AustLit
History
The David Unaipon Award was inaugurated in 1988 and is awarded for an outstanding manuscript by an unpublished Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander writer. This category is sponsored by the Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) through the CAL Cultural Fund and supported by The University of Queensland Press.
The award was named in honour of David Unaipon, one of the earliest published Indigenous writers.
The award was not presented in 2019, because award judges felt none of the manuscripts were yet of publication standard: instead, eligible entrants were offered mentorships through the State Library of Queensland, in consultation with the Copyright Agency and The University of Queensland Press.
Notes
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Established by the Australian Bicentennial Authority's National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Program (NATSIP) in 1988, the David Unaipon award is in memory of the first Aboriginal writer to have a book published in Australia. David Unaipon (q.v.) (1873-1967), was born at Pt McLeay in the Tailem Bend area of the Murray River and spent most of his life in Adelaide, is best known for his book Native Legends, published in 1929.
The competition is open only to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander authors who have not been published and entries are accepted in any writing genre or Indigenous language. The winning entrant receives a guarantee of publication by University of Queensland Press and $15,000 prize money to be awarded by the Premier at the Queensland Premier's Literary Awards Presentation and subsequently celebrated in a ceremony held at the Brisbane Writers Festival.In 2012 this award became part of the Queensland Literary Awards, Unpublished Indigenous Writer.
Latest Winners / Recipients
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Year: 2021
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Year: 2020
winner y
How to Make a Basket
St Lucia
:
University of Queensland Press
,
2021
21861313
2021
selected work
poetry
'A powerful and lyrical collection of poetry by the winner of the 2020 David Unaipon Award.
'the end of the world was marked with beautiful light we should have known
'Simmering with protest and boundless love, Jazz Money's David Unaipon Award-winning collection, how to make a basket, examines the tensions of living in the Australian colony today. By turns scathing, funny and lyrical, Money uses her poetry as an extension of protest against the violence of the colonial state, and as a celebration of Blak and queer love. Deeply personal and fiercely political, these poems attempt to remember, revision and re-voice history.
'Writing in both Wiradjuri and English language, Money explores how places and bodies hold memories, and the ways our ancestors walk with us, speak through us and wait for us.' (Publication summary)
As 'The Space Between the Paperbark'. -
Year: 2018
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Year: 2017
winner y
Ghost Bird
St Lucia
:
University of Queensland Press
,
2019
16861510
2019
single work
novel
young adult
'Remember daughter, the world is a lot bigger than anyone knows. There are things that science may never explain. Maybe some things that shouldn’t be explained.
'Stacey and Laney are twins – mirror images of each other – and yet they’re as different as the sun and the moon. Stacey works hard at school, determined to get out of their small town. Laney skips school and sneaks out of the house to meet her boyfriend. But when Laney disappears one night, Stacey can’t believe she’s just run off without telling her.
'As the days pass and Laney doesn’t return, Stacey starts dreaming of her twin. The dreams are dark and terrifying, difficult to understand and hard to shake, but at least they tell Stacey one key thing – Laney is alive. It’s hard for Stacey to know what’s real and what’s imagined and even harder to know who to trust. All she knows for sure is that Laney needs her help.
'Stacey is the only one who can find her sister. Will she find her in time?'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
for unpublished manuscript titled 'Mirrored Pieces'. -
Year: 2016
winner y
Dancing Home
St Lucia
:
The University of Queensland
,
2017
11671262
2017
single work
novel
‘When he was in gaol, he’d begun to prepare himself for the fight of his life, a showdown with the policeman, McWilliams … he’d face life with death, and see who blinked first.’
'Blackie and Rips are fresh out of prison when they set off on a road trip back to Wiradjuri country with their mate Carlos. Blackie is out for revenge against the cop who put him in prison on false grounds. He is also craving to reconnect with his grandmother’s country.
'Driven by his hunger for drugs and payback, Blackie reaches dark places of both mystery and beauty as he searches for peace. He is willing to pay for that peace with his own life.
'Part road-movie, part ‘Koori-noir’, Dancing Home announces an original and darkly funny new voice.'
[source: Publisher's website]
Works About this Award
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Making Space for Torres Strait Islander Expression 2021 single work essay
— Appears in: Kill Your Darlings [Online] , March 2021;'Growing up on mainland Australia, I’ve struggled to find places where Torres Strait Islander stories are being told. I want to respectfully advocate for Torres Strait Islanders while acknowledging whose land I live on.'
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The Study of Contemporary Australian Aboriginal Literature in China 2015 single work
— Appears in: Oceanic Literary Studies , no. 2 2015; (p. 236-247) 'Australian Aboriginal literature, a unique genre in Australian Literature, has greatly contributed to its diversity and colorfulness. Its status has improved because of the awaking of Aboriginal people and constant emerging of Aboriginal writers. This paper emphatically probes into three stages, reviews the Australian Aboriginal literature studies in China and discusses some of the major characteristics. Remarkable achievements have been made in the past thirty years, but there still exist some problems, including inadequate sense of Aboriginality, lack of diachronic and holistic study of a writer's thoughts, inadequate research on the works of Aboriginal writers born after the 1960s.' (236-237) -
Unaipon Deadline Draws near 2015 single work column
— Appears in: Koori Mail , 3 June no. 602 2015; (p. 44) Includes portrait of Ellen van Neerven previous David Unaipon Award winner. -
New Faces for Black&write! 2015 single work column
— Appears in: Koori Mail , 1 July no. 604 2015; (p. 66) 'Four Indigenous writers and editors have joined the State Library of Queensland's black&write! Indigenous Writing and Edition team...' -
Ellen's Novel Experience 2013 single work column
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 28 August 2013; (p. 12)
