National Biography Award
Encyclopedia
The National Biography Award, established in Australia in 1996, is awarded for the best published work of biographical or autobiographical writing by an Australian. It aims "to encourage the highest standards of writing biography
and autobiography
and to promote public interest in those genres". It was initially awarded every two years, but from 2002 it has been awarded annually. Its administration was taken over by the State Library of New South Wales
in 1998.
It was originally endowed by private benefactor, Dr. Geoffrey Cains, and the original prize money was $12,500. In 2002, Cains said of endowing the award that "I wanted to give back to literature something, it had given me so much; besides, philanthropy in this country is so overlooked and diminished". In 2005, the prize money was increased to $20,000 with the support of Michael Crouch. Belinda Hutchinson, President of the Library Council of NSW, expressed gratitude for this increase to "an award that celebrates the Australian psyche through distinguished biography writing."
The judging panel varies from year to year. In 1998, the first year it was administered by the State Library of New South Wales, the panel comprised Elizabeth Jolley
, Helen Garner
and Tony Maniaty.
Biography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
and autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
and to promote public interest in those genres". It was initially awarded every two years, but from 2002 it has been awarded annually. Its administration was taken over by the State Library of New South Wales
State Library of New South Wales
The State Library of New South Wales is a large public library owned by the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located in Macquarie Street, Sydney near Shakespeare Place...
in 1998.
It was originally endowed by private benefactor, Dr. Geoffrey Cains, and the original prize money was $12,500. In 2002, Cains said of endowing the award that "I wanted to give back to literature something, it had given me so much; besides, philanthropy in this country is so overlooked and diminished". In 2005, the prize money was increased to $20,000 with the support of Michael Crouch. Belinda Hutchinson, President of the Library Council of NSW, expressed gratitude for this increase to "an award that celebrates the Australian psyche through distinguished biography writing."
The judging panel varies from year to year. In 1998, the first year it was administered by the State Library of New South Wales, the panel comprised Elizabeth Jolley
Elizabeth Jolley
Monica Elizabeth Jolley AO was an English-born writer who settled in Western Australia in the late 1950s. She was 53 when her first book was published, and she went on to publish fifteen novels , four short story collections and three non-fiction books, publishing well into her 70s and achieving...
, Helen Garner
Helen Garner
Helen Garner is an award-winning Australian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist.-Life:Garner was born in Geelong, Victoria, the eldest of six children. She attended Manifold Heights State School, Ocean Grove State School and then The Hermitage in Geelong...
and Tony Maniaty.
Winners
- 20092009 in Australian literatureThe year 2009 in Australian literature involves some significant new books, drama, poetry and events.For an overview of world literature see 2009 in literature.See also:2008 in Australian literature,2009 in Australia,...
: Ann Blainey for I am Melba - 20082008 in Australian literatureThe year 2008 in Australian literature involves some significant new books, drama, poetry and events.For an overview of world literature see 2008 in literature.See also:2007 in Australian literature,2008 in Australia,...
: Joint winners- Philip Dwyer for Napoleon, 1769-1799: The Path to Power
- Graham Seal for These Few Lines: A Convict Story - The Lost Lives of Myra and William Sykes
- 20072007 in Australian literatureThe year 2007 in Australian literature involves some significant new books, drama, poetry and events.For an overview of world literature see 2007 in literature.See also:2006 in Australian literature,2007 in Australia,...
: Jacob RosenbergJacob RosenbergJacob G. Rosenberg was an award-winning author and Holocaust survivor. Rosenberg's poetry and prose have been published in both Australia and overseas.-Life:...
for East of Time - 20062006 in Australian literatureThe year 2006 in Australian literature involves some significant new books, drama, poetry and events.For an overview of world literature see 2006 in literature.See also:2005 in Australian literature,2006 in Australia,...
