While some state literary awards are well established – such as the NSW and Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards – others seem to struggle to gain and maintain traction. But, where there’s a will, there’s usually a way, as we saw in Queensland in 2012 when new premier Campbell Newman cancelled the Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards. Private individuals stepped up quickly to create a non-profit association to raise funds and run the awards, until the government returned to the party in 2014. However, in recognition of the more collaborative model that had been forged, the new name, the Queensland Literary Awards, was retained.

Small jurisdictions, like Tasmania, tend to find it harder. The original Tasmanian Premier’s Literary Prizes were established by the Tasmanian Government, and awarded biennially rather than annually. As in the ACT and Northern Territory, the focus was local writers and writing. The first awards were made in 2007.

For the first four award years – 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2013 – awards were made in three categories: Tasmania Book Prize – for the best book with Tasmanian content in any genre; Margaret Scott Prize – for the best book by a Tasmanian writer; and University of Tasmania Prize – for the best book by a Tasmanian publisher. (In 2013, this last changed to be “for the best new unpublished literary work by an emerging Tasmanian writer”).

In 2015, a fourth category was added, the Tasmanian Young Writer’s Fellowship. “Supported by private philanthropists” it was for a young writer (aged 35 years and under). The inaugural award was won by Robbie Arnott, who has gone on the justify the faith shown in him, I’d say! In 2019, the awards were tweaked again to add People’s Choice Awards in the three book categories – the Tasmania Book Prize, the Margaret Scott Prize, and the University of Tasmania Prize.

Change didn’t stop there, however, because in 2021 the name was changed to the Tasmanian Literary Awards, and the categories were expanded and/or renamed. The aim, says the current website, is to “celebrate excellence in the Tasmanian literary sector, raise the profile of Tasmanian authors and foster literary talent in our State”. They are only open to writers living in Tasmania. The first awards under this new regime were made in 2022, in the following categories:

• Minister for the Arts’ Prize for Books for Young Readers and Children
• Premier’s Prize for Fiction
• Premier’s Prize for Non-fiction
• Tim Thorne Prize for Poetry
• Tasmanian Aboriginal Writer’s Fellowship
• Margaret Scott Tasmanian Young Writer’s Fellowship
• University of Tasmania Prize
• People’s Choice Awards: Minister for the Arts’ Prize for Books for Young Readers and Children; Premier’s Prize for Fiction; Premier’s Prize for Non-fiction; Tim Thorne Prize for Poetry

I have provided a lot of detail here, but I wanted show how over time these Awards can and do change for various reasons, including government policy and/or politics, funding issues including sponsorship/donor support, and changes in the literary awards environment.

2025 Awards

The 2025 Awards have just been announced (though the biennial timeline suggests they should have been made in 2024, given the previous awards were 2022, but who’s counting). While not the richest awards around, the four book prizes carry $25,000 each, which is a decent sum.

The 2025 Award winners are:

• Premier’s Prize for Fiction: Kate, Kruimink, Heartsease (Pan Macmillan Australia, 2024)
• People’s Choice Award for Premier’s Prize for Fiction: Meg Bignell, The angry women’s choir (Penguin Random House, 2022)
• Premier’s Prize for Non-fiction: Maggie MacKellar, Graft (Penguin Random House, 2023)
• People’s Choice Award for Premier’s Prize for Non-fiction: Maggie MacKellar, Graft (Penguin Random House, 2023)
• Tim Thorne Prize for Poetry: Pam Schindler, say, a river (Ginninderra Press, 2023)
• People’s Choice Award: Tim Thorne Prize for Poetry: Anne Kellas, Ways to say goodbye (Liquid Amber Press, 2023)
• Minister for the Arts’ Prize for Books for Young Readers and Children: Johanna Bell, illustrated by Huni Melissa Bolliger, Digger digs down (University of Queensland Press, 2024)
• People’s Choice Award for Minister for the Arts’ Prize for Books for Young Readers and Children: Jennifer Cossins, Amazing animal journeys (Lothian Children’s Books, 2022)
• University of Tasmania Prize (for best new unpublished literary work by a Tasmanian writer): Johanna Bell, Department of the Vanishing

The judges wrote of the winner, that they “were impressed with the range and depth of the novel, the skilful shifts in time and narration, while remaining perfectly readable and engrossing to the final chapter”. 

You can find all the short and longlists, and judges comments at the Awards website.

For example, the longlist (with the three shortlisted titles identified) for Fiction was:

• V.C. Peisker, Francesca Multimortal (Ashwood Publishing, 2023)
• Kate Kruimink, Heartsease (Pan Macmillan Australia, 2024) (Shortlist)
• Stephanie Hagstrom Panitzki, Hotel Echoed Romeo (Self-published, 2023)
• Robbie Arnott, Limberlost (Text Publishing, 2022) (Shortlist) (my review)
• Rachael Treasure, Milking time (HarperCollins Publishers, 2024)
• Meg Bignell, The angry women’s choir (Penguin Random House, 2022) (Shortlist)
• Amanda Lohrey, The conversion (Text Publishing, 2023)
• Leigh Swinbourne, The lost child and other stories (Ginninderra Press, 2024)
• Lenny Bartulin, The unearthed (Allen & Unwin, 2023)
• Carol Patterson, Vanishing point (Ginninderra Press, 2023)

As in many of the State awards, Fellowships are also awarded. Indeed, this post was inspired by the first in the list below of the two awarded:

• Aboriginal Writer’s Fellowship (which is open to all unpublished and published Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers living in Tasmania): Nunami Sculthorpe-Green. You can read the full Judges comments online, but here is the part that resulted in this post: “Nunami Sculthorpe-Green demonstrates outstanding merit and significant potential as a storyteller and writer. This award acknowledges her existing achievements and is intended to provide the impetus for her to strive towards further realisation of her substantial talent. In her published piece ‘It’s not George that we follow’ in Uninnocent Landscapes, Nunami draws her personal life, family and ancestors into a historical context in an immersive and compelling way. She critically engages with the narrative power of colonial history and writes her way into challenging this – through a project of shifting the power to not only Aboriginal voices, but to Country itself. Her critique of Ian Terry is confident and gentle”. The Ian mentioned here is my brother, and the work the judges commend is the essay Ian commissioned for his exhibition-accompanying book, Uninnocent landscapes (my review). Ian was thrilled with the essay, because of her clarity and honesty, and last week alerted me to her winning this award.
• Margaret Scott Tasmanian Young Writer’s Fellowship (which is awarded to a young Tasmanian young writer – aged 30 years and under – deemed by the judges to have demonstrated the most literary merit): Lars Rogers (see Judges’ comments online).

Past winners can be found on the website.