Entries in the Melbourne Prize for Literature 2015, Best Writing Award 2015 and the new Writers Prize 2015 are now open – to close 20 July 2015.

With a prize pool over $100,000, all writing genres are eligible. Open to Victorian residents only.

Please visit www.melbourneprize.org for the entry form.

Nominations for the 2015 Queensland Literary Awards close 19 June.

Award categories:

• Queensland Premier’s Award for a work of State Significance
• The University of Queensland Fiction Book Award
• The University of Queensland Non-fiction Book Award
• Griffith University Young Adult Book Award
• Griffith University Children’s Book Award
• University of Southern Queensland History Book Award
• University of Southern Queensland Australian Short Story Collection—Steele Rudd Award
• State Library of Queensland Poetry Collection—Judith Wright Calanthe Award
• Queensland Premier’s Young Publishers and Writers Awards
• Unpublished Indigenous Writer—David Unaipon Award (supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund and University of Queensland Press)
• Emerging Queensland Writer—Manuscript Award (supported by the University of Queensland Press)
• The Courier-Mail People’s Choice Queensland Book for the Year

Plus, three Queensland Writers Fellowships of $15,000.

For more information visit qldliteraryawards.org.au

Finch Publishing congratulates author Steve Biddulph, AM on his much deserved recognition in the Queen’s birthday Honours List for his service to community health, particularly in the fields of child and adolescent psychology. Rex Finch and Steve Biddulph have been working together for over 20 years, producing The New Manhood, Raising Boys and Raising Girls.

Applications for The Five Mile Press Illustrator Prize are now open with the winner receiving a $4000 publishing contract and the chance to work with the FMP’s highly-skilled editorial and design teams to create a picture book for publication in 2017.

The inaugural winner, Lucinda Gifford, is having her book published in 2016.

Entries are open to unpublished Australian illustrators and close Monday 27 July. Details to come at www.fivemile.com.au or email illustratorprize@fivemile.com.au

Following last year’s review of the core parcel transport services for Penguin Random House, from Wednesday 1 July 2015, UBD returns will also be handled by Toll IPEC instead of XL Express.

Customers wishing to utilise our returns freight solution via Toll IPEC should contact our Customer Service Team on 1800 331 015 or aftersales@unitedbookdistributors.com.au to be added to the list of authorised customers.

HarperCollins Publishers New Zealand extends its sympathy to family of Sir Peter Williams QC, and particularly to his wife Lady Heeni. Everyone at the company has been saddened by his death. It has been a privilege to work with Sir Peter on his brilliant memoir, The Dwarf Who Moved and other remarkable tales from a life in the law, and we know it meant a lot to the author that the book went on to become a best seller.

‘Peter had a great heart and a big soul,’ said HarperCollins NZ Publisher Finlay Macdonald. ‘It was what made him probably the greatest criminal lawyer of his generation, but also what connected him to people from every walk of life.’

Sir Peter’s last public appearance was at the Auckland Writers Festival in May, where the audience filled the main auditorium, and his sessions ended with a standing ovation. ‘That was a mark of the man he was,’ said Macdonald, ‘and we know our sorrow is shared by a great many other New Zealanders.’

The Dwarf Who Moved and other remarkable tales from a life in the law (ISBN: 9781775540472) is available from HarperCollins.

On behalf of:

• Hachette Australia
• Hachette New Zealand
• Thames & Hudson Australia
• Ilex

This is an important announcement regarding the transfer of Ilex titles to Hachette Australia (HA), and Hachette New Zealand (HNZ).

Following the acquisition of Ilex by Octopus Publishing Group, a division of Hachette UK, HA and HNZ will be taking on the sales, marketing and distribution of the Ilex list, with effect from 1 July 2015. The arrangements concerning the transfer are as follows:

• There will be no physical transfer of stock as Thames & Hudson (TH), HA and HNZ all distribute from Alliance Distribution Services (ADS). As a result, stock will be available immediately during the first week of July 2015.
• Outstanding back orders for customers, placed with TH, will be maintained by ADS, and supplied at Hachette terms, unless customers advise ADS that they wish backorders to be cancelled.
• Returns of all Ilex titles invoiced by ADS prior to 1 July 2015 (i.e. on behalf of TH) will be authorised under the prevailing ADS/TH returns terms until 30 September and such authorised returns will be credited provided they are received at ADS in mint/resalable condition no later than 31 October. After this date, ADS cannot accept returns of books invoiced prior to 1 July 2015.
• The Hachette teams in Australia and New Zealand will sell-in new titles from July publication onwards, and new titles invoiced from the July cycle onwards will be supplied at existing Hachette trading terms.

Ilex and Octopus UK would like to take this opportunity to thank the Thames & Hudson team for their commitment to the Ilex list.