: John HughesJohn Hughes (writer)John Hughes is a Sydney-based Australian writer and teacher. His first book of autobiographical essays, The Idea Of Home, published by Giramondo in 2004, was widely acclaimed and won both the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards for Non-Fiction and the National Biography Award .-The Idea of...
for The Idea of Home - 20052005 in Australian literatureThe year 2005 in Australian literature involves some significant new books, drama, poetry and events.For an overview of world literature see 2005 in literature.See also:2004 in Australian literature,2005 in Australia,...
: Robert Hillman for The Boy in the Green Suit - 20042004 in Australian literatureThe year 2004 in Australian literature involves some significant new books, drama, poetry and events.For an overview of world literature see 2004 in literature.See also:2003 in Australian literature,2004 in Australia,...
: Barry HillBarry Hill (writer)Barry Hill is an Australian historian, poet, journalist and academic.Hill was born in Melbourne, Australia. He studied at the University of Melbourne gaining his Bachelor of Arts , Bachelor of Education and a Doctor of Philosophy and from there went to London where he gained his Master of Arts ...
for Broken Song: T.G.H. Strehlow and Aboriginal Possession - 20032003 in Australian literatureThe year 2003 in Australian literature involves some significant new books, drama, poetry and events.For an overview of world literature see 2003 in literature.See also:2002 in literature,2003 in Australia,2004 in Australian literature....
: Joint winners- Peter Rose for Rose Boys
- Don WatsonDon WatsonDon Watson is an Australian author and public speaker.-Biography:Watson grew up on a farm in Gippsland, took his undergraduate degree at La Trobe University and a Ph.D at Monash University and was for ten years an academic historian. He wrote three books on Australian history before turning his...
for Recollections of a Bleeding Heart : a Portrait of Paul Keating PM
- 2002: Jacqueline Kent for A Certain Style: Beatrice Davis, a Literary Life
- 2000: Joint winners
- Peter RobbPeter RobbPeter Robb is an Australian author.Robb spent his formative years in Australia and New Zealand, and between 1978 and 1992 he spent most of his time in Naples and southern Italy, interspersed with sojourns in Brazil. At the end of 1992 he returned to Sydney.His first book, Midnight in Sicily, was...
for M, a biography of European painter Caravaggio - Mandy Sayer for Dreamtime Alice: a Memoir
- Peter Robb
- 1998: Roberta Sykes for Snake Cradle
- 1996: Abraham Biderman for The World of My Past
National Biography Award Lecture
In 2003, the National Biography Award lecture was instituted. It is associated with the award, and is also sponsored by Cains and Crouch. It is given annually, but is not given at the same time as the announcement of the winner.- 2008: Biography, Autobiography and Memoir: Presidential Bests and Worsts, by Bob CarrBob CarrRobert John "Bob" Carr , Australian statesman, was Premier of New South Wales from 4 April 1995 to 3 August 2005. He holds the record for the longest continuous service as premier of NSW...
- 2007: Biography: The Impossible Art, by Inga ClendinnenInga ClendinnenInga Vivienne Clendinnen AO is an Australian author and historian, anthropologist and academic.-Life and career:Born in Geelong, Victoria, Clendinnen graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1955 with a BA...
- 2006: Materials for Life: The Enduring Value of Biography, by Robyn ArcherRobyn ArcherRobyn Archer AO CdOAL is an Australian singer, writer, stage and director, artistic director, and public advocate of the arts, in Australia and internationally.-Life:Archer was born Robyn Smith in Prospect, South Australia...
- 2005: Personal Drama: David Williamson on Self-depiction, by David WilliamsonDavid WilliamsonDavid Keith Williamson AO is one of Australia's best-known playwrights. He has also written screenplays and teleplays.-Biography:...
- 2004: The Observed of all Observers: Biography in Poetry, by Peter Porter (poet)Peter Porter (poet)Peter Neville Frederick Porter, OAM was a British-based Australian poet.-Life:Porter was born in Brisbane, Australia, in 1929. His mother, Marion, died of a burst gall-bladder in 1938. He attended the Church of England Grammar School and left school at 18, and went to work as a trainee journalist...
- 2003: Goethe's Two Left Feet: Reflections on the Hazards and Liberties of Biography, by Peter Rose (writer)