Nomination FAQs

If you have any questions, please contact State Library of Queensland. 
Email: qla@slq.qld.gov.au   
Phone: 07 3842 9321   

Postal address  

Attn: Queensland Literary Awards

State Library of Queensland   

PO Box 3488   

SOUTH BRISBANE  QLD  4101 

 

Courier address  

Attn: Queensland Literary Awards

State Library of Queensland   

Loading dock, Stanley Place   

SOUTH BRISBANE  QLD  4101 

 

Deliver in person 

Attn: Queensland Literary Awards

Welcome desk, level 1   

State Library of Queensland   

Stanley Place 

SOUTH BRISBANE  QLD  4101

All envelopes and parcels MUST be marked Attn: Queensland Literary Awards.  

Please note the address has changed from 2022.

Nomination forms must be received online by 5:00 pm AEST on 14 April 2023. Late entries will not be accepted.

No. Entries deemed ineligible will not be refunded. Entries that are determined to be ineligible will not be returned. Entries withdrawn by a nominator will not be refunded or returned.

State Library of Queensland will not return any copies of nominations.  

Please call or email before you nominate so we can answer your questions.

General eligibility for the 2023 awards and category-specific awards are outlined in the terms and conditions of entry. 

Some general notes about eligibility: 

• A book entered in the published book categories must have been made available for general sale in Australia between 1 May 2022 and 30 April 2023, inclusive. The book must be a first edition and must not have been previously published prior to 1 May 2022. The book must have an International Standard Book Number (ISBN). The book must be first published primarily in English.  
• The book must primarily comprise of text (except in the children’s book category). Works consisting primarily of images, pictures, photographs or illustrations are ineligible unless the accompanying text is judged to be of sufficient literary merit. 
• All authors, co-authors, co-creators and illustrators must be Australian citizens or permanent residents of Australia, at least 18 years of age (or provide written consent from a parent or guardian to nominate), and living at the date of nomination.
• Works of co-authorship are eligible, except for the Judith Wright Calanthe Award for a Poetry Collection and University of Southern Queensland Steele Rudd Award for a Short Story Collection. Co-authorship is defined as joint responsibility by 2 or more authors for the entire work. If the winning nomination is a co-authored work, the Queensland Literary Award will be awarded to all authors, co-authors, co-creators and illustrators of the work and they will share the prize money equally. Nominators must indicate co-authorship at the time of nomination. If co-authors, co-creators or illustrators are missing from a nomination, they will be added by State Library during eligibility processing and the nominator advised.   

Nominations must also comply with all category-specific eligibility criteria. For further details, please refer to the terms and conditions of entry. 

We recommend entering your full-length manuscript, however, partial manuscripts are fine too. 

Typically this is between 40,000 and 100,000 words, except for poetry collections and children’s books, which can be of any length.

If you have entered a manuscript in the past, you are welcome to submit it again.

You can enter the following types of manuscripts into the David Unaipon Award for an Emerging Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Writer:

• a novel for adults 

• young adult fiction 

• a children’s book 

• poetry collection 

• short story collection 

• memoir or auto/biography 

• general non-fiction.

No. This category is open to all eligible Australian authors. Authors do not need to be based in Queensland to be eligible for this award. Entries should be: a) content primarily focused on documenting important Queensland stories, history or voices and/or b) any work by a Queensland author could be deemed of state significance if it has increased the awareness and profile of Queensland writing.  

Yes. Self-published books are eligible for the Published Book Award categories as long as the book and the author meet the general eligibility criteria and the category-specific eligibility criteria. Please refer to the 2023 terms and conditions of entry for specific eligibility information. 

The spirit of the unpublished manuscript awards is to support emerging writers to complete and publish their first significant book.   

For the purpose of the unpublished manuscript awards, an emerging writer is defined as a writer who has not had a commercial publication of any significant written work (book, published script/play, collection of poetry or short stories) by a trade publisher or other conventional publisher. The emerging writer has also not previously self-published any full-length work with an ISBN. 

Emerging writers must not have an existing publishing contract for a full-length work or be in current contractual negotiations. 

State Library and the judging panels will make the final decision on a nomination’s eligibility. 

Authors who have previously published individual short stories, poems, articles or essays in magazines, journals, anthologies or newspapers in print or online are eligible to enter the unpublished manuscript awards. 

