The Victorian Premier's Literary Awards were created by the Victorian Government with the aim of raising the profile of contemporary creative writing and Australia's publishing industry. As of 2013, it is reportedly Australia's richest literary prize with the top winner receiving A$125,000 and category winners A$25,000 each.
They were established in 1985 by John Cain, the Premier of Victoria at that time, to mark the centenary of the births of Vance and Nettie Palmer, two of Australia's best-known writers and critics who both made significant contributions to Victorian and Australian literary culture.
From 1986 through till 1997 they were presented as part of the Melbourne Writers Festival.
In 1997 the administration of the awards was transferred to the State Library of Victoria. By 2004 the award's total prize money was A$180,000.
In 2011 stewardship was taken over by the Wheeler Centre.
Beginning in 2011, the awards were restructured into 5 categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Drama and Young People's. The winner of each receives $25,000. Of those 5 winners, one is chosen as the overall winner of the Victorian Prize for Literature and receives an additional $100,000. Further, there are two other categories with different prize amounts: An honorary People's Choice Award voted on by readers. And a Unpublished Manuscript Award with a prize amount of $15,000.
Shortlists are maintained in the main article for each category.
2011 Kim Scott, That Deadman Dance
2012 Bill Gammage, The Biggest Estate on Earth
2013 Presented in January 2014 (see 2014 entry) for books published in 2013. Previous awards were based on year of publication.
2014 Jennifer Maiden, Liquid Nitrogen
2015 Alan Atkinson, The Europeans in Australia: Volume Three: Nation
2016 Mary Anne Butler, Broken
1985-2010 see Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction
2011 Kim Scott, That Deadman Dance
2012 Gillian Mears, Foal's Bread
2013 No award
2014 Alex Miller, Coal Creek
2015 Rohan Wilson, To Name Those Lost
2016 Mireille Juchau, The World Without Us
1990-2010 see Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-fiction
2011 Mark McKenna, An Eye for Eternity: The Life Of Manning Clark
2012 Bill Gammage, The Biggest Estate on Earth
2013 No award
2014 Henry Reynolds, Forgotten War
2015 Alan Atkinson, The Europeans in Australia: Volume Three: Nation
2016 Gerald Murnane, Something for the Pain
1985-2010 see C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry
2011 Cate Kennedy, The Taste of River Water
2012 John Kinsella, Armour
2013 No award
2014 Jennifer Maiden, Liquid Nitrogen
2015 Jill Jones, The Beautiful Anxiety
2016 Alan Loney, Crankhandle
1999-2010 see Victorian Premier's Prize for Young Adult Fiction
2011 Cassandra Golds, The Three Loves of Persimmon
2012 John Larkin, The Shadow Girl
2013 No award
2014 Barry Jonsberg, My Life as an Alphabet
2015 Claire Zorn, The Protected
2016 Marlee Jane Ward, Welcome to Orphancorp
2010 earlier see Louis Esson Prize for Drama
2011 Patricia Cornelius, Do not go gentle…
2012 Lally Katz, A Golem Story
2013 No award
2014 Patricia Cornelius, Savages
2015 Angus Cerini, Resplendence
2016 Mary Anne Butler, Broken
2011 Anna Krien, Into The Woods: The Battle for Tasmania's Forests
2012 Aidan Fennessy, National Interest
2013 Presented in January 2014 (see 2014 entry) for books published in 2013
2014 Hannah Kent, Burial Rites
2015 Tim Low, Where Song Began
2016 Miles Allinson, Fever of Animals
2003-2010 see main article
2011 No award
2012 Graeme Simsion, The Rosie Project
2013 Maxine Beneba Clarke, Foreign Soil
2014 Miles Allinson, Fever of Animals
2015 Jane Harper, The Dry
From 1985 to 2010 prizes were offered in some or all of the below categories.
Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction
Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-fiction
Prize for Young Adult Fiction
C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry
Louis Esson Prize for Drama
Alfred Deakin Prize for an Essay Advancing Public Debate
Prize for Science Writing (biennial)
Village Roadshow Prize for Screen Writing
Grollo Ruzzene Foundation Prize for Writing about Italians in Australia
John Curtin Prize for Journalism
Prize for Best Music Theatre Script
Prize for Indigenous Writing (Biennial)
Prize for a First Book of History (Biennial)
Dinny O'Hearn Prize for Literary Translation. (Triennial)
