The Australian Literature Society Gold Medal (ALS Gold Medal) is awarded annually by the Association for the Study of Australian Literature for "an outstanding literary work in the preceding calendar year."[1] From 1928 to 1974 it was awarded by the Australian Literature Society, then from 1983 by the Association for the Study of Australian Literature, when the two organisations were merged.
Award winners
edit1920s
edit1930s
edit- 1930: Vance Palmer – The Passage[4]
- 1931: Frank Dalby Davison – Man-Shy[5]
- 1932: Leonard Mann – Flesh in Armour[6]
- 1933: G. B. Lancaster (Edith J. Lyttleton) – Pageant[7]
- 1934: Eleanor Dark – Prelude to Christopher[8]
- 1935: Winifred Birkett – Earth's Quality[9]
- 1936: Eleanor Dark – Return to Coolami[10]
- 1937: Seaforth Mackenzie – The Young Desire It[11]
- 1938: R. D. FitzGerald – Moonlight Acre[12]
- 1939: Xavier Herbert – Capricornia[13]
1940s
edit- 1940: William Baylebridge – This Vital Flesh[14]
- 1941: Patrick White – Happy Valley[15]
- 1942: Kylie Tennant – The Battlers[16]
- 1943–1947: Not awarded[17]
- 1948: Herz Bergner – Between Sky and Sea[18]
- 1949: Percival Serle – Dictionary of Australian Biography[19]
1950s
edit- 1950: Jon Cleary – Just Let Me Be[20]
- 1951: Rex Ingamells – The Great South Land : An Epic Poem[21]
- 1952: T. A. G. Hungerford – The Ridge and the River : A Novel[22]
- 1954: Mary Gilmore – Fourteen Men[23]
- 1955: Patrick White – The Tree of Man[24]
- 1957: Martin Boyd – A Difficult Young Man[25]
- 1959: Randolph Stow – To the Islands[26]
1960s
edit- 1960: William Hart-Smith – Poems of Discovery[27]
- 1961: No Award
- 1962: Vincent Buckley – Masters in Israel[28]
- 1963: John Morrison – Twenty-Three : Stories[29]
- 1964: Geoffrey Blainey – The Rush that Never Ended[30]
- 1965: Patrick White – The Burnt Ones[31]
- 1966: A. D. Hope
1970s
edit- 1970: Manning Clark
- 1971: Colin Badger
- 1972: Alex Buzo – Macquarie (play)
- 1973: Francis Webb
- 1974: David Malouf – Neighbours in a Thicket[32]
- 1975–79: No Award
1980s
edit- 1980: No Award
- 1981: No Award
- 1982: No Award
- 1983: David Malouf – Child's Play; Fly Away Peter[33]
- 1984: Les Murray – The People's Otherworld : Poems[33]
- 1985: David Ireland – Archimedes and the Seagle[33]
- 1986: Thea Astley – Beachmasters[33]
- 1987: Alan Wearne – The Nightmarkets[33]
- 1988: Brian Matthews – Louisa[33]
- 1989: Frank Moorhouse – Forty-Seventeen[33]
1990s
edit- 1990: Peter Porter – Possible Worlds[33]
- 1991: Elizabeth Jolley – Cabin Fever[33]
- 1992: Rodney Hall – The Second Bridegroom[33]
- 1993: Elizabeth Riddell – Selected Poems[33]
- 1994: Louis Nowra – Radiance and The Temple[33]
- 1995: Helen Demidenko – The Hand That Signed the Paper[33]
- 1996: Amanda Lohrey – Camille's Bread[33]
- 1997: Robert Dessaix – Night Letters[33]
- 1998: James Cowan – A Mapmaker's Dream[33]
- 1999: Murray Bail – Eucalyptus[33]
2000s
edit- 2000: Drusilla Modjeska – Stravinsky's Lunch[33]
- 2001: Rodney Hall – The Day We Had Hitler Home[33]
- 2002: Richard Flanagan – Gould's Book of Fish[33]
- 2003: Kate Jennings – Moral Hazard[33]
- 2004: Laurie Duggan – Mangroves[33]
- 2005: Gail Jones – Sixty Lights[33]
- 2006: Gregory Day – The Patron Saint of Eels[33]
- 2007: Alexis Wright – Carpentaria[33]
- 2008: Michelle de Kretser – The Lost Dog[33]
- 2009: Christos Tsiolkas – The Slap[33]
2010s
edit- 2010: David Malouf – Ransom[33]
