International
Awarded to 120 Nobel Laureates since 1901. The Swedish Academy sends out invitations to experts in the field of literature for nominations, then selects the Laureate based on their entire body of work. The 2023 Laureate is Jon Fosse.
Started in 1969, the award is given to the book the judges believe to be the year’s greatest work of English-language fiction published in the UK or Island. The book must speak to contemporary readers, and be of sufficient quality to be considered great literature in the future. The 2023 Winner was Prophet Song by Paul Lynch.
Started in 2015, the award is given to the book the judges believe to be the greatest work of international fiction to be translated into English and be published in the UK or Ireland. It aims to promote excellent fiction from around the world to English-speaking readers. The 2024 Winner is Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck.
Australian
Starting in 1980, the Australian/Vogel’s Literary Award is one of Australia’s most prestigious awards for an unpublished manuscript by a writer under the age of thirty-five. The 2024 Winner is First Year, by Kristina Ross.
Starting in 2003, the Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs) is an annual celebration that celebrates the connection between Australian readers and the ‘book makers’ who unite to create the must-read books of the year. Currently, the Awards include 20 categories. The 2024 Winner for Book of the Year was The Voice to Parliament Handbook, by Thomas Mayo and Kerry O’Brien.
Starting in 1996, The Ned Kelly Awards are one of Australia’s oldest and most prestigious prizes honouring our crime fiction and true crime writing. The awards include four categories. The 2023 Winners:
- Best Crime Fiction is Exiles, by Jane Harper. Find Exiles in our catalogue.
- Best Debut Crime Fiction is Wake, by Shelley Burr. Find Wake in our catalogue.
- Best True Crime is Betrayed, by Sandi Logan. Find Betrayed in our catalogue.
- Best International Crime Fiction is The Lemon Man, by Keith Burton. Find The Lemon Man in our catalogue.
Started in 2012, the Stella Prize is a major literary award that celebrates Australian women’s writing and an organisation that champions cultural change. The 2024 Winner is Praiseworthy, by Alexis Wright.
Beginning in 2008, these awards play an important role in celebrating the outstanding literary talent in Australia and the valuable contribution Australian literature makes to the nation’s cultural and intellectual life. At present, there are six categories awarded. The 2023 Winners are:
- Fiction is Cold Enough for Snow, by Jessica Au. Find Cold Enough for Snow in our catalogue.
Children’s Literature is Open Your Heart to Country, by Jasmine Seymour. Find Open Your Heart to Country in our catalogue.- Non-Fiction is My Father and Other Animals, by Sam Vincent. Find My Father and Other Animals in our catalogue.
- Young Adult Literature is The Greatest Thing, by Sarah Winifred Searle. Find The Greatest Thing in our catalogue.
- Australian History is Unmaking Angus Downs, by Shannyn Palmer. Find Unmaking Angus Downs in our catalogue.
- Poetry is At the Altar of Touch, by Gavin Yuan Gao. Find At the Altar of Touch in our catalogue.
Children’s Literature is Open Your Heart to Country, by Jasmine Seymour. 
The Indie Book Awards were established in 2008 with the aim of creating a unique award recognising and rewarding the best Australian writing as chosen by Australian Independent Booksellers. They currently award seven different categories. The 2024 Winner was Killing for Country: A Family Story, by David Marr.
The Miles Franklin Literary Award is Australia’s most prestigious literature prize. Established in 1957 through the will of My Brilliant Career author, Miles Franklin, the prize is awarded each year to a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases. The 2023 Winner is Praiseworthy, by Alexis Wright.
Western Australian
Starting in 1982, the Premier’s Book Awards are an important and integral part of the State’s cultural activity which honours Western Australian and Australian writing. There are currently five different categories, including the new Daisy Utemorrah Award for an unpublished indigenous Junior or Young Adult Fiction. The 2024 Winners are:
- Emerging Writer is: The Map of William, by Michael Thomas. Find The Map of William in our catalogue.
- Writing for Children is: Scout and the Rescue Dogs, by Dianne Wolfer. Find Scout and the Rescue Dogs in our Catalogue.
- Daisy Utemorrah Award is: Dusty Tracks, by Marly Wells and Linda Wells. Find Dusty Tracks in our catalogue.
- Book of the Year: A Better Place, by Stephen Daisley. Find A Better Place in our catalogue.
- Western Australian Writers Fellowship: Kylie Howarth. Find books by Kylie Howarth in our catalogue.
The Writing WA website provides updates and links to a variety of book awards you may be interested in.