Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards

The Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards were inaugurated by the Victorian Government in 1985 to honour literary achievement by Australian writers. The 2025 Awards celebrate 40 Years and include a new award category in 2025: the John Clarke Prize for Humour Writing.  The awards are administered by The Wheeler Centre on behalf of the Premier of Victoria. 

Entries are sought for the following categories for 2025, within the eligible publishing period indicated:

• Fiction, non-fiction, poetry, writing for young adults, children’s literature, Indigenous writing – Books published between 1 January 2024 and 31 December 2024 are eligible for these awards.

• Humour writing – Books published between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2024 are eligible for this award.
  
  
• Drama – Theatre and musical theatre scripts first produced in Australia by a professional theatre company for an audience between 1 January 2024 and 31 December 2024 are eligible for this award.

The winners of each Prize receive $25,000, and will go on to contest the major prize, the $100,000 Victorian Prize for Literature. This is the single most valuable literary award in the country.

No work can enter more than one 2025 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards category, except works entered in the Prize for Indigenous Writing and the John Clarke Prize for Humour Writing. These works can also enter the other Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards category for which they are eligible.

The Award for an Unpublished Manuscript is offered to a Victorian resident for an unpublished fiction manuscript, which may take the form of either a collection of stories or a novel. The winner of the Award for Unpublished Manuscript will receive $15,000 in prize money. They will also receive a two-week residency at McCraith House on the Mornington Peninsula, thanks to RMIT Culture. 

Enter the main suite of the 2025 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards here. 

Enter the 2025 Award for an Unpublished Manuscript here. 

Entries close 5pm AEST Friday 27 September 2024. 

Key dates for all 2025 awards 

Entries open: Thursday 12 September 2024

Close of entries: 5pm AEST Friday 27 September 2024

Shortlist announcement: January 2025  

Winner announcement: March 2025

Application Conditions and Guidelines 

For awards in the categories of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama, writing for young adults, children’s literature and Indigenous writing, works published between 1 January 2024 and 31 December 2024 are eligible to enter.  

For the John Clarke Prize for Humour Writing, books published in 2023 and 2024 (between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2024) are eligible.  

Please note, books published after close of entries (5pm AEST Friday 27 September 2024) can be submitted as advance proof copies along with a PDF file, or as a PDF file only. Bound manuscripts will not be accepted.  

Click here for conditions and guidelines for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards 2025.  

Click here for conditions and guidelines for the Award for an Unpublished Manuscript.  

Note: If you are a self-published author who is suffering financial hardship and would like to request an exemption on the entry fee, please contact us on (03) 9094 7802 or at vpla@wheelercentre.com.