Minister for the Arts Peter Garrett has announced the winners of the 2009 Prime Minister's Literary Awards......fanfare, applause.......

The winner of the 2009 Fiction award is Nam Le for his book of short stories The Boat. The judging panel was impressed by the daring scope and excellence of its execution, the generous breadth of its emotional and social traverse and the excitement generated by every story.

In 2009, two books and three authors share the Non-Fiction award. The winners are Evelyn Juers for House of Exile: The Life and Times of Heinrich Mann and Nelly Kroeger-Mann; and Marilyn Lake and Henry Reynolds for Drawing the Global Colour Line. Both books explore important racial, moral and political issues of Australia's past. The Non-Fiction judging panel said "With great intellectual authority and international research Evelyn Juers, Marilyn Lake and Henry Reynolds tell their stories magnificently."

Find out more about the shortlist and winners at www.arts.gov.au/pmliteraryawards

Premier and Minister for the Arts Nathan Rees unveiled the winners of the 2009 NSW Premier's History Awards. Mr Rees described this year's History Awards winners as outstanding. The winners were announced during a presentation dinner at The Mint last night. Film-maker Michael Caulfield, who produced the Logie Award winning ABC series Australians at War, delivered the 2009 History Awards Address. The winners are....The Australian History Prize ($15,000): Robin Gerster (Brunswick, Vic) for Travels in Atomic Sunshine: Australia and the Occupation of Japan – which details what life was like for the 20,000 Australian volunteer servicemen and families stationed in Hiroshima after WW II. The General History Prize ($15,000): Warwick Anderson (Surry Hills, NSW), for The Collectors of Lost Souls: Turning Kuru Scientists into Whitemen – an account of medical research into a deadly brain disease in Papua New Guinea. Dr Janette Holcomb (Manilla, NSW) was awarded the annual NSW History Fellowship, a $20,000 award which enables a NSW historian to research and produce a work on a subject of historical interest relating to NSW. Dr Holcomb will write a book-length history of the early merchant families of Sydney during the period 1788-1850. To see the full list of winners and judges comments go to the Arts NSW website.

Sydney publisher Finch Publishing is pleased to announce a new literary award for Australian writers. The Finch Memoir Prize will be awarded to an unpublished nonfiction manuscript in the form of a memoir. The winning author will receive prize money of $10,000 and publication of their book on the Finch list. An impressive trio of judges will select the winner: Jacqueline Kent (former journalist and book editor and now prize-winning author); Malcolm Knox (award-winning journalist, novelist and former Literary Editor of the Sydney Morning Herald) and Angelo Loukakis (prize-winning author, editor, scriptwriter and former publisher). Entries are now open and an entry form can be downloaded from the Finch Publishing website www.finch.com.au The winner of the Finch Memoir Prize will be announced in April 2010.

Winners of the Vogel Award, Australia's richest prize for an unpublished manuscript by a writer under the age of 35, are ......... Melbourne writer Lisa Lang and Sydney writer Kristel Thornell. They share the $20,000 prize for their novels Utopian Man and Night Street. There were more than 200 entries in the running for this year's award. Vogel winning authors have gone on to win or be shortlisted for other major literary prizes, including the Miles Franklin Award and the Booker Prize. WooHoo!!!

Winner of The Text Prize for Young Adult and Children's Writing in 2009 is... Leanne Hall for This Is Shyness. Text are excited about Leanne's compelling novel about two teenagers finding their place in a world that is increasingly difficult to understand. This is Shyness follows Wolfboy and Wildgirl through one night in Shyness, a city where the sun never rises. On a quest to retrieve a stolen card, they confront the menacing Kidds and push themselves to the boundaries of their fears as they help each other face the pain in their lives. It's a highly original story from an exciting new talent. Text would like to thank all those who entered the competition and to congratulate the shortlisted writers. The standard of entries was extremely high. Please watch the Text website for details of the 2010 Text Prize for Young Adult and Children's Writing. And keep writing! Text hope you have been following the success of last year's winner The Billionaire's Curse, which is on sale now. The rights have already been sold into five territories, and author Richard Newsome is appearing at the Melbourne Writers Festival. To read an interview with Leanne Hall and to find out more about this competition go to the Text Publishing website www.textpublishing.com.au

Scribe has announced the CAL Scribe Fiction Prize. The prize is open for an unpublished manuscript by any Australian writer over 35, who may or may not have been published before. The winner will be awarded a book contract from Scribe and a prize of $12,000. Scribe's fiction editor, Aviva Tuffield said for a number of years it has concerned us that the Vogel Prize is only for writers under 35 because it seems that many novelists, especially women, only find the time and have acquired the life experience to write novels later in life. Late bloomers include Annie Proulx who didn't start writing until she was in her 50s, Elizabeth Jolley who published her first novel at 53, Penelope Fitzgerald started in her 60s and Mary Wesley had her first adult novel published when she was 70. And it's not just women: Raymond Chandler published his first story at 45 and first novel at 51 and Norman Lebrecht won the Whitbread Award at the age of 54. Scribe hope the prize will raise the profile of Australian fiction and find a wonderful new voice or novel. Scribe appreciates the assistance of Copyright Agency Limited in helping to establish the prize.. The winner will be announced in March 2010. Entries close 15 October. For entry forms visit www.scribepublications.com.au/prize.

