The Trust Company as Trustee has called for entries for the 2012 Kathleen Mitchell Award for talented young writers and announced a substantial increase in the prize money awarded to the 2012 winner from $10,000 to $15,000.
The biennial Kathleen Mitchell Literary Award presents $15,000 to a young Australian author aged 29 years or less at the time of their book's first publication. The Trust Company will announce the winner in early June as the entry judged to be of the highest literary merit.
Established in 1996 by the will of Kathleen Adele Mitchell, the award aims to act as an incentive to improve young writers' literary skills, as well as encourage them to maintain their passion and dedication to the advancement of Australia literature.
Little is known about Kathleen Mitchell, a pharmacist, however her will states a desire to encourage 'the advancement, improvement and betterment of Australian literature, to improve the educational style of the authors, and to provide them with additional amounts and thus enable them to improve their literary efforts'.
The 2010 winner of the Kathleen Mitchell Literary Award was Nam Le, fiction editor of the Harvard Review, for his critically acclaimed debut book The Boat – written as a collection of short stories, translated into thirteen languages and widely anthologised.
Previous winners of the Kathleen Mitchell Literary Award include; Randa Abdel-Fattah Ten things I hate about me (2008), Markus Zusak The Book Thief (2006) Lucy Lehmann The Showgirl and the Brumby (2004), Julia Leigh The Hunter (2000), which was later adapted for the screen, James Bradley Wrack (1998) and Sonya Hartnett Sleeping Dogs (1996).
John Atkin, CEO of The Trust Company said: "The Trust Company is very pleased to be a part of the Kathleen Mitchell Award. As trustee of the Award it's encouraging to see the growth occurring in entry volume and a privilege to be so closely involved with recipients as they develop their talents," he said.
The 2012 Kathleen Mitchell Award judging panel includes Dr Camilla Nelson, Lecturer in Communications at the University of Notre Dame; Gill Graton, Projects Officer, Community Learning Services, State Library of New South Wales; and Marilla North, author and Australian Cultural and Literary History lecturer with the University of the Third Age.
The Trust Company will also be announcing on Wednesday 28 March the long list for the 2012 Miles Franklin Literary Award which was established in 1954 by author Miles Franklin who left the residue of her estate to promote Australian literature.
More information on applying for the 2012 Kathleen Mitchell Award can be found here.
No comments:
Post a Comment