Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

Image. Advertisement:

Melbourne Prize for Literature opens; new $20,000 essay category announced

Entries have opened for the triennial Melbourne Prize for Literature, which includes a new $20,000 prize for an essay.

The Writers Prize, which is supported by the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund, will be awarded to an essay of between 10,000 and 20,000 words that includes Melbourne, Victoria or Australia as part of its subjects. All entrants must be published authors and five finalists will receive $2000 each.

The one-off Writers Prize is part of the 10th anniversary celebrations of the Melbourne Prize, which cycles each year between literature, music and urban sculpture. 

The Writers Prize brings this year’s total prize pool to almost $130,000. It includes the $60,000 Melbourne Prize for Literature for a Victorian author for their body of published work; the $30,000 Best Writing Award for a published work of any genre by a Victorian writer; and the $6000 Civic Choice Award, which is presented to one of the finalists in either category.

The finalists for the Melbourne Prize for Literature will be announced in September and a finalist exhibition will be held at Federation Square from 9-23 November.

Entries close on 20 June. For more information, visit the Melbourne Prize website here.

 

Category: Local news