- 2011: Kim Scott – That Deadman Dance[33]
- 2012: Gillian Mears – Foal's Bread[33]
- 2013: Michelle de Kretser – Questions of Travel[33]
- 2014: Alexis Wright – The Swan Book[33]
- 2015: Jennifer Maiden – Drones and Phantoms[33]
- 2016: Brenda Niall – Mannix[34]
- 2017: Zoe Morrison – Music and Freedom[35]
- 2018: Shastra Deo – The Agonist[36]
- 2019: Pam Brown – click here for what we do[37]
2020s
edit- 2020: Charmaine Papertalk Green – Nganajungu Yagu[38]
- 2021: Nardi Simpson – Song of the Crocodile[39]
- 2022: Andy Jackson – Human Looking[40]
- 2023: Debra Dank – We Come With This Place[41]
- 2024: Alexis Wright – Praiseworthy[42]
- 2025: Fiona McFarlane – Highway 13[43]
Shortlisted works
edit| Year | Author name | Work nominated | Result | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Randa Abdel-Fattah | Discipline | Shortlisted | [44] |
| Ender Başkan | Two Hundred Million Musketeers | |||
| Raaza Jamshed | What Kept You? | |||
| Luke Patterson | A Savage Turn | |||
| Omar Sakr & Safdar Ahmed | The Nightmare Sequence | |||
| Madeleine Watts | Elegy, Southwest | |||
| 2025 | Fiona McFarlane | Highway 13 | Winner | [43] |
| Bonny Cassidy | Monument | Shortlisted | [1] | |
| Brian Castro | Chinese Postman | |||
| Melanie Cheng | The Burrow | |||
| Helen Garner | The Season | |||
| Nam Le | 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem | |||
| Siang Lu | Ghost Cities | |||
| 2024 | Alexis Wright | Praiseworthy | Winner | [42] |
| Jordie Albiston | Frank | Shortlisted | [45] | |
| Stuart Barnes | Like to the Lark | |||
| Katherine Brabon | Body Friend | |||
| J. M. Coetzee | The Pole and Other Stories | |||
| Omar Sakr | Non-Essential Work | |||
| Sara M. Saleh | The Flirtation of Girls/Ghazal el-Banat | |||
| 2023 | Debra Dank | We Come With This Place | Winner | [46] |
| Robbie Arnott | Limberlost | Shortlisted | [41] | |
| Fiona Kelly McGregor | Iris | |||
| Gavin Yuan Gao | At the Altar of Touch | |||
| Adam Ouston | Waypoints | |||
| Charmaine Papertalk Green & John Kinsella | ART | |||
| 2022 | Andy Jackson | Human Looking | Winner | [40] |
| Emily Bitto | Wild Abandon | Shortlisted | [47] | |
| John Kinsella | Pushing Back | |||
| S. J. Norman | Permafrost | |||
| Elfie Shiosaki | Homecoming | |||
| Maria Takolander | Trigger Warning | |||
| 2021 | Nardi Simpson | Song of the Crocodile | Winner | |
| Robbie Arnott | The Rain Heron | Shortlisted | [48] | |
| Ronnie Scott | The Adversary | |||
| Ellen van Neerven | Throat | |||
| Luke Best | Cadaver Dog | |||
| Laura Jean McKay | The Animals in That Country | |||
| 2020 | Charmaine Papertalk Green | Nganajungu Yagu | Winner | [49] |
| Jordie Albiston | Element | Shortlisted | [50] | |
| Favel Parrett | There Was Still Love | |||
| Carrie Tiffany | Exploded View | |||
| Charlotte Wood | The Weekend | |||
| 2019 | Pam Brown | click here for what we do | Winner | [51] |
| Luke Beesley | Aqua Spinach | Shortlisted | [52] | |
| Laura Elizabeth Woollett | Beautiful Revolutionary | Shortlisted | [52] | |
| Charmaine Papertalk Green & John Kinsella | False Claims of Colonial Thieves | Shortlisted | [52] | |
| Jamie Marina Lau | Pink Mountain on Locust Island | Shortlisted | [52] | |
| Gail Jones | The Death of Noah Glass | Shortlisted | [52] | |
| 2018 | Shastra Deo | The Agonist | Winner | [53] |
| Peter Carey | A Long Way from Home | Shortlisted | [53] | |
