AustLit
History
'Launched in 1996, the Prize is awarded annually and celebrates excellence, originality and accessibility in women’s writing from throughout the world. The winner receives a cheque for £30,000 and a limited edition bronze known as a ‘Bessie’, created by the artist Grizel Niven. Both are anonymously endowed.'
Source: Prize website (http://www.womensprizeforfiction.co.uk/).
As of 2014, the prize is now known as the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction.
Latest Winners / Recipients
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Year: 2001
winner y The Idea of Perfection South Melbourne : Picador , 1999 Z141413 1999 single work novel (taught in 5 units)Set in the eccentric backwater of Karakarook, New South Wales, this is the story of Douglas Cheeseman, a shy and clumsy engineer who meets Harley Savage, a woman who is known for being rather large and abrupt. Harley Savage is a plain, rawboned woman, a part-time museum curator and quilting expert with three failed marriages and a heart condition. Douglas Cheeseman is a shy, gawky engineer with jug-handle ears, one marriage gone sour, and a crippling lack of physical courage. Seeming to be incompetent was something Douglas did to protect himself, just as having a "dangerous streak" served the same purpose for Harley. Douglas is there to pull down a quaint old bridge and Harley aims to foster heritage. They are clearly on a collision course - but when they meet they are unaware that something unexpected is going to happen. (Source: Trove)
Works About this Award
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Fine Lines: Why Book Prizes Are Worth It 2008 single work column
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 20 April 2008; (p. 19) -
Undercover 2008 single work column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 29-30 March 2008; (p. 27) A column canvassing current literary news including Gail Jones's longlisting for the Orange Prize. -
Judges Toss Up a Novel Twist : It's the Writing that Matters 2007 single work column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 21 March 2007; (p. 15) -
Science Met Fiction and Now London's Calling 2006 single work column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 27 April 2006; (p. 3) -
Science Works for First-Time Novelist 2006 single work column
— Appears in: The Age , 27 April 2006; (p. 7)