Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature
The Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature comprise a group of ly-granted literary awards established in 1986 by the Government of South Australia, announced during Adelaide Writers' Week, as part of the Adelaide Festival. The awards include national as well as state-based prizes, and offer three fellowships for South Australian writers. Several categories have been added to the original four.
History and description
The Awards were created by the South Australian government in 1986. They are currently administered by the State Library of South Australia and awarded during Writers' Week as part of the Adelaide Festival.The Premier's Award is the richest prize, worth, and awarded for the best overall published work which has already won an award in one of the other categories. Other national awards, worth each as of 2018, are the Fiction Award, Children's Literature Award, Young Adult's Fiction Award, John Bray Poetry Award, and the Non-Fiction Award. South Australian awards and fellowships are the Jill Blewett Playwright’s Award, the Arts South Australia/Wakefield Press Unpublished Manuscript Award, the Barbara Hanrahan Fellowship, the Max Fatchen Fellowship and the Tangkanungku Pintyanthi Fellowship.
National awards
Premier's Award
Winners:- 1996 The Future Eaters by Tim Flannery
- 1998 The Drowner by Robert Drewe
- 2000 Mr Darwin's Shooter by Roger McDonald
- 2002 True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey
- 2004 Wild Surmise by Dorothy Porter
- 2006 Sixty Lights by Gail Jones
- 2008 Urban Myths: 210 Poems by John Tranter
- 2010 Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan
- 2012 That Deadman Dance by Kim Scott
- 2014 Cold Light by Frank Moorhouse
- 2016 Figgy in the World by Tamsin Janu
- 2018 The Last Garden by Eva Hornung
- 2020 Nevermoor: The trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend
Fiction Award
- 1986 The Children's Bach by Helen Garner
- 1988 Julia Paradise by Rod Jones
- 1990 Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey
- 1992 The Great World by David Malouf
- 1994 Grand Days by Frank Moorhouse
- 1996 Death of a River Guide by Richard Flanagan
- 1998 The Drowner by Robert Drewe
- 2000 Mr Darwin's Shooter by Roger McDonald
- 2002 True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey
- 2004 Moral Hazzard by Kate Jennings
- 2006 Sixty Lights by Gail Jones
- 2008 The Ballad of Desmond Kale by Roger McDonald
- 2010 Ransom by David Malouf
- 2012 That Deadman Dance by Kim Scott
- 2014 Cold Light by Frank Moorhouse
- 2016 To Name Those Lost by Rohan Wilson
- 2018 The Last Garden by Eva Hornung
- 2020 The Death of Noah Glass'' by Gail Jones
Children's Literature Award
- 1986 The Long Night Watch by Ivan Southall
- 1988 Space Demons by Gillian Rubinstein
- 1990 Beyond the Labyrinth by Gillian Rubinstein
- 1992 The House Guest by Eleanor Nilsson
- 1994 Angel's Gate by Gary Crew
- 1996 The Third Day, The Frost by John Marsden
- 1998 The Listmaker by Robin Klein
- 2000 Deadly, Unna? by Phillip Gwynne
- 2002 Lirael by Garth Nix
- 2004 Abyssinia by Ursula Dubosarsky
- 2006 It's Not All About You, Calma! by Barry Jonsberg
- 2008 Don't Call Me Ishmael by Michael Gerard Bauer
- 2010 Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan
- 2012 Taj and the Great Camel Trek by Roseanne Hawke
- 2014 A Very Unusual Pursuit by Catherine Jinks
- 2016 Figgy in the World by Tamsin Janu
- 2018 Dragonfly Song by Wendy Orr
- 2020 Nevermoor: The trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend
Young Adult Fiction Award
Winners:- 2012 All I Ever Wanted by Vikki Wakefield
- 2014 Friday Brown by Vikki Wakefield
- 2016 Are You Seeing Me? by Darren Groth
- 2018 My Sister Rosa by Justine Larbalestier
- 2020 Small Spaces by Sarah Epstein
John Bray Poetry Award
Winners:
- 1986 Selected Poems – 1963–1983 by Robert Gray
- 1988 The Daylight Moon by Les Murray
- 1990 Bone Scan by Gwen Harwood
- 1992 Last Poems by Vincent Buckley
- 1994 Between Glances by Andrew Lansdown
- 1996 The Silo: A Pastoral Symphony by John Kinsella
- 1998 The Blue Cloud of Crying by Peter Boyle