| Eva Hornung | The Last Garden | Shortlisted | [53] | |
| Sofie Laguna | The Choke | Shortlisted | [53] | |
| Steven Lang | Hinterland | Shortlisted | [53] | |
| Gerald Murnane | Border Districts | Shortlisted | [53] | |
| 2017 | Zoe Morrison | Music and Freedom | Winner | [54] |
| Steven Amsterdam | The Easy Way Out | Shortlisted | [55] | |
| Georgia Blain | Between a Wolf and a Dog | Shortlisted | [55] | |
| Peter Boyle | Ghostspeaking | Shortlisted | [55] | |
| Heather Rose | The Museum of Modern Love | Shortlisted | [55] | |
| Rajith Savanadasa | Ruins | Shortlisted | [55] | |
| 2016 | Brenda Niall | Mannix | Winner | [56] |
| James Bradley | Clade | Shortlisted | [56] | |
| Tegan Bennett Daylight | Six Bedrooms | Shortlisted | [56] | |
| Drusilla Modjeska | Second Half First | Shortlisted | [56] | |
| 2015 | Jennifer Maiden | Drones and Phantoms | Winner | [57] |
| Joan London | The Golden Age | Shortlisted | [57] | |
| David Malouf | Earth Hour | Shortlisted | [57] | |
| Favel Parrett | When the Night Comes | Shortlisted | [57] | |
| Inga Simpson | Nest | Shortlisted | [57] | |
| 2014 | Alexis Wright | The Swan Book | Winner | [58] |
| Eleanor Limprecht | What Was Left | Shortlisted | [58] | |
| Luke Carman | An Elegant Young Man | Shortlisted | [58] | |
| Hannah Kent | Burial Rites | Shortlisted | [58] | |
| Christos Tsiolkas | Barracuda | Shortlisted | [58] | |
| Alex Miller | Coal Creek | Shortlisted | [58] | |
| 2013 | Michelle de Kretser | Questions of Travel | Winner | [59] |
| Jessie Cole | Darkness on the Edge of Town | Shortlisted | [59] | |
| Robert Drewe | Montebello | Shortlisted | [59] | |
| Christopher Koch | Lost Voices | Shortlisted | [59] | |
| P. A. O’Reilly | The Fine Colour of Rust | Shortlisted | [59] | |
| 2012 | Gillian Mears | Foal's Bread | Winner | [33] |
| Steven Amsterdam | What the Family Needed | Shortlisted | [60] | |
| Christopher Edwards | People of Earth | Shortlisted | [60] | |
| Diane Fahey | The Wing Collection: New & Selected poems | Shortlisted | [60] | |
| Favel Parrett | Past The Shallows | Shortlisted | [60] | |
| Anna Funder | All That I Am | Shortlisted | [60] | |
| Gail Jones | Five Bells | Shortlisted | [60] | |
| Alex Miller | Autumn Laing | Shortlisted | [60] | |
| Elliot Perlman | The Street Sweeper | Shortlisted | [60] | |
| Gig Ryan | Gig Ryan: New and Selected Poems | Shortlisted | [60] | |
| Jaya Savige | Surface to Air | Shortlisted | [60] | |
| 2011 | Kim Scott | That Deadman Dance | Winner | [33] |
| Peter Boyle | Apocrypha | Shortlisted | ||
| Peter Goldsworthy | Gravel | Shortlisted | ||
| Kirsten Tranter | The Legacy | Shortlisted | ||
| Chris Womersley | Bereft | Shortlisted | ||
| 2010 | David Malouf | Ransom | Winner | [33] |
| Emily Ballou | The Darwin Poems | Shortlisted | ||
| Steven Carroll | The Lost Life | Shortlisted | ||
| Eva Hornung | Dog Boy | Shortlisted | ||
| Cate Kennedy | The World Beneath | Shortlisted | ||
| 2009 | Christos Tsiolkas | The Slap | Winner | [33] |
| John Clanchy | Her Father's Daughter | Shortlisted | ||
| Helen Garner | The Spare Room | Shortlisted | ||
| Evelyn Juers | House of Exile: The Life and Times of Heinrich Mann and Nelly Kroeger-Mann | Shortlisted | ||
| John Kinsella | Divine Comedy: Journeys Through Regional Geography | Shortlisted | ||
| Chris Wallace-Crabbe | Telling a Hawk from a Handsaw | Shortlisted | ||
