WestWords announces new CYA manuscript prize

WestWords has announced the Libby Gleeson Prize for Children’s Literature, a new biennial prize for an unpublished manuscript for children or young adults.

The winning manuscript is set to be published by WestWords Books, with an advance against royalties also offered.

According to organisers, the new prize aims to highlight the diversity of contemporary Australia. ‘Nowhere is that diversity more evident than in Western Sydney. The intent is to give the children and young people of the region the opportunity to see themselves, their stories and experiences reflected back at them.’

Named for author and literary professional Libby Gleeson, the prize was created ‘in celebration of the remarkable contribution Libby has made over the past 17 years to WestWords and the development of the literature of Western Sydney,’ said organisers.

Gleeson is a former chair of WestWords. She has published over 40 books for children and young adult readers, and has been shortlisted for 13 – and won 3 – Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) awards.

Among her other awards, she won the 2011 Dromkeen Medal, received the 1997 Lady Cutler Award for Services to Children’s Literature, and in 2007 was awarded a membership to the Order of Australia.

She said, ‘I am delighted and honoured to have my name associated with a prize like this – a prize which values literature for young readers and [encourages] writers who wish to write for this age group.’

To be eligible, manuscripts must be written for middle-grade, older-reader or young adult audiences (defined by the organisation as between 8 and 24 years of age) and have a connection to Western Sydney (through the manuscript’s setting or the author’s own connections to the area).

WestWords plans to announce the inaugural winner in December.

More information about the prize is available on the WestWords website.

Category: Awards Local news