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Of course writers have mixed feelings about prizes—Berger is not the first nor the last to observe that the focus on winning and losing is slightly at odds with the inclusive possibilities of art, ...  >

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QLD Literary Awards

Chris Flynn August 06

Despite Premier Campbell Newman’s best efforts at destroying any sort of cultural credibility the great state of Queensland has fought for years to establish by drawing a line through the literary awards about five minutes after settling into his plush swivel chair, the awards look set to endure, thanks to some determined work by bookish volunteers and a highly effective crowdsourcing campaign.

qldAwardPage

Whilst the prize pool will be a lot less than the $230,000 the former Premier Anna Bligh was happy to allocate to the awards, the event is still set to go ahead on 5th September. Incidentally, Premier Newman earns about $50,000 per annum over and above that figure. ‘So we are going to make sure that we save $100,000 here, $50,000 there, $20,000 there, a quarter of a million dollars etcetera, so we can close this budget deficit.’ Since it’s all about the little savings Premier, I’m sure you wouldn’t mind doing the right thing by the state, donating a couple of bucks (say, a hundred grand) and catching the bus to work, yeah?

On a positive note, the response from Queensland writers was rapid and practical. A committee was formed comprising Krissy Kneen, Dr. Benjamin Law, Susan Johnson, Matthew Condon, Greg Bain, Claire Booth, Alex Adsett, Elizabeth Reynolds and Dr. Stuart Glover. Before Premier Newman had a chance to shut down the Internet (those Telstra plans are very pricey) a Pozible campaign had begun and recently hit the $20000 target without any problems. The committee are now looking at ways of ensuring the awards have a more long term future. Those good eggs at the Copyright Agency have also pledged $20000.

Two of the categories are none of his beeswax anyway—the Emerging Queensland Author Award and David Unaipon Award for an Unpublished Indigenous Writer are both funded by the University of Queensland, and will continue unabated. This is very good news, and kudos to UQP for thumbing their noses at the Premier. All of the other categories will be awarded too this year (there are fourteen in total) and even if none of the winners walk away with anything more than a few weeks wages in their back pockets, the point will have been made, and Queensland will remain a state that values literature, even if its Premier does not. The prizes will be awarded on September 5th.

Going forward the committee will seek sponsorship for the awards but in the meantime the Pozible crowdsourcing campaign can be found here. if you would like to donate a few shekels. You can always ‘like’ their Facebook page here, and what’s not to like for a change, really, and find out more on their dedicated page here.


 

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