CMIS Evaluation Fiction Focus

Winners were announced last night.

Glenda Millard’s troubling, but ultimately hopeful A Small Free Kiss in the Dark was the winner of the YA category. If you haven’t read it, do yourself a favour. But have the tissues handy.

All category winners here.

In the best of all possible worlds, it would be nice to think that State Premiers read the finalists (at least)  in the awards that bear their names. Although President Obama and his First Lady are readers, not too many Australian politicians have been known for fitting reading into their busy lives. Bob Carr is a notable exception. But we are all grateful for the awards, not least the shortlisted and winning authors.

It does not seem so very long since we mentoned the finalists in the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards. Last night the winners were announced. Congratulations go to Sue Saliba for picking up the YA category for Something in the World Called Love, which also won Best Children’s Cover in the 2009 Australian Publishers Association Awards.

Winners for each category are not listed separately yet (you need to go into each to see) but they should be soon.

If we are feeling a little giddy after the announcement of longlists, shortlists and winners over the past two days, imagine how people like Tony Eaton must be feeling. Well, sleep deprived as it happens. Into White Silence was named on the Golden Inkys longlist on Thursday, a CBCA Honour Book on Friday and shortlisted for the Queenland Premier’s Literary Award also on Friday.

Joanne Horniman and newcomer to YA fiction Lia Hills also appear on the Inkys longlist and the QPLA , so special congratulations to all three authors, but also to all the Australian writers to have been acclaimed this week – writing for YA is in a very fine fettle indeed.

Here are the QPLA nominees:

• Into White Silence – Anthony Eaton
• The Beginner’s Guide to Living -  Lia Hills
• Sprite Downberry – Nette Hilton
• My Candlelight Novel by Joanne Horniman
• A Small Free Kiss in the Dark by Glenda Millard

Children’s Book Week was launched in Perth last night with a dinner at the Royal Perth Golf Club and more animal prints, pith helmets and other outrageous headgear being worn than, well, at a safari. Always a terrific event, the BW Dinners set the mood for the week to follow with great food, great companionship, lots of laughter and this year, a 100% entertaining speech by Jayne Lyons who demonstrated that she was selected for reasons well beyond her highly appropriate name. The hardworking CBCA (WA) commitee are to be congratulated as well.

Enjoy the week ahead. There’s great BW coverage in our state paper – hope yours is as generous. It makes a nice change.

It’s been a busy 24 hours in the world of literary awards:

Neil Gaiman has won the Hugo Award for Best Novel for The Graveyard Book

The Age Book of the Year Awards shortlists have been revealed, and include Sonya Hartnett for Butterfly.

Fleur Beale has taken New Zealand’s Esther Glen Award (LIANZA) for Juno of Taris, and

The Victorian Premier’s Awards Shortlists have been announced. In the Young Adult category, it will be one of these three titles that will take the ultimate honour although the judges have commended several other titles. Obviously a tough category to whittle down.

• Two Pearls of Wisdom (Alison Goodman)
• The Beginner’s Guide to Living (Lia Hills)
• Something in the World Called Love (Sue Saliba)

And although we are still waiting patiently to view Melina Marchetta’s acceptance speech for her Printz Award, here’s an extract from the Penguin Australia site (scroll down a little to view it).

Congratulations abound.

Image of celebration cupcakes used under Creative Commons licence.

That different titles are turning up on various awards shortlists in 2009 is no doubt a reflection of the strength of YA and children’s publishing over the past twelve months. That has to be a very good thing.

Last night’s announcement of the winners of the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards saw Michelle Cooper’s A Brief History of Montmaray take the Ethel Turner Prize for Young People’s Literature from a strong field of candidates.

And Ursula Dubosarsky and Tohby Riddle share the glory for The Word Spy, winner of the Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children’s Literature. The shortlist for this award was no slouch either.

Congratulations to all winners and to shortlisted authors and illustrators.

The Premiers’ Awards season has started with the announcement of the 2009 shortlists in the 14 categories of the NSW Award. Of particular interest to us:

The Ethel Turner Prize for Young People’s Literature:

Three cheers for Ken Spillman, winner of the Young Adult category in the WA Premier’s Literary Awards. Ken was up against stiff competition all of which had previously received some kind of award recognition. Love is a UFO had inexplicably missed out on any award or shortlist, so Ken’s day has finally come. It’s a quirky, funny, poignant novel that should now receive the wider readership it deserves.

Winner of the Children’s Book category was Liz Lofthouse’s Ziba Came on a Boat, which is exquisitely illustrated by Robert Ingpen. Here he is talking to Margaret Throsby. But hurry, the podcast won’t be up for long.

The WA Premier’s Awards will be presented on 21 November.

At the same awards ceremony the winner of the inaugural Australia-Asia Literary Award will be announced. As this is worth $110,000 and is Australia’s richest, there will be keen interest in the result. The shortlist was announced yesterday.

The Young Adult titles for the 2007 Western Australian Premier’s Award have been announced – yes, published 2007, awarded 2008:

• Anthony EATON – Skyfall: Book Two of the Darklands Trilogy

• Brigid LOWRY – Tomorrow all will be Beautiful

• Juliet MARILLIER – Cybele’s Secret

• Ken Spillman – Love is a UFO

It is pleasing to see that Ken Spillman’s delightfully wry novel has been acknowledged at last after falling through a few award cracks since publication. The other three titles have rightfully appeared on various other shortlists.

The press release is here, and worth looking at on several counts: the children’s books and the general fiction in contention  for Premier’s Awards, as well as the long list for the inaugural Australia-Asia Literary Award, worth $110,000, now Australia’s richest literary prize.

All winners will be announced on 21 November.

… all the fuss about Requiem for a Beast winning CBCA’s Picture Book of the Year had died down, Matt Ottley does it again. And good on him.

In the Queensland Premier’s Awards, announced last night, Requiem was named Young Adult Book of the Year.

Children’s Book was The Peasant Prince.

Details of all awards here.

Winner of the Prize for Young Adult Fiction: Tomorrow All Will be Beautiful, by Brigid Lowry.

Details of this title, and the runners up, can be found here.

Winners of other categories in the Victorian Premier’s Awards can be found here.