AustLit
History
Inaugurated by HarperCollins Publishers Australia in 2018, the Banjo Prize is open to all Australian writers of commercial fiction, and presented to an unpublished manuscript.
Latest Winners / Recipients
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Year: 2021
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Year: 2020
winner y
The Torrent
Sydney
:
HarperCollins Australia
,
2022
22939219
2022
single work
novel
crime
'An atmospheric, compelling new voice in Australian crime fiction.
'In Northern New South Wales, heavily pregnant and a week away from maternity leave, Detective Sergeant Kate Miles is exhausted and counting down the days. But a violent hold-up at a local fast-food restaurant with unsettling connections to her own past, means that her final days will be anything but straightforward.
'When a second case is dumped on her lap, the closed case of man drowned in recent summer floods, what begins as a simple informal review quickly grows into something more complicated. Kate can either write the report that's expected of her or investigate the case properly.
'As secrets and betrayals pile up, and the needs of her own family intervene, how far is Kate prepared to push to discover the truth?'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
as 'Flood Debris'. -
Year: 2019
winner y
Beware of Dogs
Sydney
:
HarperCollins Australia
,
2021
20231000
2021
single work
novel
thriller
'She's isolated. Trapped. Hunted. An almost unbearably tense Australian survival thriller.
'Not much daylight left now.
'So begins the field diary of Alix Verhoeven, whose impulsive acceptance of an offer to spend Easter on a remote island has turned into a terrifying ordeal. Hiding in a tiny cave, she carefully rations out her meagre supplies, while desperately trying to figure out how to escape the men hunting her. She is determined not to be a victim.
'What do they want with her? She knows it's nothing good - she overheard enough on that first night to flee. But now she's got little food or water, no way of calling for help, and only her skills as an exploration geologist and memories of Atkinson's Guide to Bushcraft to survive.
'By day she is disciplined and lives by strict plans, but at night she finds herself haunted by questions about her life that she has never wanted to face, and slowly this begins to unravel her.
'With time running out, she is forced to take tremendous risks in order to stand even the slightest chance of getting away.' (Publication summary) -
Year: 2018
winner y
Taking Tom Murray Home
Sydney South
:
HarperCollins Australia
,
2019
15930369
2019
single work
novel
'Bankrupt dairy farmer Tom Murray decides he'd rather sell off his herd and burn down his own house than hand them over to the bank. But something goes tragically wrong, and Tom dies in the blaze. His wife, Dawn, doesn't want him to have died for nothing and decides to hold a funeral procession for Tom as a protest, driving 350 kilometres from Yardley in country Victoria to bury him in Melbourne where he was born. To make a bigger impact she agrees with some neighbours to put his coffin on a horse and cart and take it slow - real slow.
'But on the night of their departure, someone burns down the local bank. And as the motley funeral procession passes through Victoria, there are more mysterious arson attacks. Dawn has five days to get to Melbourne before the police impound the coffin and force her to bury her husband. Five days, five more towns, and a state ready to explode in flames ...
'Told with a laconic, deadpan wit, Taking Tom Murray Home is a timely, thought-provoking, heart-warming, quintessentially Australian story like no other. It's a novel about grief, pain, anger and loss, yes, but it's also about hope - and how community, friends and love trump pain and anger, every time.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
With title 'Burn'.