| 2008 | Michelle de Kretser | The Lost Dog | Winner | [33] |
| J. S. Harry | Not Finding Wittgenstein | Shortlisted | ||
| Rhyll McMaster | Feather Man | Shortlisted | ||
| David Malouf | Typewriter Music | Shortlisted | ||
| Alex Miller | Landscape of Farewell | Shortlisted |
See also
editReferences
edit- 1 2 "ALS Gold Medal". Association for the Study of Australian Literature. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
- ↑ "Australian Literature Society" The Age, 8 October 1929, p13
- ↑ "Australian Novel" The Sydney Morning Herald, 17 March 1930, p6
- ↑ "Best Novel of 1930" The Argus, 16 June 1931, p6
- ↑ "Literature Society's Gold Medal" The Sydney Morning Herald, 1 July 1932, p3
- ↑ "In and About the City – Literature Award" The Courier-Mail, 10 November 1933, p10
- ↑ "Australian Literature : Society's Annual 'Drama Night'" The Age, 6 October 1934, p21
- ↑ "Best Novel of 1934" The Argus, 22 October 1935, p6
- ↑ "Gold Medal – Australian Literary Society" The Canberra Times, 31 October 1936, p2
- ↑ "Return to Coolami : Medal for Best Novel" The Argus, 21 September 1937, p11
- ↑ "Seaforth Mackenzie Wins 1937 Literature Prize" The Telegraph, 22 November 1938, p8
- ↑ "Literary Gold Medal : Award to Mr. R. D. Fitzgerald" The Sydney Morning Herald, 17 February 1940, p16
- ↑ "Prize for Best Novel" The Argus, 19 March 1940, p1
- ↑ ""About People"". The Age, 19 February 1941, p20. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
- ↑ ""Medal for Author of Happy Valley"". The Sydney Morning Herald, 19 February 1941, p13. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
- ↑ ""Literature Prize"". The Age, 19 November 1943, p2. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
- ↑ "Austlit — ALS Gold Medal – 1942-49". Austlit. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
- ↑ ""Melbourne Author Wins Gold Medal"". The Argus, 10 December 1948, p10. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
- ↑ ""News of the Day"". The Age, 3 November 1949, p2. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
- ↑ The Cambridge Companion to Australian Literature p129
- ↑ "Crouch Prize for Literature to R. Ingamells" The Age, 7 April 1952, p5
- ↑ "Literary Award to T.A.G. Hungerford" The Canberra Times, 11 February 1954, p3
- ↑ Australian Classics : 50 Great Writers and Their Celebrated Work by Jane Gleeson-White, p61
- ↑ Austlit – The Tree of Man by Patrick White
- ↑ Austlit – A Difficult Young Man by Martin Boyd
- ↑ "Papers of Randolph Stow" National Library of Australia
- ↑ Austlit – Poems of Discovery by William Hart Smith
- ↑ Austlit – Masters in Israel by Vincent Buckley
- ↑ Austlit – Twenty-Three : Stories by John Morrison
- ↑ Austlit – The Rush That Never Ended by Geoffrey Blainey
- ↑ Austlit – The Burnt Ones by Patrick White
- ↑ "Imaginary lives of the defeated in the realm of alienation", The Canberra Times, 21 February 1990, p33
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 "ALS Gold Medal - Previous Winners". Association for the Study of Australian Literature. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
- ↑ "Brenda Niall's life of Archbishop Mannix wins Australia's oldest literary prize" by Jason Steger, The Age, 6 July 2016
- ↑ "Morrison wins ALS Gold Medal". Books + Publishing. 12 July 2017. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
- ↑ "Deo wins 2018 ALS Gold Medal | Books+Publishing". Retrieved 6 July 2018.
