2016 launch & judging panel + latest Stella Count revealed
The 2016 Stella Prize is now open for entries!
The $50,000 prize will be presented for the best work of literature, fiction or nonfiction, published in 2015 by an Australian woman.
A discounted early-bird entry fee of $60 will be offered for entries received before 5.00pm AEDT Monday 31 August 2015, after which time the standard rate of $80 will apply. Entries close at 5.00pm AEDT Wednesday 30 September 2015, and entry forms can be completed here.
We are pleased to announce the judging panel for the 2016 Stella Prize: author and academic Brenda Walker (chair); writer and social commentator Emily Maguire; award-winning writer and essayist Alice Pung; literary critic and author Geordie Williamson; and bookseller and founder of the Indigenous Literacy Foundation Suzy Wilson.
We are delighted to welcome this all-new judging panel.
The winner of the 2015 Stella Prize was Emily Bitto for her debut novel The Strays. The 2014 winner of the prize was Clare Wright for her nonfiction work, The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka, and the inaugural winner in 2013 was Carrie Tiffany for her second novel, Mateship with Birds.
We look forward to announcing the 2016 Stella Prize longlist in February, the shortlist in March, and the winner in April 2016.
The Stella Count for 2014
The 2014 Stella Count is the most comprehensive survey of Australian reviewing yet. The data shows the ratio of books by men and women reviewed in 12 major Australian review publications, including national and state newspapers and influential magazines and review journals.
As in previous years, the 2014 Stella Count has collected information on the gender of authors reviewed and the gender of reviewers. This year, however, the scope of the data collected was also expanded substantially to include the size of reviews and the genres most frequently reviewed (fiction, nonfiction, poetry and children’s books). The result has been a more nuanced data set that has enabled us to identify patterns regarding what sorts of books by male and female authors are more frequently reviewed at each publication.
As Aviva Tuffield, Executive Director of the Stella Prize, notes:
“Overall the 2014 Stella Count reveals, once again, that books by men are reviewed more often in the mainstream media than books by women, and confirms a pattern identified last year that male reviewers are much more likely to review books written by male authors. This year we measured size of reviews, which demonstrates that books by men are also much more likely to receive longer and more in-depth reviews. Thus, it seems that books by men and women are often treated differently in terms of review coverage when several factors are taken into account – the gender of the reviewer, the size of review and the genre of the book reviewed – all of which are cause for concern.”
View the 2014 Stella Count results and analysis here.
The 2014 Stella Count was compiled by the Stella Prize in conjunction with Books+Publishing, with assistance from researchers at Deakin University and Monash University.
For more information or to request an interview with Stella Prize Executive Director, Aviva Tuffield, or Chair of the Stella Prize, Louise Swinn, please contact:
Veronica Sullivan, Stella Prize Manager
veronica@thestellaprize.com.au