Authors who have published or self-published a full-length work are not considered emerging writers for these awards.

Yes. You must meet the author requirements for both of these award categories. Refer to the 2023 terms and conditions of entry for specific eligibility information.   

No. Judges do not provide feedback on individual nominations.

We suggest you contact the writers centre in your state for information, advice and support. 

Get in touch with Queensland Writers Centre via admin@qldwriters.org.au

Early bird fees are offered for the period of 1 March – 20 March: $40.00 (inc. GST) per nomination for all published book award categories.  

Full fees are payable for the period of 21 March – 14 April: $50.00 (inc. GST) per nomination for all published book award categories.  

Pay the nomination fee/s by credit card while entering online. If you are unable to pay by credit card, or would prefer an invoice for multiple entries, please email qla@slq.qld.gov.au. 

Concession:

• Entry is free for one nomination per author, if the author of the nominated work holds one of the following valid Australian concession cards: Pensioner Concession Card, Health Care Card or Low Income Health Care Card, tertiary student card, or a Veteran Card issued by the Australian Department of Veteran Affairs. Please note that Seniors Cards are not eligible for fee-exemption.   

• Fill out the ‘Published book – concession form’ online. 

• Proof of the author’s status as a current card holder must be submitted online or in hardcopy. 

• For queries about free entries, please email qla@slq.qld.gov.au or phone 07 3842 9321. 

All development award entries are free.

Yes. Please email State Library of Queensland at qla@slq.qld.gov.au or phone on 07 3842 9321 to arrange alternative payment options. 

A fee exemption is available for one nomination only, if the author of the nominated work holds one of the following valid Australian concession cards: 

• Pensioner Concession Card 

• Health Care Card or Low Income Health Care Card 

• Tertiary Student Card  

• Veteran Card issued by the Australian Department of Veteran Affairs.

Seniors Cards are not eligible for a concession entry. 

Photocopied proof of the author’s status as a current card holder must be submitted with the copies of the nominated books or the nomination will not be eligible for judging. 

If a concession applies to your entry, use the Published Book Award – concession online nomination form. 

Yes. You can nominate the same book in different categories as long as the book and the author meet the general eligibility criteria and the category-specific eligibility criteria for each category. 

 For the 'published book awards – fee paying' and 'published book awards – concession' nomination forms: 

• You will need to complete a separate nomination for each category you wish to enter. You may submit up to 10 nominations on each online form.  

• You will need to supply five copies of the nominated book for each category and pay the nomination fee for each category. Please note that if an author is eligible for a concession entry, only one (1) entry is fee-exempt and the rest are fee-paying. 

• For electronic nominations, send only one USB containing the three separate file versions of the book’s digital file (.ePub, .mobi and PDF formats). 

If you are a publisher nominating a number of books for the awards, you have the option to include up to 10 titles per online form and pay all the nomination fees by credit card in one lump sum.

Please contact State Library of Queensland on qla@slq.qld.gov.au to arrange alternative payment options. 

If you are nominating your own book, list yourself as the nominator and author.

The nominator can also be a publisher, agent or interested third party. In this case, please put your own contact details (not the author's). Nominators must seek permission from the author before nominating their book. 

All further information and correspondence about the nomination will be with the nominator.

Yes, you can deliver in person to State Library of Queensland.

Attn: Queensland Literary Awards 

Welcome desk, level 1   

State Library of Queensland   

Stanley Place 

SOUTH BRISBANE  QLD  4101 

No. 

All authors, co-authors, co-creators and illustrators must be: 

• citizens or permanent residents of Australia  

• at least 18 years of age, or provide written consent from a parent or guardian to nominate

• living at the date of nomination. 

No. Books and manuscripts submitted as part of your nomination will not be returned.

The copies supplied with the nomination are distributed to the category judges for assessing the nomination, and one copy is kept by State Library of Queensland for a record of the nominations. 

At the end of the awards cycle, State Library may use selected books to build collections. Any remaining books are donated to charity. 

Shortlisted books and finalists 

Shortlists will be announced in August 2023. All nominators will be notified by email prior to the shortlist being announced.  

Queensland Writers Fellowships do not have a shortlist, just three winners announced in September. 

Winners

The winners in all categories will be announced at the awards ceremony in September 2023.