2022 Queensland Literary Awards winners

Queensland Premier's Award for a Work of State Significance

$25,000 | Supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland

WINNER
Wounded Country
by Quentin Beresford
NewSouth

FINALISTS
Muddy People by Sara El Sayed (Black Inc. Books)
The Burnished Sun by Mirandi Riwoe (University of Queensland Press)
Operation Jungle by John Shobbrook (University of Queensland Press)
Another Day in the Colony by Chelsea Watego (University of Queensland Press)

The University of Queensland Fiction Book Award

$15,000 | Sponsored by The University of Queensland

WINNER
The Other Half of You
by Michael Mohammed Ahmad
Hachette Australia

FINALISTS
Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au (Giramondo Publishing)  
The Furies by Mandy Beaumont (Hachette Australia) 
The Keepers by Al Campbell (University of Queensland Press)
Australiana by Yumna Kassab (Ultimo Press)

The University of Queensland Non-Fiction Book Award

$15,000 | Sponsored by The University of Queensland

WINNER
Lies, Damned Lies   
by Claire G. Coleman
Ultimo Press

FINALISTS
Muddy People by Sara El Sayed (Black Inc. Books)
The Mother Wound by Amani Haydar (Pan Macmillan)
The Three Burials of Lotty Kneen by Krissy Kneen (Text Publishing) 
Another Day in the Colony by Chelsea Watego (University of Queensland Press)  

Children’s Book Award

$15,000 | Supported by Susan Hocking and Ian Mackie, and their family,
through The Hocking Mackie Trust at APS Foundation

WINNER
Kunyi
by Kunyi June Anne McInerney 
Magabala Books

FINALISTS
My Brother Ben by Peter Carnavas (University of Queensland Press)  
A Glasshouse of Stars by Shirley Marr (Penguin Random House Australia)
The Boy Who Tried to Shrink His Name by Sandhya Parappukkaran and illustrated by Michelle Pereira (Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing)
The First Scientists by Corey Tutt and illustrated by Blak Douglas (Hardie Grant Explore) 

Griffith University Young Adult Book Award

$15,000 | Sponsored by Griffith University

WINNER
Girls in Boys' Cars 
by Felicity Castagna               
Pan Macmillan

FINALISTS
Katipo Joe: Wolf’s Lair by Brian Falkner (Scholastic)
Morrison and Mr Moore by Michael Hyde (In Case of Emergency Press) 
Social Queue by Kay Kerr (Text Publishing)
Sugar by Carly Nugent (Text Publishing)

University of Southern Queensland Steele Rudd Award for a Short Story Collection

$15,000 | Sponsored by University of Southern Queensland

WINNER
Dark as Last Night 
by Tony Birch              
University of Queensland Press

FINALISTS
The Kindness of Birds by Merlinda Bobis (Spinifex Press)  
The Burnished Sun by Mirandi Riwoe (University of Queensland Press)
If You're Happy by Fiona Robertson (University of Queensland Press)
Lake Malibu and Other Stories by Su-May Tan (Spineless Wonders)

Judith Wright Calanthe Award for a Poetry Collection

$15,000 | Sponsored by Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund

WINNER
Stasis Shuffle 
by Pam Brown    
Hunter Publishers

FINALISTS
TAKE CARE by Eunice Andrada (Giramondo Publishing)
accelerations & inertias by Dan Disney (Vagabond Press)
At the Altar of Touch by Gavin Yuan Gao (University of Queensland Press)
Bees Do Bother: An Antagonist's Carepack by Ann Vickery (Vagabond Press)

David Unaipon Award for an Emerging Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Writer

$15,000 | Sponsored by Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund

WINNER
‘Always Will Be – stories of Goori sovereignty, from the future(s) of the Tweed’
by Mykaela Saunders

FINALISTS
‘Finding Billy Brown’ by Edoardo Crismani 
‘Wawun, Judulu and The Big Storm’ by Julie-Ann ‘Garrimaa’ Moore
'untitled manuscript' by Rick Slager
‘Unplanned Journey: A personal account of one Indigenous woman’s life’ by Aunty Joan Tranter

Glendower Award for an Emerging Queensland Writer

$15,000 | Supported by Jenny Summerson through the Queensland Library Foundation

WINNER
'Things Left Unsaid'           
by Yen-Rong Wong

FINALISTS
'Do you like the artist Georgia O’Keeffe?' by A E Macleod
'The Interventions' by John Richards 
'Sunshowers' by Emily Winter

The Courier-Mail People’s Choice Queensland Book of the Year Award

$10,000 | Sponsored by The Courier-Mail

WINNER
Another Day in the Colony 
by Chelsea Watego
University of Queensland Press

FINALISTS

Whole Notes by Ed Ayres (ABC Books)
The Keepers by Al Campbell (University of Queensland Press)
Muddy People by Sara El Sayed (Black Inc. Books)
Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray by Anita Heiss (Simon & Schuster)
The Three Burials of Lotty Kneen by Krissy Kneen (Text Publishing)
Red Heaven by Nicolas Rothwell (Text Publishing)
Crime Writer by Dime Sheppard (Ruby Books)