Sales wins 2019 Walkley Book Award

29 November 2019 Books+Publishing

Journalist and author Leigh Sales has won the 2019 Walkley Book Award for Any Ordinary Day (Hamish Hamilton).

Any Ordinary Day describes how tragedy and loss can affect people. Judges said, ‘In a writing world steeped in memoir, Leigh Sales turned her personal story into journalism. Any Ordinary Day takes her own traumatic moment as a starting point, using it to inform these remarkable conversations about loss, grief, faith, trauma, resilience and the simple power of indefatigable humanity.’

Sales previously won a Walkley Award for broadcasting and online interviewing in 2012 and for best radio current affairs reporting in 2005.

This year’s all-female-author shortlist included Rusted Off: Why country Australia is fed up (Gabrielle Chan, Vintage) and See What You Made Me Do (Jess Hill, Black Inc.), and was selected from a longlist announced in October.

The Walkley Book Award recognises excellence in Australian nonfiction and long-form journalism. Last year, Helen Pitt won the Walkley Book Award for The House (A&U).

Also winning in the Walkley Awards was farmer and author Sam Vincent, who won the feature writing award (over 4000 words) for his piece in the Monthly titled ‘A Nagging Doubt: The Retrial of David Eastman‘, on the case of the murder of federal police officer Colin Winchester 30 years ago.

This year’s awards were announced on 28 November in Sydney. To see the full list of winners, visit the website.

(Picture credit: John Donegan/1826)

Category: Awards Local news