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Latest Winners / Recipients

Year: 2018

winner y separately published work icon Keeping it in the Family Pippa Kay , Port Adelaide : Ginninderra Press , 2018 14043159 2018 selected work short story

'In these compelling stories Pippa Kay introduces you to many families. Meet the boy who loses his little brother while playing cricket with his family, the grandfather reunited with the first girl he kissed, and the girl who loses her mother in the fog. Share the journey with the French tourist who finds family in Kyogle. Go back in time and meet a barmaid and her grandmother who claim they can get away with murder. Go forward in time and meet the survivors - a father and daughter searching for other survivors.'  (Publication summary)

Year: 2011

winner y separately published work icon Once on a Road Mary-Ellen Mullane , North Sydney : Vintage Australia , 2010 Z1670743 2010 single work novel

'Naomi Adams is a midwife, a mother and a grandmother. Her two young grandsons, Chris and Max, have been the centre of her world since both her sons were killed in a car accident. Her daughter-in-law, Zoe, was said to have been driving on that devastating afternoon. Zoe is badly injured in the crash and once she recovers, still ruined, she walks away from her boys and from Naomi for eight years.

'But now she wants her sons back. And Naomi can't let them go.

'Exploring the age-old themes of duty and love, exile and return, this is the story of Naomi and Zoe. It is also the story of Chris and Max, who adore their grandmother but long for their mother, whether or not she knows what's best for them. The choice they make has grave repercussions for the whole family, which will reverberate for years to come.

'Beautifully told in spare, vivid prose Once on a Road is a superb first novel about the complexity of families and how, eventually, even the most tangled and unhappy relationships can be redeemed by forgiveness and love.' (From the publisher's website.)

Year: 2009

winner y separately published work icon Nocturne : A Novel Diane Armstrong , Pymble : HarperCollins Australia Fourth Estate , 2008 Z1495614 2008 single work novel

'It is Warsaw in 1939, and Elzunia is an indulged teenager dreaming of heroism and romance. But when war breaks out, her illusions are shattered. As bombs fall, she meets Adam, a taciturn airman who becomes an activist in the Polish Underground, and later flies bombers for the RAF. Meanwhile, in occupied Warsaw, Elzunia discovers her own strength in ways she never imagined.

'Nocturne is the story of two people whose relationships are played out against the turbulent events of the Second World War in Poland and England. It is a story of doomed heroism and moral triumph in the face of cruelty and betrayal. It is also a story of redemption through love.

'Drawing on her extensive research and her own experiences as a child during the war in Poland, Diane has recreated the tension, confusion and terror of civilians when their lives are on the line and their humanity is put to the test.

'Some of the characters in Nocturne were inspired by real people. One of them was the remarkable Australian nursing sister, Muriel Knox Doherty, who was placed in charge of the hospital set up in the grounds of the Belsen-Bergen concentration camp. Another was the heroic Underground courier Jan Karski who tried to change the course of history by alerting Allied leaders about the genocide in Poland.' (Author's blurb)

Year: 2007

winner y separately published work icon Worm in the Bud June Owen , Briar Hill : Indra , 2005 Z1229595 2005 single work novel

Year: 2005

winner y separately published work icon The Missing Wife June Owen , Briar Hill : Indra Publishing , 2004 Z1119852 2004 single work novel

Works About this Award

Biennial Book Award for Fiction : Judge's Comments Susanne Gervay , 2011-2012 single work column
— Appears in: Images , December - February 2011-2012; (p. 22)
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