New dawn for The Australian/Vogel’s Award for Young Writers: a book deal that could change your life
Forget Netflix and podcasts. Young people with enthusiasm and big ideas should enter the revamped The Australian/Vogel’s Award for Young Writers — but don’t just take our word for it.
Do you want a book deal? Come on, of course you do! You’re a writer, why wouldn’t you want a book deal? It could change your life.
But don’t take my word for it. Listen instead to Antonella Gambotto-Burke, who is a literary critic and commentator for The Weekend Australian, and a total rock star in the UK, where she has both a book deal and a recording contact.
“Nothing, but nothing, was ever the same,” she says, of the moment her first manuscript was accepted for publication. “Make no mistake: book deals change lives. Think of it as Willy Wonka’s Golden Ticket. And go for it!”
But how to get one?
Well, if you’re a young person, you should set a reminder for May, because that is when entries for the The Australian/Vogel’s Award for Young Writers – the Vogel Prize, as everyone calls it – close.
They’ve just opened.
The prize is for writers under the age of 35 – and it comes this year with a real shot of adrenalin – and actual publication of your book in 2024 by Allen & Unwin.
The Vogel is one of Australia’s oldest literary prizes, and the family behind it – the family that started Vogel’s healthy bread company in Australia – is proud of its prestige.
Alan Stevns, who is the son of the founder of Vogel’s, says: “We are in this to honour the country that gave us a chance when we needed one by doing something culturally important. If you’re a young person who needs a break, who has some talent, who is energetic, and determined to break into literature, why wouldn’t you enter?”
Yes, why wouldn’t someone enter?
It’s a question we’ve been grappling with at the Books pages, because there’s no question that while the standard remains high, the number of entries has fallen in recent years. In part, it’s because there are now so many prizes for people with unpublished manuscripts.
Hachette has the Richell Prize, HarperCollins has the Banjo, there’s the Penguin Prize, there’s the Victorian Premier’s Literary prize, and so on. So, we have competition, and it’s not only from the other prizes.
Some young writers are busy working on their screenplays, and some on their Netflix treatments. Some are making podcasts, and writing for the streamers. They are bursting with ideas and energy but wondering whether a prestigious literature prize like the Vogel is for them.
We’re here to say: it is for them.
The Australian’s chief literary critic, Geordie Williamson, reminds writers that the Vogel has launched several generations of unknown authors into the heart of our literary culture.
“At a moment when the big, multinational publishers are wary of experiment and unproven names, the Vogel embraces both,” Williamson says. “As a former judge of the prize, and long-time reviewer of its winners, I can say there is no greater thrill than encountering an author of talent at the very outset of their career – and no greater sense of satisfaction than sharing that promise with readers.”
Stevns agrees: “You have the opportunity to join a very well-regarded list of previous winners – Tim Winton, Kate Grenville, Andrew McGahan and Gillian Mears, who have gone on to have outstanding literary careers – but you can blaze your own trail as well,” he says. “It’s there for you. And it’s not just the winner who gets a book deal, the publisher Allen & Unwin have published quite a few of the entries from the shortlist, as well. From the family’s point of view, this is our way of contributing to Australian life, and we want to encourage young writers to make their contribution.”
Stevns is a big reader, always with at least one book on the go – he’s currently reading The Shipwreck by Larry Writer, about the Dunbar – and “my wife is a very keen reader, and books are part of our life”.
“Before Covid, I tried to meet as many of the winners of the Vogel as possible, and look, I’ll be honest, sometimes I find that the books are not to my taste, which isn’t to say that they’re not worthy winners,” he says. “I would say half the recent winners, I find myself reading and recommending them, and that’s not a bad strike rate.
“If you’re young, enthusiastic, and excited, and you’ve got an idea, hop to it. You should enter. We’re excited.”
HISTORY
Niels Stevns came from Denmark to Australia, where he established Vogel’s bread. His approach to The Australian in 1980 to start a literary prize was inspired by gratitude to his adopted land – he wanted to give something back to the nation which had made possible his flourishing business. Alan Stevns, Niels’ son, is now the steward of The Australian/Vogel’s Award, which he sees as a lasting memorial to his father.
PREVIOUS WINNERS
Andrew McGahan won for Praise, which became a film starring the mesmerising Sacha Horler. He went on to win the Miles Franklin for The White Earth, which also won the Commonwealth Writers’ prize.
Gillian Mears won for The Mint Lawn. She became a celebrated writer of short stories and novels, including The Grass Sister which won a Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. A biography by Bernadette Brennan won the National Biography Award in 2022.
Mandy Sayer won the Vogel Award for her first novel, Mood Indigo. She has since published five works of fiction, and six works of nonfiction, including Dreamtime Alice, winner of the 2000 National Biography Award.
Katherine Brabon won forThe Memory Artist, which was also
short-listed in the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards. She has since been runner up in the 2020 Gwen Harwood Poetry Prize and her second novel, The Shut Ins, won the People’s Choice Award at the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards in 2022.
Entries opened on January 28 and close at midnight on May 31, 2023.
Entrants must be under the age of 35.
The winning manuscript will receive prize money of $20,000 and
will be published as a novel in 2024 by Allen & Unwin with
an advance against royalties.
The entry form is online at:
allenandunwin.com/being-a-writer/the-australian-vogel-s-award