The Australian/Vogel Literary Award was an Australian literary award for unpublished manuscripts by writers under the age of 35. The prize money AUD$20,000, was the richest and most prestigious award for an unpublished manuscript in Australia. Allen & Unwin guaranteed to publish the winning work.
History The award had been initiated in 1979 by Niels Stevns and was a collaboration between The Australian newspaper, the publisher Allen & Unwin, and Stevns & Company Pty Ltd. Stevns, founder of the company which made Vogel bread, named the award in honour of Swiss naturopath Alfred Vogel.
The Vogel was not awarded in 1985, 2013, and 2019.
The final award was presented in June 2024.
The Australian Fiction Prize The Vogel Prize was replaced by The Australian Fiction Prize by The Australian newspaper in partnership with publisher HarperCollins. The new prize is for an unpublished manuscript–excluding science fiction, young adult, poetry, plays, works for children–of between 75,000 and 100,000 words, and the prize continues at $20,000, plus a $15,000 advance from the publisher, HarperCollins, who will publish the work; there is now no age limit on the entrant, but the entrant must an Australian resident. Submissions in the prize's first year opened on 6 May 2024 and closed on 2 August 2024. The judges are Caroline Overington, literary editor of The Australian; book critic and literary agent Samuel Bernard; and bookseller Letitia Davy of Gleebooks.
Vogel winners
1980 – Archie Weller, The Day of the Dog (Weller was initially runner-up to Paul Radley, who was disqualified after admitting that his manuscript was actually written by his uncle, who was also older than 35. 1981 – Chris Matthews, Al Jazzar and Tim Winton, An Open Swimmer 1982 – Brian Castro, Birds of Passage and Nigel Krauth, Matilda, My Darling 1983 – Jenny Summerville, Shields of Trell 1984 – Kate Grenville, Lilian's Story 1985 – No prize awarded 1986 – Robin Walton, Glace Fruits 1987 – Jim Sakkas, Ilias 1988 – Tom Flood, Oceana Fine 1989 – Mandy Sayer, Mood Indigo 1990 – Gillian Mears, The Mint Lawn and Michael Stephens, Sibling Mischief 1991 – Andrew McGahan, Praise 1992 – Fotini Epanomitis, The Mule's Foal 1993 – Helen Demidenko, The Hand That Signed the Paper 1994 – Darren Williams, Swimming in Silk 1995 – Richard King, Kindling Does For Firewood 1996 – Bernard Cohen, The Blindman's Hat 1997 – Eva Sallis, Hiam 1998 – Jennifer Kremmer, Pegasus in the Suburbs 1999 – Hsu-Ming Teo, Love and Vertigo 2000 – Stephen Gray, The Artist is a Thief 2001 – Sarah Hay, Skins 2002 – Danielle Wood, The Alphabet of Light and Dark 2003 – Nicholas Angel, Drown Them in the Sea and Ruth Balint, Troubled Waters 2004 – Julienne van Loon, Road Story 2005 – Andrew O'Connor, Tuvalu 2006 – Belinda Castles, The River Baptists 2007 – Stefan Laszczuk, I Dream of Magda 2008 – Andrew Croome, Document Z 2009 – Kristel Thornell, Night Street and Lisa Lang, Utopian Man 2010 – not awarded – Allen & Unwin Publishers decided to change the announcement of the winner to coincide with the publication of the book. 2011 – Rohan Wilson, The Roving Party 2012 – Paul D. Carter, Eleven Seasons 2013 – No prize awarded 2014 – Christine Piper, After Darkness 2015 – Murray Middleton, When There's Nowhere Else to Run 2016 – Katherine Brabon, The Memory Artist 2017 – Marija Peričić, The Lost Pages 2018 – Emily O'Grady, The Yellow House 2019 – No prize awarded 2020 – K. M. Kruimink, A Treacherous Country 2021 – Emma Batchelor, Now That I See You 2022 – Nell Pierce, A Place Near Eden 2023 – Anna McGahan, Immaculate 2024 – Kristina Ross, First Year
References
External links "The History of The Australian/Vogel Literary Award", Allen & Unwin "The Australian Fiction Prize", HarperCollins