Victorian Premier's Prize for Nonfiction

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

The prize was formerly known as the Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-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 Nettie Palmer Prize was valued at 30,000 in 2010. According to the State Library of Victoria which managed the prize from 1997 to 2010, "This prize is offered for a published work of non-fiction. Books consisting principally of photographs or illustrations are ineligible unless the accompanying text is of substantial length." Palmer wrote regularly for numerous newspapers all round Australia. She wrote on a wide range of topics, from environment to cultural events, reviewing all important books being published in Australia, America, Europe and elsewhere.

Victorian Premier's Prize for Nonfiction Winners of the Overall Victorian Prize for Literature have a blue ribbon (). +Victorian Premier's Prize for Nonfiction winners and finalistsYearAuthorTitleResultRef.2011WinnerGood Living StreetFinalistMy Blood’s CountryFinalistDelusions of GenderFinalistFinalistInto the WoodsFinalist2012 Winner1835: The Founding of Melbourne & The Conquest of AustraliaFinalistAdelaideFinalistFinalistTrue North: The Story of Mary and Elizabeth DurackFinalistHer Father's DaughterFinalist2014Forgotten WarWinnerWhite BeechFinalistOn WarneFinalistGardens of Fire: An Investigative MemoirFinalistBoy, Lost: A Family MemoirFinalistMadeleine: A Life of Madeleine St JohnFinalistNPY Women's CouncilCommended: Traditional Healers of Central Australia: NgangkariFinalist2015 WinnerAcute Misfortune: The Life and Death of Adam CullenFinalistDarwinFinalistWhere Song BeganFinalistFinalistFinalist2016Something for the PainWinner and Kendrah MorganModern Love: The Lives of John and Sunday ReedFinalistThea Astley: Inventing Her Own WeatherFinalistAustralia’s Second ChanceFinalistSecond Half FirstFinalistMannixFinalist2017Offshore: Behind the wire on Manus and NauruWinner with Ben MckelveySongs of a War BoyFinalistFinalist with Patricia DrumFinalistPosition DoubtfulFinalistFinalist2018 WinnerFinalistAnaesthesia: The Gift of Oblivion and the Mystery of ConsciousnessFinalistFor a Girl: A True Story of Secrets, Motherhood and HopeFinalistTrackerFinalist2019 No Friend But the Mountains: Writing from Manus PrisonWinnerStaying: A MemoirFinalistFinalistEggshell SkullFinalistMiss Ex-YugoslaviaFinalistAxiomaticFinalist2020Sea People: The Puzzle of PolynesiaWinnerFinalistSee What You Made Me Do: Power, Control and Domestic AbuseFinalistFuture Histories: What Ada Lovelace, Tom Paine, and the Paris Commune Can Teach Us About Digital TechnologyFinalistTell Me Why: The Story of My Life and My Music FinalistGay’wu Group of WomenSongspirals: Sharing Women's Wisdom of Country Through SonglinesFinalist2021Body Count: How Climate Change is Killing UsWinnerShow Me Where It HurtsFinalistWitnessFinalist and Lynne KellySonglines: The Power and PromiseFinalistBlueberriesFinalistFire Country: How Indigenous Fire Management Could Help Save AustraliaFinalist2022WinnerComing of Age in the War on TerrorFinalistSummertime: Reflections on a Vanishing FutureFinalist Black and Blue: A Memoir of Racism and ResilienceFinalistBuried Not DeadFinalistAnother Day in the ColonyFinalist2023Root & Branch: Essays on InheritanceWinnerChildhoodFinalistIndelible City: Dispossession and Defiance in Hong KongFinalistFinalistPeople Who Lunch: Essays on Work, Leisure and Loose LivingFinalistOur Members Be Unlimited: A Comic about Workers and Their UnionsFinalist2024 Ellen van NeervenPersonal Score: Sport, culture, identityWinnerKris KneenFat Girl DancingFinalistAntony LoewensteinThe Palestine Laboratory: How Israel exports the technology of occupation around the worldFinalistChris MastersFlawed Hero: Truth, lies and war crimesFinalistDavid MarrKilling for Country: A family storyFinalistJordana SilversteinCruel Care: A history of children at our bordersFinalist2025Anything Can HappenWinnerThe Lasting Harm: Witnessing the Trial of Ghislaine MaxwellFinalistMonumentFinalistNäku Dhäruk The Bark Petitions: How the People of Yirrkala Changed the Course of Australian DemocracyFinalistA Very Secret TradeFinalist2026Find Me at the Jaffa Gate: An encyclopaedia of a Palestinian familyWinnerAnkamiFinalistThe Eagle and the CrowFinalistLooking from the North: Australian history from the top downFinalist and Ariel BogleConspiracy NationFinalist

Nettie Palmer Prize for Nonfiction +Nettie Palmer Prize for Nonfiction winnersYearAuthorTitleResultRef. 1985 Bernard Smith The Boy Adeodatus : The Portrait of a Lucky Young Bastard Winner 1986 John Bryson Evil Angels Winner 1987 Hugh Stretton Political Essays Winner 1988 Brian Matthews Louisa Winner 1989 Paradise Found and Lost Winner 1990 The Sixpenny Soldier Winner 1991Wild Card Winner1992Patrick White: A Life Winner1993Mr Bligh's Bad Language Winner1994Lyrebird Rising: Louise Hanson-Dyer of Oiseau-Lyre 1884-1962 Winner1995Georgiana: A Biography of Georgiana McCrae, Painter, Diarist, Pioneer Winner1996 Tom GriffithsHunters and Collectors: The Antiquarian Imagination in Australia Winner1997Midnight in Sicily Winner1998Romulus, My Father Winner1999M: The Man Who Became Caravaggio Winner2000 Winner2001Broken Circles: Fragmenting Indigenous Families 1800-2000 Winner2002 Winner2003Broken Song: T.G.H. Strehlow and Aboriginal Possession Winner2004Car Wars: How the Car Won Our Hearts and Conquered Our Cities Winner2005Twilight of Love: Travels with Turgenev Winner2006Margaret Michaelis: Love, Loss and Photography Winner Richard Broome Aboriginal Victorians: A History Since 1800 Finalist Anthony M. Gibbs Bernard Shaw: A Life Finalist Jacob G. Rosenberg East of Time Finalist Craig Sherborne Hoi Polloi Finalist 2007Voyages to the South Seas: In Search of Terres Australes Winner2008 Winner2009 Winner2010Reading by Moonlight: How Books Saved a Life Winner

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