Miles Franklin Literary Award to increase to $60,000 in 2013; new judging panel announced

12 December 2012 Books+Publishing

The prize money for the Miles Franklin Literary Award will increase to $60,000 in 2013, up from $50,000 this year.

The Trust Company, as trustee of the Miles Franklin Literary Award, announced the increase in a statement this week. Head of philanthropy and community at the Trust Company Simon Lewis said the Miles Franklin Literary Award ‘is an important national prize which continues to have relevance in today’s society’ and that the Trust ‘want[s] to ensure the legacy of Miles Franklin, and her passion in supporting Australian literature, is experienced by as many audiences as possible across the country’.

The Trust Company also announced the judging panel for next year’s award. Craig Munro, former publishing manager at University of Queensland Press and founding chair of the Queensland Writers Centre, and Susan Sheridan, adjunct professor in English and Women’s Studies at Finders University in Adelaide, will join the judging panel in 2013, replacing Gillian Whitlock and Julianne Schultz.

Munro and Sheridan join existing judges: Richard Neville, Mitchell Librarian at the State Library of New South Wales; Murray Waldren, journalist and newspaper columnist; and Anna Low, owner of Potts Point Bookshop in Sydney.

Applications for the 2013 Miles Franklin Literary Award close on 12 December. A longlist will be announced in March, ahead of the shortlist announcement in May and the winner announcement on 19 June.

Category: Local news