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Young Adults' Fiction (2010-)
Subcategory of Prime Minister's Literary Awards
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Notes

  • The Prime Minister's Award for Young Adult Fiction was first offered in 2010.

Latest Winners / Recipients

Year: 2023

winner y separately published work icon The Greatest Thing Sarah Winifred Searle , Sarah Winifred Searle (illustrator), Crows Nest : Allen and Unwin , 2022 23662082 2022 single work graphic novel children's young adult

'This tender YA comic is perfect for fans of Raina Telgemeier's Drama and Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham's Real Friends who are ready to graduate to their first teen graphic novel.

'It's the first day of Grade Ten, and Winifred is going to reinvent herself. Now that her two best (and only) friends have transferred to a private school, Win must navigate high school on her own. Luckily, she isn't alone for long. In art class, she meets Oscar and April. They don't look or act like the typical teenagers in her town: they're creative, a little rebellious and seem comfortable in their own skin in a way that Win can only dream of.

'But even though Winifred is breaking out of her shell, there's one secret she can't bear to admit to April and Oscar, or even to herself - and this lie threatens everything. Win needs to face her own truths, but she doesn't need to do it alone. Through the healing power of clandestine sleepovers, op-shopping and zine publishing, Win finds and accepts what it means to be herself.' (Publication summary)

Year: 2022

winner y separately published work icon The Gaps Leanne Hall , Melbourne : Text Publishing , 2021 20080482 2021 single work novel young adult

'What does it mean to be the one left behind?

'When sixteen-year-old Yin Mitchell is abducted, the news reverberates through the whole Year Ten class at Balmoral Ladies College. As the hours tick by, the girls know the chance of Yin being found alive is becoming smaller and smaller.

'Police suspect the abduction is the work of a serial offender, with none in the community safe from suspicion. Everyone is affected by Yin’s disappearance—even scholarship student Chloe, who usually stays out of Balmoral drama, is drawn into the maelstrom. And when she begins to form an uneasy alliance with the queen of Year Ten, Natalia, things get even more complicated.

'Looking over their shoulders at every turn, Chloe and Natalia must come together to cope with their fear and grief as best they can. A tribute to friendship in all its guises, The Gaps is a moving examination of vulnerability and strength, safety and danger, and the particular uncertainty of being a young woman in the world.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

Year: 2021

winner y separately published work icon Metal Fish, Falling Snow Cath Moore , Melbourne : Text Publishing , 2020 19549992 2020 single work novel

'Dylan and her adored French mother dream of one day sailing across the ocean to France. Paris, Dylan imagines, is a place where her black skin won’t make her stand out, a place where she might feel she belongs.

'But when she loses her mother in a freak accident, Dylan finds herself on a very different journey: a road trip across outback Australia in the care of her mother’s grieving boyfriend, Pat. As they travel through remote towns further and further from the water that Dylan longs for, she and Pat form an unlikely bond. One that will be broken when he leaves her with the family she has never known.

'Metal Fish, Falling Snow is a warm, funny and highly original portrait of a young girl’s search for identity and her struggle to deal with grief. Through families lost and found, this own-voices story celebrates the resilience of the human heart and our need to know who we truly are.' (Publication summary)

Year: 2020

winner y separately published work icon How It Feels to Float Helena Fox , Sydney : Pan Macmillan Australia , 2019 15644206 2019 single work novel young adult

'Biz knows how to float. She has her people, her posse, her mom and the twins. She has Grace. And she has her dad, who tells her about the little kid she was, who loves her so hard, and who shouldn’t be here but is. So Biz doesn’t tell anyone anything. Not about her dark, runaway thoughts, not about kissing Grace or noticing Jasper, the new boy. And she doesn’t tell anyone about her dad. Because her dad died when she was seven. And Biz knows how to float, right there on the surface–normal okay regular fine.

'But after what happens on the beach–first in the ocean, and then in the sand–the tethers that hold Biz steady come undone. Dad disappears and, with him, all comfort. It might be easier, better, sweeter to float all the way away? Or maybe stay a little longer, find her father, bring him back to her. Or maybe–maybe maybe maybe–there’s a third way Biz just can’t see yet.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

Year: 2019

winner y separately published work icon The Things that Will Not Stand Michael Gerard Bauer , Gosford : Omnibus Books , 2018 14873596 2018 single work novel young adult

'Sebastian is at a university open day with his best friend Tolly when he meets a girl. Her name is Frida, and she's edgy, caustic and funny. She's also a storyteller, but the stories she tells about herself don't ring true, and as their surprising and eventful day together unfolds, Sebastian struggles to sort the fact from the fiction. But how much can he expect Frida to share in just one day? And how much of his own self and his own secrets will he be willing to reveal in return?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

Works About this Award

Overflow Rosemary Sorensen , 2010 single work column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 5-6 June 2010; (p. 19)
Column of literary news including the establishment of the Wet Ink Short Story Award in 2010 - judges for the inaugural award : Emily Stinson and Sally Breen, with the final decision to be made by Peter Goldsworthy - and two new sections for the Prime Minister's Literary Awards in 2010. The two new awards will be for Children's fiction and Young Adult's fiction with judges for both categories to be Robyn Sheahan-Bright, Mike Shuttleworth and Mary-Ruth Mendel.
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