fiction – Unlocking History's Secrets by Graeme Barrow & "Australian Speculative Fiction: A Genre Overview" By
- Fiction – The Grinding House by Kaaron Warren
- Poetry – Southbound by Michael Byrne
- Children's – Not Awarded
2007
- Non-fiction – Men at Birth by David Vernon
- Fiction – Ghosts in the Helmet Trees by Rory Steele
- Poetry – Verbal Medicine by Tim Metcalf
- Children's – Secrets by Stephen Matthews
2008
- Non-fiction – Rainbow by Jennifer Horsfield
- Fiction – Not a Flotation Device by Peter Frankis
- Poetry – Migrant writer on a bus, thinking of Kundera by Danijela Kambaskovic-Sawers Andy Jackson
- Children's –
2009
- Non-fiction – The Campbell Community by Alan Foskett
- Fiction – Smoke and mirrors by Kel Robertson
- Poetry – Sleeping Alone by Michael Thorley
- Children's – Butterscotch: Family and Friends by William Nevin Morison & Rebecca Dempsey
- Marjorie Graber-McInnis Short Story Award – Basant by Maryanne Khan
2010
- Non-fiction – Capital Sailing: The history of the Canberra Yacht Club 1959–2009 by Alan Foskett
- Fiction – Hornet Bank by Gordon Reid
- Poetry – Before Afterwards by Leon Trainor
- Children's –
- Short story – "Acts of Kindness" by Jennifer Shapcott
2011
- Non-fiction – Who Lied? The Ly-ee-moon Disaster and a Question of Truth by Graeme Barrow
- Fiction – Dead Sea Fruit by Kaaron Warren
- Poetry – A Man of Emails by Michael Byrne
- Children's –
- Short story – The Day for Travelling by
2012
- Marjorie Graber-McInnis Short Story Award 2012
- * Winner: Paper Cranes by Rachael Rippon
- * Highly Commended: Fiona Hamer
- Michael Thwaites Poetry Award 2012
- * Winner: Isi Unikowski
- * Highly Commended: Monica Carroll
- Children's Book category
- * Winner: Tracey Hawkins
- Nonfiction Book category
- * Winner: Irma Gold
- * Highly Commended: Ann Villiers
- * Highly Commended: Alan Foskett
- Fiction Book Category
- * Winner: Nigel Featherstone
- * Highly Commended: Irma Gold
- * Highly Commended: Elizabeth Egan
- Poetry Book Category
- * Winner: Michael Byrne
- Z4 Award for book reviews
- * Winner: Colin Steele
2013
- Marjorie Graber-McInnis Short Story Award 2013
- * Winner: This Square Called a Ring by Monica Carroll
- * Highly Commended:
- ** Breath by Michelle Brock
- ** Feather-light by Claire Delahunty
- Michael Thwaites Poetry Award 2013
- * Winner: Ode to a Toothbrush by Penny O'Hara
- * Highly Commended:
- ** After Nights by Claire Delahunty
- ** An Untimely Death by Rebecca Fleming
- Nonfiction Book Category
- * Winner: Canberry Tales: An Informal History by G.A. Mawer
- * Highly Commended: Leaving the Rest Behind: An Immigrant’s Story by Ann Nugent
- Fiction Book Category
- * Winner: Through Splintered Walls by Kaaron Warren
- * Highly Commended:
- ** I’m Ready Now by Nigel Featherstone
- ** Provocation by Donald McMaster
- Poetry Book Category
- * Winner: First…Then… by Melinda Smith
- * Highly Commended:
- ** The Love Procession by Suzanne Edgar
- ** In Country by Leon Trainor
- Children's Book Category
- * Co-winner: Sarah’s Song by Tanya Davies
- * Co-winner: My Aunt Ate a Plate by Maree Teychenne
- Z4 Award for book reviews
- * Winner: Duncan Driver’s review of Martin Amis’s novel Lionel Asbo: State of England
- Anne Edgeworth Fellowship for Young ACT Writers
- * Brian Obiri-Asare to produce his play In Between the Solitude of Sunburnt Islands
2014
- Marjorie Graber-McInnis Short Story Award 2014
- * Winner: ‘A White Woman in Ōjin’ by Ashley Thomson
- * Highly Commended:
- ** ‘Hooking In' by Christine Kearney
- ** ‘The Loose Thread and the Sterile Needles’ by Cara Lennon
- ** ‘The Garden House’ by Alison O’Hara
- Michael Thwaites Poetry Award 2014
- * Winner: ‘Stilettos’ by Robyn Lance
- * Highly Commended:
- ** ‘Calling me in’ by Susan McGrath
- ** ‘Jack and Jill’ by Gregory A Gould
- ** ‘Implausible Birds’ by Kavya Robinson
- Nonfiction Book Category
- * Winner: 18 Days – Al Jazeera English and the Egyptian Revolution by Scott Bridges
- * Highly Commended:
