The finalists for the Melbourne Prize for Literature 2018 and Awards have been announced.

This year’s Awards include the new Readings Residency Award, (supported by Readings). Developed to help early-career authors to immerse themselves in their literary pursuits in a unique environment in the heart of Melbourne’s creative community and to travel, the winner will receive $5,000 cash, a residency at the Norma Redpath Studio in Carlton and a $2,500 travel voucher from Qantas.

The Melbourne Prize runs on a three-year awards cycle, alternating between literature, music and urban sculpture, and provides significant opportunities to reward and recognise published Victorian authors across all career stages. This year, the focus returns once more to books.

Valued at more than $100,000, the full range of prize and awards offered this year are…

The $60,000 Melbourne Prize for Literature 2018 is awarded to a Victorian author whose body of published work has made an outstanding contribution to Australian literature, as well as to cultural and intellectual life.

The finalists for this Prize are:

• Tony Birch
• Gideon Haigh
• Alison Lester
• Christos Tsiolkas
• Alexis Wright

The $30,000 Best Writing Award 2018 is awarded for a published work of outstanding clarity, originality, and creativity by a Victorian writer.

The finalists for this Award are:

• Judith Bishop
• Angus Cerini
• Kate Cole-Adams
• Briohny Doyle
• A. Frances Johnson
• Maria Tumarkin
• Sarah Krasnostein
• Louise Milligan
• Jock Serong
• Jeff Sparrow

And we’re delighted to announce that the finalists for the Readings Residency Award 2018 are:

• Jamie Marina Lau
• Micheline Lee
• Marlee Jane Ward

The $4,000 Civic Choice Award 2018, supported by Hardie Grant Books, will be awarded to one of the finalists across all three award categories. You can place your vote for the Civic Choice Award on the Melbourne Prize website here.

This year’s judges comprise some of Australia’s most respected literary identities, including esteemed authors Andrea Goldsmith and Nam Le; Marieke Hardy, Artistic Director, Melbourne Writers Festival; Khalid Warsame, Writer and Creative Producer; and Michael Williams, Director, The Wheeler Centre.

The winners in each category will be announced on Wednesday, 14 November 2018.

You can find further information on the prize and awards here.