Congratulations to poets Josh Simpson, of Bathurst, and Alan Fragar, of Cowra, who just edged out Frank Daniel, of Canowindra, to win a place in the Australian Poetry Slam State Final coming up in Sydney on 13 November. The winning poets along with Kim Core, Matthew Ryan, Seamus Leyland and Dimas Bakini performed well and entertained the large crowd at Cowra Library. The Australian Poetry Slam 09 is an initiative of the State Library of NSW, and is supported by state, territory and public libraries and festivals across the country. This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding & advisory body. Pictured above is Frank Daniel, 3rd place, host Miles Merrill, and Poetry Slam winners Josh Simpson and Alan Fragar.

Congratulations to all the winners in the 2009 Banjo Paterson Writing Awards. The judges had a difficult time with the high standard of entries in all sections this year. The judges' comment for the Prose/Short Story section was that "as a collective they encapsulate the richness and diversity of Australian life, exploring characters as diverse as rodeo cowboys, sponge cake judges and reflecting on timeless themes of love, friendship and betrayal." The Awards recognise Orange's literary history and further encouraged writers to develop their craft. The winners are: Prose/Short Story: Peter W. Bishop, of Scone, NSW for "Lukey"; Panagiotis Papathanasiou, of Hackett, ACT, for "The Lure"; Sarah Michell from Lithgow, NSW for "Going Without".

Open Poetry: Judy Johnson, Cardiff, NSW for "The Bushranger's Bible"; Mark Miller, of Shoalhaven Heads, NSW for "Small-Town Journal"; Jo Mills, of Darlington, WA for "Ledge Beach".

Bush Poetry: Ron Stevens, of Dubbo for "The Shame of Staying Put"; Ellis Campbell, of Dubbo, NSW, for "Eulogy of Crows"; Kristen Martin, of West Beach SA, for "Memories by the Murray".

Children's Writing Awards: Isaac Bath, of Duramana NSW for his poem "Bushfire"; Samuel Bath, of Duramana, NSW for his poem "Ducks of the Wild"; Rebekah Ritchie, of Forest Reefs, NSW for her story "The Climbing Experts".

The Yvonne Zola Encouragement Award goes to Lachlan Fenemor, Orange for his story "Doggie Adventure".

Entries are open for the 2009 Katharine Susannah Prichard Speculative Fiction (science fiction and fantasy) Awards. This prestigious competition has run since 1998, with many winners going on to successful careers as science fiction and fantasy authors. Entries close on 29 May, and writers of all ages are invited to apply. Cash prizes are awarded, and winners are invited to read at the Awards Ceremony on Sunday 16 August 2009. The Speculative Fiction Awards are popular with school groups, and to encourage young writers there is no entry fee for those aged 20 and under. Each story in the Open category needs to be accompanied by a $7.50 fee. Stories must be between 1500 and 3500 words, with all forms of speculative fiction welcomed. Competitions are important in raising the profile of emerging writers. The challenge of generating interest from agents and publishers is a universal problem, and competition successes are a valuable addition to a writer's CV. Further information can be found on the Katharine Susannah Prichard Foundation website, www.kspf.iinet.net.au. The Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers' Centre is the oldest writers' centre of its kind in Australia. It is located in the Perth hills in the former home of Katharine Susannah Prichard, author of Coonardoo, Working Bullocks and The Goldfields Trilogy. For further information contact the Centre via email on kspf@iinet.net.au, or check out the website http://kspf.iinet.net.au

Crime writer, Four Corners producer and investigative journalist, Sandra Harvey is to be commemorated in an inaugural Ned Kelly Award for Australian crime writing. The award, entitled the SD Harvey Ned Kelly Award will be for short stories in the crime writing genre, either crime fiction or creative nonfiction (eg literary journalism). Sponsors for the award are ABC Four Corners, The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance and The Sydney Morning Herald. Lindsay Simpson and Sandra co-authored the continuing bestseller, Brothers in Arms (1989) about the Milperra bikie massacre, the acclaimed My Husband My Killer (1992) and The Killer Next Door (1994) about the Sydney Granny Killer. In 2000 Sandra went on to write The Ghost of Ludwig Gertsch and her last book, Done Like a Dinner with Jennifer Cooke was published in 2007. Lindsay is the Head of journalism and writing at James Cook University. "Crime writing was her first love especially telling the facts using literary techniques. Truman Capote was our mentor." Sandra and Lindsay were recognised in 2007 for their contribution to Australian crime writing by receiving the prestigious Ned Kelly award for Lifetime Achievement in Crime Writing. This was the last occasion Sandra appeared in public before her death in January 2008. The winning entry will be published in The Sydney Morning Herald. Open to all writers. Entries close May 31. See website www.nedkellyawards.com/SDHarvey_guide for entry guidelines and entry form and more about the life and work of Sandra Harvey. Each year we will have a particular word which must have significance to the story and the inaugural word is 'farewell'.