AustLit
History
Launched in September 2015, the Wilbur and Niso Smith Foundation is a charitable organisation dedicated to empowering young writers, the advancement of the adventure writing genre and the promotion of literacy.
Latest Winners / Recipients
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Year: 2021
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Year: 2020
winner (Best Unpublished Manuscript) y
Cave Diver
Australia
:
Jacob P. Avila
,
2018
19438696
2018
single work
novel
adventure
'The quest for a WW2 Japanese submarine in a bottomless Papuan cavern could be the opportunity Rob Nash needs to rebuild his once glittering career in cave diving exploration. Since losing his wife in a controversial diving accident he’s been dumped by sponsors, shunned by friends, and has developed a secret terror of confined spaces. Nash soon learns the price of redemption will consume every molecule of his self-belief. Not only must he battle his demons in the darkness below but vanquish fanatical terrorists hell-bent on unleashing a monstrous weapon lost in the depths for over seventy years.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
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Year: 2019
winner y
Blood in the Dust
Australia
:
Bonnier Zaffre
,
2019
15986204
2019
single work
novel
historical fiction
'Winner of the best unpublished manuscript category of the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize: a fast-paced adventure story set in the Australian outback. 1853, Victoria. Five bushrangers raid a homestead. When they ride away, nineteen-year-old Toby O'Rourke's parents lay dead at his feet. Forced into adulthood, he and his brother Paddy will seek to restore the family fortunes and outwit not only the rich businessman who conspired to rob them of their birth right, but the vicious men who murdered their family.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
