This morning I attended the announcement of the 2014 City of Fremantle TAG Hungerford Award shortlist, a biennial award given to a manuscript by a Western Australian author previously unpublished in book form. The winner will receive a cash prize of $12,000 and a publishing contract with Fremantle Press.
The award has launched the writing careers of eleven previous recipients, some of whom have gone on to receive national and international recognition with their published work. The previous winners are: Brenda Walker (1990), Gail Jones (1991), Simone Lazaroo (1993), Bruce Russell (1995), Christopher Murray (2000), Nathan Hobby (2002), Donna Mazza (2004), Alice Nelson (2006), Natasha Lester (2008), Jacqueline Wright (2010) and Robert Edeson (2012).
I was thrilled to see Louise Allan on the shortlist, for her novel Ida’s Children, recently featured in the looking up/looking down series The next wave: you can read the post here. Congratulations, Louise!
Of course, my congratulations extend to all five shortlisted authors. It’s a significant, meaningful achievement, and I look forward to picking up all these titles off a bookshop shelf in the future.
2014 shortlisted authors and manuscripts
Louise Allan, Ida’s Children
Madelaine Dickie, Troppo
Portland Jones, Seeing the Elephant
Mihaela Nicolescu, Other Place
Nicole Sinclair, All That’s Gone Before
Portland Jones, Mihaela Nicolescu, Fremantle Mayor Brad Pettitt, Louise Allan, Nicole Sinclair, Fremantle Press fiction publisher Georgia Richter
The winner will be announced early in 2015. Good luck to you all!
looking up/looking down 
Wow! Exciting news indeed.
Somewhat unrelated (other than that you’ve mentioned it on your blog before) but I finished Isabelle of the Moon and Stars last night. Liked it a lot.
Isn’t it just!
Ah, the glorious Isabelle—glad to hear you liked it, Glen.
Congratulations, Louise! The tea lady is absolutely beside herself with joy!
I think, she might need to drink some camomile tea tonight to settle her excited nerves. 🙂
Lovely, Marlish! And try to keep the tea lady in check 🙂
Thanks for writing this up so promptly, Amanda. Like you, I wish everyone on the shortlist good luck—everyone’s so accomplished as writers, it’s an honour to be listed alongside them.
The shortlisting has given me the validation, confidence boost, and encouragement I needed. I’m still on a high, and I’ll need more than chamomile tea to settle myself down tonight, I think!
My pleasure, Louise—it’s worth celebrating. And you probably do need something a bit more fizzy than chamomile! 🙂
Congratulations to the shortlisted authors and to you for picking Louise among them! I have discovered some fine authors among the TAF winners, so I’ll be watching closely too:)
(Winner I’ve reviewed on my blog include Brenda Walker, Simone Lazaroo, Natasha Lester, Jacqueline Wright and Robert Edeson).
You’re a champion, Lisa—thanks! Some of my favourites are in that list of past winners, and all of the 2014 shortlisted titles sound like books I want to read. 🙂
Does it sometimes happen that the shortlisted authors get picked up by other publishers?
It’s happened a few times that I know of—e.g. a second manuscript from last year’s shortlist was recently published: http://www.fremantlepress.com.au/books/newreleases/1406
Ah yes, I remember hearing about that one and being tempted…
Reblogged this on Sesquialtera.
How wonderful! Congratulations Louise, and congratulations to all on the shortlist!
It’s a great list, Rose 🙂 Thanks for reading. x
I had to ask when I saw the pics back in the office if it was a prize for female authors. Apparently no, there’s just some great women writing great novels out there. Exciting to see! Best of luck to all.
Yes, interesting result. But while women ruled the shortlist this year, the 2012 winner was male and Fremantle Press chose to publish one of the other shortlisted authors—also male.
But yes, we do have our fair share of excellent women writers. 🙂
Thanks for this report Amanda and a big congrats to Louise. Exciting news for everyone of course, but a special shout out to Louise whom I regularly see out and about supporting Aussie reading and writing.
Thanks, Sue 🙂
Oh such wonderful, wonderful news! Congratulations Louise! A huge hug in celebration…xxx
What a coup. Looking forward to reading some fresh female voices!
Yes, indeed! 🙂