'Disappointed': No winner for Australia's prestigious manuscript prize

Australia's most prestigious award for an unpublished manuscript, the Vogel Literary Award, helped kickstart Tim Winton and Kate Grenville's careers.

But on Monday, the judges for this year's award announced they would be withholding the $20,000 prize and coveted book deal with publishing giant Allen & Unwin. It is only the third time in the Vogel's almost 40-year history that a winner hasn't been chosen.

Emily O'Grady, the winner of the 2018 Vogel Prize. Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

Allen & Unwin publisher Annette Barlow said the judges were unable to find a manuscript that lived up to the award's "excellent standards".

"This is an award that has literally launched the careers of over one hundred authors," she said in a statement. "But this year, in 2019, there is no winner and – although we're disappointed, of course – I feel the judges' decision speaks to their respect for the award and their desire to maintain the excellent standards of previous winning manuscripts."

The Vogel Literary Award is an annual prize for writers under the age of 35. Entrants must be Australian residents and their manuscript must be a work of fiction, Australian history or biography.

Tim Winton's book, An Open Swimmer, jointly won the 1981 prize. Three years later, Kate Grenville received the top gong for her novel Lilian's Story. The prize was not awarded in 1985 or 2013.

Last year's prize was awarded to then 26-year-old writer Emily O'Grady. Her debut book, The Yellow House, is a chilling account of violence and the possibilities for redemption.

The Brisbane-based creative writing academic said at the time that the first draft of her book took around a year to piece together, while subsequent revisions took place over three or four years.

"I've always been obsessed by serial crime and murder and true crime," she said. "When I was younger I would watch television and film about that sort of thing ... I never considered the stigma and the guilt and the shame that would occur for the descendants of the perpetrators. They are not considered the victim ever, but I think it is an interesting story to explore."

Vogel judge and newspaper editor Stephen Romei said he believed a winner would be chosen for next year's announcement.

"I will be on the judging panel again this year, for the 2020 Vogel, and am optimistic we will find manuscripts that stand up and be counted," he said in a statement.

Submissions for the 2020 Vogel Award are due by Friday, May 31.