Queensland Premier's Award for a Work of State Significance

Australian Gospel: A Family Saga

Lech Blaine (Black Inc.)

Judges' comments: 

Australian Gospel by Lech Blaine is a rollicking family saga which proves truth is often stranger than fiction. But it’s also the story of quintessential Queensland couple, Lenore and Tom Blaine, and their quest to protect the children who come into their care. It’s a hymn to love and family. 

Everything is Water

Simon Cleary (University of Queensland Press)

Judges' comments: 

Cleary walks the Brisbane River from headwaters to mouth, revealing its environmental, civic, and historical complexity. The prose is composed, observant, and grounded in place. This is a reflective and exacting work, anchored in Queensland’s lived geography and alert to the river’s cultural, political, and ecological significance. 

Yanga Mother 

Cheryl Leavy and Christopher Bassi (University of Queensland Press)

Judges' comments: 

By writing what is seemingly a children’s picture book, Cheryl Leavy has gifted us a powerful tribute to First Nation storytelling and motherhood while honouring members of the stolen generation and all who have lost a mother. Yanga Mother, a symbol of reclaiming Aboriginal language is perfectly enhanced by the beautiful artwork of Christopher Bassi.

Black Witness (Winner)

Amy McQuire (University of Queensland Press)

Judges' comments: 

Black Witness is a timely and rigorous interrogation of the media, legal, and political narratives surrounding some of Australia’s most troubling criminal cases involving Indigenous people. Combining careful research with clear analysis, McQuire documents systemic failures in the justice system and contributes a thoughtful, well-evidenced perspective to ongoing national debates. 

Warra Warra Wai: How Indigenous Australians discovered Captain Cook, and what they tell about the coming of the Ghost People

 Darren Rix and Craig Cormick (Scribner Australia, an imprint of Simon & Schuster) 

Judges' comments: 

Warra Warra Wai retraces Cook’s 1770 voyage with formal clarity and ethical intent. At each site along the east coast, Rix and Cormick foreground Indigenous voices and unsettle the authority of the colonial record. The result is a sharp, structurally inventive work grounded in language, place, and historical redress.