- ** Meat Pies and Mumbling Blokes – A Canberra Memoir by Margitta Acker
- ** Australian Eagles: Australians in the Battle of Britain by Kristen Alexander
- Fiction Book Category
- * Winner: The Happiness Jar by Samantha Tidy
- * Highly Commended: Round and Round by Jordan Morris
- Poetry Book Category
- * Winner: The Petrov Poems by Lesley Lebkowicz
- * Highly Commended:
- ** Improving the News by Geoff Page
- ** Drag down to unlock or place an emergency call by Melinda Smith
- ** Extravagance by Irene Wilkie
- Children's Book Category
- * Winner: An Aussie Year by Tania McCartney
- * Highly Commended:
- ** The Very Sad Fish-lady by Joy McDonald
- ** A Lion, a Whale and a Flea by Maree Teychenne
- Anne Edgeworth Fellowship for Young ACT Writers
- * Winners: Zoya Patel and Lisa Fuller
2015
- Marjorie Graber-McInnis Short Story Award 2015
- * Winner: Torvald's Year by C.H. Pearce
- * Highly Commended: Frozen Stiff by Elizabeth Egan
- * Highly Commended: Now and Then by Jennifer Hand
- Michael Thwaites Poetry Award 2015
- * Winner: Ode to a Papermate Inkjoy 100 by Penny O'Hara
- * Highly Commended: Winter evening on the Monaro by Laurence Anderson
- * Highly Commended: Action by Sarah Rice
- * Highly Commended: Memorabilia by Michelle Brock
- Z4 Review Writing Award 2015
- * Winner: Excavate by Shu-Ling Chua
- Publishing Awards: Fiction Category
- * Winner: Uncle Adolf by Craig Cormick
- * Highly Commended: Capital Yarns by Sean Costello
- Publishing Awards: Nonfiction Category
- * Winner: Australia's Few and the Battle of Britain by Kristen Alexander
- * Highly Commended: The Pearl King by Robert Lehane
- Publishing Awards: Children's Fiction Category
- * Winner: Midnight Burial by Pauline Deeves
- * Highly Commended: Tottie and Dot by Tania McCartney
- Publishing Awards: Poetry Category
- * Winner: Fire in the Afternoon by John Stokes
- * Highly Commended: The Stars Like Sand: Australian Speculative Poetry by P. S. Cottier and Tim Jones
- Anne Edgeworth Fellowship for Young Writers
- * Winner: Louis Klee
2016
- Fiction
- * Winner: Cranky Ladies of History edited by Tansy Rayner Roberts & Tehani Wessely
- * Highly Commended: Olmec Obituary by
- * Highly Commended: Undad by
- Nonfiction
- * Winner: Building a City: CS Daley and the Story of Canberra by Jennifer Horsfield
- * Highly Commended: Paths into Inner Canberra by
- * Highly Commended: Australian Predators of the Sky by Penny Olsen
- * Highly Commended: Weekend Warriors: A Funny Side by James Sanderson
- Children's
- * Winner: Horace the Baker’s Horse by Jackie French, illustrated by Peter Bray
- * Highly Commended: Lennie the Legend: Solo to Sydney by Pony by
- * Highly Commended: This is Captain Cook by , illustrated by
- Poetry
- * Winner: Deep in the Valley of Tea Bowls by Kathy Kituai
- * Highly Commended: Ripples Under the Skin by Janette Pieloor
- The Marjorie Graber-McInnis Short Story Award 2016
- * Winner:
'Sandman' by Ron Schroer - * Second Place: ‘Roadwork Ahead’ by Greg Burgess
- * Highly Commended: ‘Fight or Flight’ by Isabelo Gacusan
- * Highly Commended: ‘The Abject Redemption of Athalie Roche’ by Erin Prothero
- The June Shenfield Poetry Award
- * Winner: ‘Ghost’ by Hessom Razavi
- * Second Place: ‘Tumbleweed’ by Daniel Hutley
- * Second Place: ‘White Lilac ’ by Saaro Umar
- * Highly Commended: ‘brontebright’ by Samuel Guthrie
- * Highly Commended: ‘My Grandmother’s Language’ by Nadia Niaz
- * Highly Commended: ‘The Lumber Room’ by
- The Anne Edgeworth Fellowship for Young Writers
- * Winner: Rosanna Stevens
- * Shortlisted:
- * Shortlisted: Grace Finlayson
- * Shortlisted: Leearni Hamilton
- 2016 Judges
- * Fiction: Karen Viggers & Craig Cormick
- * Nonfiction: & Kristen Alexander
- * Poetry: Geoff Page & Andrew Galan
- * Children's Book: Tracey Hawkins & K.J. Taylor
- * The Marjorie Graber-McInnis Short Story Award: Kaaron Warren
- * The June Shenfield Poetry Award: Jenni Kemarre Martiniello, & Holly Zhangthe