- 2000 The Harbour by Dimitris Tsaloumas
- 2002 Around Here by Cath Kenneally
- 2004 Wild Surmise by Dorothy Porter
- 2006 Totem by Luke Davies
- 2008 Urban Myths: 210 Poems by John Tranter
- 2010 The Other Way Out by Bronwyn Lea
- 2012 Taller When Prone by Les Murray
- 2014 The Sunlit Zone by Lisa Jacobson
- 2016 Waiting for the Past by Les Murray
- 2018 Missing up by Pam Brown
- 2020 Archival-Poetics by Natalie Harkin
Non-Fiction Award
- 1986 A History of Prince Alfred College by R M Gibbs
- 1988 The Myriad Faces of War by Trevor Wilson
- 1990 Satura by John Bray
- 1992 Patrick White – A Life by David Marr
- 1994 Sort of a Place Like Home: Remembering the Moore River Native Settlement by Susan Maushart
- 1996 The Future Eaters by Tim Flannery
- 1998 Claiming a Continent: A History of Australia by David Day
- 2000 Throw'im Way Leg: An Adventure by Tim Flannery
- 2002 Leviathan: the unauthorised biography of Sydney by John Birmingham
- 2004 Unearthed: The Aboriginal Tasmanians of Kangaroo Island by Rebe Taylor
- 2006 Velocity by Mandy Sayer
- 2008 Sunrise West by Jacob G Rosenberg
- 2010 Stella Miles Franklin by Jill Roe
- 2012 An Eye for Eternity: The Life of Manning Clark by Mark McKenna
- 2014 Madness: A Memoir by Kate Richards
- 2016 What Days Are For by Robert Dessaix
- 2018 The Boy Behind the Curtain by Tim Winton
- 2020 The Bible in Australia by Meredith Lake
South Australian awards & fellowships
Jill Blewett Playwright’s Award
Winners:- 1992 Bran Nue Dae by Jimmy Chi
- 1994 Sweetown by Melissa Reeves
- 1996 Because You Are Mine by Daniel Keene
- 1998 Wolf Lullaby by Hilary Bell
- 2000 Who's Afraid of the Working Class? by Andrew Bovell, Patricia Cornelius, Melissa Reeves & Christos Tsiolkas
- 2002 Small Faith by Josh Tyler
- 2004 Beautiful Words: A Trilogy by Sean Riley
- 2006 This Uncharted Hour by Finegan Kruckemeyer
- 2008 Merger – art, life and the other thing by Duncan Graham
- 2010 This Place by Nina Pearce
- 2012 A Cathedral by Nicki Bloom
- 2014 Replay by Philip Kavanagh
- 2016 Cut by Duncan Graham AND Blessed by Fleur Kilpatrick
- 2018 19 weeks by Emily Steel
- 2020 Forgiveness by Piri Eddy
Arts SA/Wakefield Press Unpublished Manuscript Award
- 1998 Counting The Rivers by Pearlie McNeil
- 2000
- 2002 The Black Dream by Corrie Hosking
- 2004 Goddamn Bus of Happiness by Stefan Laszczuk
- 2006 The Quakers by Rachel Hennessy
- 2008 The Second Fouling Mark by Stephen Orr
- 2010 End of the Night Girl by Amy T Matthews
- 2012 The First Week by Margaret Merrilees
- 2014 Here Where We Live by Cassie Flanagan-Willanski
- 2016 Mallee Boys by Charlie Archbold
- 2018 A New Name for the Colour Blue by Annette Marner
- 2020 In the Room with the She Wolf by Jelena Dinic
Barbara Hanrahan Fellowship
- 1994 Barry Westburg
- 1996 Moya Costello
- 1998 Cath Kenneally
- 2000 Jan Owen
- 2002 Graham Rowlands
- 2004 Kirsty Brooks
- 2006 Mike Ladd
- 2008 Steve Evans
- 2010 Patrick Allington
- 2012 Nicki Bloom
- 2014 Jennifer Mills
- 2016 Carol Lefevre
- 2018 Jude Aquilina
- 2020 Aidan Coleman
Max Fatchen (formerly Carclew) Fellowship
- 1988 Geoff Goodfellow
- 1990 Anne-Marie Mykyta
- 1992 Anne Brookman
- 1994 Peter McFarlane
- 1996 Chris Tugwell
- 1998 Phil Cummings
- 2000 Ian Bone
- 2002 Ruth Starke
- 2004 Marguerite Hann-Syme
- 2006 Christine Harris
- 2008 Rosanne Hawke
- 2010 Nicole Plüss
- 2012 Janeen Brian
- 2014 Helen Dinmore
- 2016 Marianne Musgrove
- 2018 Danielle Clode
- 2020 Sally Heinrich
Tangkanungku Pintyanthi Fellowship
- 2014 Ali Cobby Eckermann for Hopes Crossing
- 2016 Ali Cobby Eckermann for Too Afraid to Cry
- 2018 Edoardo Crismani
No longer part of Festival Awards
Innovation award
. Winners:- 2004 The Eastern Slope Chronicle by Ouyang Yu
- 2006
1–100 by MTC Cronin - 2008 Someone Else: Fictional Essays by John Hughes
- 2010 Barley Patch by Gerald Murnane
The Mayne Award for Multimedia
Winners:
- 1998 FlightPaths: Writing Journeys by Julie Clarke, Rob Finlayson, Tom Gibson, Denise Higgins, Bernie Jannsen, Nazid Kimmie and Adrian Marshall
- 2000 Carrier by Melinda Rackham
- 2002 Poems in a Flash @ The Stalking Tongue website Jayne Fenton Keane and David Keane
- 2004 Concatenation by Geniwate