- ↑ "Brown wins 2019 ALS Gold Medal". Books+Publishing. 3 July 2019. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
- ↑ "Papertalk Green wins 2020 ALS Gold Medal". Books+Publishing. 30 June 2020. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
- ↑ "Simpson wins 2021 ALS Gold Medal for 'Song of the Crocodile'". Books+Publishing. 21 July 2021. Archived from the original on 21 July 2021. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
- 1 2 "Jackson's 'Human Looking; wins ALS Gold Medal". Books+Publishing. 5 July 2022. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
- 1 2 ""Dank's 'We Come with This Place' wins ALS Gold Medal"". Books+Publishing. 5 July 2023. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
- 1 2 "Wright wins 2024 ALS Gold Medal". Books+Publishing. 8 July 2024. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
- 1 2 "McFarlane wins 2025 ALS Gold Medal". Books+Publishing. 1 July 2025. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
- ↑ ""ALS Gold Medal 2026 shortlist announced"". Boos+Publishing. Retrieved 28 May 2026.
- ↑ "ALS Gold Medal 2024 shortlist announced". Books+Publishing. 6 June 2024. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
- ↑ "ALS Gold Medal 2023 shortlist announced". Books+Publishing. 30 May 2023. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
- ↑ "ALS Gold Medal 2022 shortlist announced". Books+Publishing. 7 June 2022. Retrieved 8 June 2022.
- ↑ "ALS Gold Medal 2021 shortlist announced". Books+Publishing. 18 June 2021. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
- ↑ "Papertalk Green wins 2020 ALS Gold Medal". Books+Publishing. 30 June 2020. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
- ↑ "ALS Gold Medal 2020 shortlist announced". Books+Publishing. 20 May 2020. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
- ↑ "ALS Gold Medal 2019 shortlist announced". Books+Publishing. 3 May 2019. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "ALS Gold Medal 2019 shortlist announced". Books+Publishing. 3 May 2019. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "ALS Gold Medal 2018 shortlist announced | Books+Publishing". Retrieved 6 November 2018.
- ↑ "ALS Gold Medal 2017 shortlist announced". Books + Publishing. 5 April 2017. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "ALS Gold Medal 2017 shortlist announced". Books + Publishing. 5 April 2017. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
- 1 2 3 4 Austlit – 2016 ALS Gold Medal
- 1 2 3 4 5 "ALS Gold Medal 2015 shortlist announced", Books + Publishing, 5 May 2015
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "ALS Gold Medal 2014 shortlist announced", Books + Publishing, 27 February 2014
- 1 2 3 4 5 "2013 ALS Gold Medal Shortlist", ANZ LitLovers, 19 March 2013
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ""ALS Gold Medal (1928-)"". Austlit. Retrieved 18 July 2025.