Kathleen Mitchell Literary Award
The Kathleen Micthell Award is presented biennially to the author, aged 30 or under, of an outstanding novel or novella to encourage advancement in their literary career.
About this Award
The Kathleen Mitchell Award is presented biennially to the author, aged 30 or under, of an outstanding novel or novella to encourage advancement in their literary career. The novel or novella must have been published or accepted for publication within the 2 years prior to the Award closing date. This can be demonstrated by the providing an ISBN or letter of confirmation from the publisher as part of your entry.
The recipient will receive $15,000.
For the Kathleen Mitchell Award you may submit one entry only.
Established in 1996 by the will of the late Kathleen Adele Mitchell, the Award aims to encourage the advancement, improvement and betterment of Australian literature, and to provide emerging writers with funding to further their practice.
The Award is administered by the Australia Council on behalf of Perpetual as trustee.
A list of previous recipients is available here.
Who can apply
To apply for this Award you must:
- be aged 30 years or under at the 7 February 2023 closing date
- have been born in Australia or the United Kingdom, or are currently an Australian citizen
- have been living in Australia for the 12 months preceding the 7 February 2023 closing date.
These are the terms established by deed of the Kathleen Mitchell Award and there are no exceptions to these requirements. To be eligible for this Award you must provide proof of your Australian citizenship or of your place of birth (eg birth certificate, passport). If you will have difficulty providing this, please contact Artists Services to discuss your situation.
Please note you must self-nominate for this Award, and only one entry per applicant will be accepted.
Who can’t apply
You can’t apply for the Award if:
- you do not hold copyright for the work you wish to submit for consideration
- your novel or novella has not been published or accepted for publication within the 2 years prior to the 7 February 2023 closing date
- you received a grant, or administered a grant, from the Australia Council in the past and that grant has not been satisfactorily acquitted
- you owe money to the Australia Council.
Your entry will be reviewed by industry advisors. The recommended recipient will be forwarded to Perpetual, who will make the final decision.
The decision of Perpetual is final and no feedback on entries or further correspondence on decisions will be provided.
Your submission must include your novel or novella in its entirety.
In your support material you should also include the ISBN for your novel or novella, OR a letter from the publisher confirming publication. This should demonstrate your novel or novella was published or accepted for publishing within the 2 years prior to the Award closing date.
To be eligible for the Kathleen Mitchell Award, you must provide proof of Australian citizenship, or that you were born in Australia or the United Kingdom. This may include a copy of your passport, birth certificate or citizenship certificate. Copies of these documents should be provided with your application support material.
Our preferred method of receiving support material is via URLs (weblinks). URLs should be direct links to your novel or novella.
If you cannot supply support material via a URL, we will accept written artistic support material uploaded as a PDF with your application.
To find out more about support material please contact Artists Services.
Key dates
Applications closed
Amount:
$15,000
Notification:
Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application by the end of April 2023.