Canberra
Eligible authors, poets and historians have today been encouraged to enter Australia's richest literary prize.
Now in its sixth year, the Prime Minister's Literary Awards continue to recognise and reward excellence in Australian literature and history.
The 2012 awards saw a 34 per cent increase in entries with a total of 509 individual entries.
The total prize pool for the awards is $600,000 with the winner of each category - adult fiction, non-fiction, Australian history, poetry, young adult fiction and children's fiction - awarded $80,000 tax free and shortlisted entries each awarded $5,000.
These awards play an important role in highlighting the outstanding literary talent Australia and the valuable contribution Australian literature and history makes to the nation's cultural and intellectual life.
Three judging panels of 11 industry experts will judge the entries and will recommend shortlists and winners for each of the six Awards.
Solicitor General for New South Wales and published author on Australian politics and history, Michael Sexton SC, will chair the non-fiction and history panel.
Australian Booksellers' Association CEO Joel Becker returns in 2013 to again chair the fiction and poetry panel, as does children's and young adult fiction panel chair, published author and editor Judith White.
This year, minor changes have been made to the entry criteria to allow collaborative works by a community group or a community group and named authors to be entered.
This change will ensure high quality collaborative works by artists in community group settings, for example Indigenous groups, multicultural groups or groups of writers with disabilities, can be considered by the judges.
To be eligible for a prize, entrants must be living Australian citizens or permanent residents. Entries must have been first published in English between 1 January and 31 December 2012 and offered for general sale in Australia between these dates.
For the Prime Minister's Literary Award for Poetry, collections of poems published in book form written by one or two poets are eligible for entry.
Entries for the Prize for Australian History can be film or radio documentaries, websites, DVDs, or other forms of multimedia. Producers of works that document Australian history in any format are encouraged to enter the Awards.
To be eligible, historical works must be first published, produced or broadcast between 1 January and 31 December 2012.
Entries close at 5.00pm on Wednesday 16 January 2013 and the shortlists will be announced in May 2013.
For entry forms and eligibility guidelines and information about the judging panels visit www.arts.gov.au/pmliteraryawards.