For the first time in the history of the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, a children’s book has won the overall prize. Nukgal Wurra author-artist Wanda Gibson secured the $100,000 award for her picture book Three Dresses (UQP), which also won the $25,000 children’s literature prize.
Among other notable recognitions, To Stir with Love (Kate Mildenhall, illustrated by Jess Racklyeft, S&S) has been shortlisted for the upcoming 2025 Indie Book Awards, while Wurrtoo: The Wombat Who Fell in Love with the Sky (Tylissa Elisara, illustrated by Dylan Finney, Lothian) won the children’s category of the 2024 Readings Prize, presented by independent bookseller Readings.
In the Wilderness Society’s 2024 Environment Award for Children’s Literature, Hope Is the Thing (Johanna Bell & Erica Wagner, A&U Children’s) won the picture fiction category, while Nedingar: Ancestors (Isobel Bevis & Leanne Zilm, Fremantle Press) won the Karajia Award for First Nations children’s storytelling in the same ceremony. Additionally, The Littlest Penguin and the Phillip Island Penguin Parade (The Penguin Foundation & Jedda Robaard, Puffin) won the fiction category of the awards.
In the 2024 Whitley Awards, presented by the Royal Zoological Society of NSW, The Black Cockatoo with One Feather Blue (Jodie McLeod, illustrated by Eloise Short, Wollemi Press) won best children’s book. Meanwhile, in the Northern Territory, the 2024 Chief Minister’s NT Book Awards named Tangki Tjuta—Donkeys (Tjanpi Desert Weavers, A&U Children’s) the winner in the children’s/YA category.
In the 2024 Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year Awards, winners in the illustrated book categories included
- Let’s Play (Karen Tyrrell, illustrated by Maddi Gray, Play Matters) — birth to 3 years category
- Almost a Fish (Julianne Negri, illustrated by Evie Barrow, Little Book Press) — 3 to 5 years category
- Harriet Hound (Kate Foster, illustrated by Sophie Beer, Walker Books) — 5 to 8 years category
Additionally, the middle-grade illustrated title Spies in the Sky (Beverley McWilliams, illustrated by Martina Heiduczek, Pantera) has been shortlisted for the Historical Novel Society Australasia’s 2024 ARA Historical Novel Prize.
Junior and Middle-Grade Fiction
Michael Debenham’s middle-grade novel Drowning for Beginners won the 2024 Ampersand Prize for children’s and YA debut fiction. The award recognizes an unpublished manuscript, and Debenham’s novel is scheduled for publication by Hardie Grant in 2026.
Other middle-grade works earning nominations include Secret Sparrow (Jackie French, HarperCollins) and Two Sparrowhawks in a Lonely Sky (Rebecca Lim, A&U Children’s), both shortlisted for the Historical Novel Society Australasia’s 2024 ARA Historical Novel Prize. Additionally, All the Beautiful Things (Katrina Nannestad, ABC Books), The Midwatch (Judith Rossell, HGCP), and The 113th Assistant Librarian (Stuart Wilson, Penguin) are shortlisted in the children’s category of the 2025 Indie Book Awards.
At the 2024 Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year Awards, Being Jimmy Baxter (Fiona Lloyd, Puffin) won in the 8 to 10 years category, while the Fox Kid chapter book series (Adrian Beck, Learning Logic) won for best decodable book series.
Young Adult Fiction
At the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, Anomaly (Emma Lord, Affirm) won the $25,000 prize for writing for young adults.
Meanwhile, We Didn’t Think It Through (Gary Lonesborough, A&U) won the YA category of the 2024 Readings Prize, awarded by the independent bookselling chain Readings. Lonesborough’s book was shortlisted alongside five others, including A Way Home (Emily Brewin, MidnightSun), which won the Gab Williams Prize, an award judged by the Readings Teen Advisory Board from the YA shortlist.
In the science fiction category, The Sinister Booksellers of Bath (Garth Nix, A&U) won the best novel prize at the 2024 Ditmar Awards, announced during the Conflux 18 science fiction convention. Other notable YA works shortlisted in the Indie Book Awards include Comes the Night (Isobelle Carmody, A&U Children’s), Eleanor Jones Can’t Keep a Secret (Amy Doak, Penguin), My Family and Other Suspects (Kate Emery, A&U Children’s), and Immortal Dark (Tigest Girma, Lothian).
Nonfiction
In the Wilderness Society’s Environment Award for Children’s Literature, The Trees (Victor Steffensen & Sandra Steffensen, HG Explore) won the nonfiction category, while In My Blood It Runs (Dujuan Hoosan, Margaret Anderson, Carol Turner & Blak Douglas, Macmillan) took home the Karajia Award for Children’s Literature in the nonfiction category. Both books are also longlisted in the 2025 DANZ (Diversity in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand) Children’s Book Awards.
The Whitley Medal, the top honor at the Royal Zoological Society of NSW’s 2024 Whitley Awards, went to Mammals of the South-west Pacific (Tyrone Lavery & Tim Flannery, CSIRO Publishing), recognized for its contributions to profiling Australasian wildlife. Meanwhile, Our Flag, Our Story: The Torres Strait Islander Flag (Thomas Mayo & Bernard Namok Jnr, illustrated by Tori-Jay Mordey, Magabala) won the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Book Award at the 2024 Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year Awards.
Recognitions for Lifetime Achievement
Several authors and illustrators received honors for their bodies of work:
Bronwyn Bancroft, a Bundjalung author and artist, received the 2024 Lady Cutler Award, recognizing distinguished service to children’s literature.
Ann James was awarded the 2024 ASA Medal by the Australian Society of Authors for her outstanding contribution to Australian literature as a creator and advocate.
Judith Rossell received the 2024 Albert Ullin Award for her significant and ongoing contribution to children’s literature in Australia.
Alice Pung, known for her work across memoir, nonfiction, and fiction for all age groups, was recognized with the Alice Literary Award, presented by the Society of Women Writers in Australia.
