Victorian Premier's Prize for Fiction

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The Victorian Premier's Prize for Fiction, formerly known as the Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction, is a prize category in the annual Victorian Premier's Literary Award. As of 2011 it has an remuneration of A$25,000. The winner of this category prize vies with 4 other category winners for overall Victorian Prize for Literature valued at an additional A$100,000.

Contents

The prize was formerly known as the Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction from inception until 2010, when the awards were re-established under the stewardship of the Wheeler Centre and restarted with new prize amounts and a new name. The Palmer Prize was valued at A$30,000 in 2010. The award was named after Vance Palmer, a leading literary critic. Palmer wrote reviews and presented a program called Current Books Worth Reading on ABC Radio. He also wrote books about Australian cultural life, including National Portraits (1940) A.G. Stephens: His Life and Work, (1941) Frank Wilmot (1942), Old Australian bush ballads (co-authored with Margaret Sutherland) (1951) and The Legend of the Nineties (1954). He was appointed in Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Commonwealth Literary Fund in 1947. The Palmer Prize was managed by the State Library of Victoria from 1997 to 2010.

Winners and shortlists

Winners of the Overall Victorian Prize for Literature have a blue ribbon ( Blueribbon icon.png ).

Victorian Premier's Prize for Fiction, winners and finalists
YearAuthorTitleResultRef.
2011 Blueribbon icon.png Kim Scott That Deadman Dance Winner [1]
Gail Jones Five Bells Finalist [1]
Roger McDonald When Colts Ran Finalist [1]
Craig Sherborne The Amateur Science of LoveFinalist [1]
Dominic Smith Bright and Distant ShoresFinalist [1]
Rohan Wilson The Roving Party Finalist [1]
2012 Gillian Mears Foal's Bread Winner [2] [3]
Anna Funder All That I Am Finalist [2] [4]
Wayne Macauley The CookFinalist [2] [4]
Frank Moorhouse Cold Light Finalist [2] [4]
Gerald Murnane A History of BooksFinalist [2] [4]
Carrie Tiffany Mateship with Birds Finalist [2] [4]
2014 [a] Alex Miller Coal Creek Winner [5]
Michelle de Kretser Questions of Travel Finalist [6] [7]
Richard Flanagan The Narrow Road to the Deep North Finalist [6] [7]
Hannah Kent Burial Rites Finalist [6] [7]
Tim Winton Eyrie Finalist [6] [7]
Alexis Wright The Swan Book Finalist [6] [7]
2015 Rohan Wilson To Name Those LostWinner [8] [9]
Ceridwen Dovey Only the Animals Finalist [8] [10] [11]
Sonya Hartnett Golden Boys Finalist [8] [10] [11]
Mark Henshaw The Snow KimonoFinalist [8] [10] [11]
Wayne Macauley DemonsFinalist [8] [10] [11]
John A. Scott NFinalist [8] [10] [11]
2016 Mireille Juchau The World Without UsWinner [12] [13]
Miles Allinson Fever of AnimalsFinalist [14]
Stephanie Bishop The Other Side of the WorldFinalist [14]
James Bradley CladeFinalist [14]
Steven Carroll Forever YoungFinalist [14]
Charlotte Wood The Natural Way of Things Finalist [14]
2017 Georgia Blain Between a Wolf and a DogWinner [15]
Micheline Lee The Healing PartyFinalist [16]
Sean Rabin Wood GreenFinalist [16]
Philip Salom WaitingFinalist [16]
Jock Serong The Rules of Backyard Cricket Finalist [16]
Laura Elizabeth Woollett The Love of a Bad ManFinalist [16]
2018 Melanie Cheng Australia DayWinner [17] [18]
Steven Carroll A New England AffairFinalist [17] [19]
Michelle de Kretser The Life to Come Finalist [17] [19]
Sofie Laguna The ChokeFinalist [17] [19]
Michael Sala The RestorerFinalist [17] [19]
Kim Scott TabooFinalist [17] [19]
2019 Elise Valmorbida The Madonna of the Mountains Winner [20]
Robbie Arnott FlamesFinalist [21]
Jay Carmichael IronbarkFinalist [21]
Morenno Giovannoni The Fireflies of Autumn: And Other Tales of San GineseFinalist [21]
Gail Jones The Death of Noah Glass Finalist [21]
Melissa Lucashenko Too Much Lip Finalist [21]
2020 Christos Tsiolkas DamascusWinner [22] [23]
Yumna Kassab The House of YoussefFinalist [24]
Anna Krien Act of GraceFinalist [24]
Wayne Macauley Simpson ReturnsFinalist [24]
Tara June Winch The Yield Finalist [24]
2021 Blueribbon icon.png Laura Jean McKay The Animals in That Country Winner [25] [26] [27]
Richard Flanagan The Living Sea of Waking DreamsFinalist [28] [29]
Gail Jones Our ShadowsFinalist [28] [29]
Vivian Pham The Coconut ChildrenFinalist [28] [29] [30]
2022 Melissa Manning SmokehouseWinner [31] [32]
Larissa Behrendt After StoryFinalist [33]
Jennifer Down Bodies of Light Finalist [33]
Briohny Doyle EcholaliaFinalist [33]
John Hughes The DogsFinalist [33]
S. J. Norman PermafrostFinalist [33]
2023 Blueribbon icon.png Jessica Au Cold Enough for Snow Winner [34] [35] [36]
Brendan Colley The Signal LineFinalist [34] [37]
Sophie Cunningham This Devastating FeverFinalist [34] [37]
Paul Dalla Rosa An Exciting and Vivid Inner LifeFinalist [34] [37]
Yumna Kassab The LoversFinalist [34] [37]
2024 Melissa Lucashenko EdenglassieWinner [38] [39]
Hossein AsgariOnly Sound RemainsFinalist [38]
Eugen BaconSerengottiFinalist [38]
Jen CraigWallFinalist [38]
Charlotte Wood Stone Yard DevotionalFinalist [38]
Jessica Zhan Mei YuBut the GirlFinalist [38]
2025 Melanie Cheng The BurrowFinalist [40]
Evie Wyld The EchoesFinalist [40]
Fiona McFarlane Highway ThirteenFinalist [40]
David Owen KellyHost CityFinalist [40]
Michelle de Kretser Theory & PracticeFinalist [40]
Ella BaxterWoo WooFinalist [40]

Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction (1985-2010)

Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction winners and finalists
YearAuthorTitleResultRef.
1985 David Malouf Antipodes Winner [41]
1986 Peter Carey Illywhacker Winner [42]
1987 Janine Burke Second Sight Winner [43]
1988 Murray Bail Holden's Performance Winner [44]
1989 Rodney Hall Captivity Captive Winner [45]
Marion Campbell Not Being MiriamFinalist [46]
Nigel KrauthThe Bathing Machine Called the Twentieth CenturyFinalist [46]
1990 Tom Flood Oceana Fine Winner [47]
Thea Astley Reaching Tin River Finalist [48]
Susan Johnson Flying LessonsFinalist [48]
1991 Finola Moorhead Still MurderWinner [49]
Nigel KrauthJF Was HereFinalist [50]
Sam Watson The Kadaitcha SungFinalist [50]
1992 Brian Castro Double-Wolf Winner [51]
Peter Carey The Tax Inspector Finalist [52]
Jan McKemmishOnly Lawyers DancingFinalist [52]
1993 Brian Castro After China Winner [53]
Liam Davison SoundingsFinalist [54]
Marion Halligan Lovers' Knots Finalist [54]
1994 John A. Scott What I Have WrittenWinner [55]
1995 Kate Grenville Dark PlacesWinner [56]
Brian Castro DriftFinalist [57]
Tim Winton The Riders Finalist [57]
1996 Amanda Lohrey Camille's Bread Winner [58]
Shane Maloney The Brush-Off Finalist [59]
Sue Woolfe Leaning Towards InfinityFinalist [59]
1997 Robert Drewe The Drowner Winner [60]
1998 Richard Flanagan The Sound of One Hand Clapping Winner [61]
1999 Roger McDonald Mr. Darwin's Shooter Winner [62]
2000 Christopher Koch Out of Ireland Winner [63]
2001 Peter Carey True History of the Kelly Gang Winner [64]
Rodney Hall The Day We Had Hitler Home Finalist [65]
Frank Moorhouse Dark Palace Finalist [65]
2002 Richard Flanagan Gould's Book of Fish: A Novel in Twelve Fish Winner [66]
Chloe Hooper A Child's Book of True Crime Finalist [67]
John Scott The Architect Finalist [67]
2003 Brian Castro Shanghai Dancing Winner [68]
Michelle de Kretser The Hamilton Case Finalist [69]
Sonya Hartnett Of a Boy Finalist [69]
2004 Annamarie Jagose Slow Water Winner [70]
J. M. Coetzee Elizabeth Costello Finalist [71]
Malcolm Knox A Private Man Finalist [71]
2005 Sonya Hartnett Surrender Winner [72]
Gail Jones Sixty Lights Finalist [73]
Ian Townsend AffectionFinalist [73]
2006 Peter Carey Theft: A Love Story Winner [74]
J. M. Coetzee Slow Man Finalist [75]
Kate Grenville The Secret River Finalist [75]
Carrie Tiffany Everyman’s Rules for Scientific Living Finalist [75]
2007 Alexis Wright Carpentaria Winner [76]
Steven Carroll The Time We Have Taken Finalist [77]
Rhyll McMaster Feather Man Finalist [77]
2008 Helen Garner The Spare Room Winner [78]
J. M. Coetzee Diary of a Bad Year Finalist [79]
Michelle de Kretser The Lost Dog Finalist [79]
Helen Garner The Spare Room Finalist [79]
2009 Christos Tsiolkas The Slap Winner [80]
Murray Bail The Pages Finalist [81]
Eva Hornung Dog Boy Finalist [81]
Nam Le The Boat Finalist [81]
Tim Winton Breath Finalist [81]
2010 Peter Temple Truth Winner [82]
Peter Carey Parrot and Olivier in America Finalist [83]
Brian Castro The Bath Fugues Finalist [83]
J. M. Coetzee Summertime Finalist [83]
Craig Silvey Jasper Jones Finalist [83]

Notes

  1. Prior to 2014, the award year was directly related to the year of publication. In 2014, the award year referred to books published in the previous year. That is, in 2012, the award went to books published in 2012. In 2014, the award went to books published in 2013.

References

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