The Readings Prize

First presented in 2014, The Readings Prize continues to support new and outstanding Australian voices across three separate categories of fiction: Children’s, Young Adult and New Australian Fiction. The Readings Prize is unique in the Australian literary landscape being the only prize currently run by an independent Melbourne bookshop and supporting emerging local voices.

Each year, three prizes are awarded to reflect our judgement of the works that have attained the highest literary merit in their category (and they’re always great reads too!). We look for books that can contribute richness and variety to Australian readers. The Readings Prize offers $16,000 in prize money, which is distributed evenly to the winners of each category ($5,000 per category winner), plus $1,000 to the winner of The Gab Williams Prize.

The Readings Prize is now closed for 2025. A shortlist of six books in each category will be announced in August 2025, with the winners to be announced at a celebration event in November.

Learn more about each prize and explore the previous shortlists:

The Readings New Australian Fiction Prize

The Readings Young Adult Prize

The Readings Children's Prize

Eligibility guidelines

Please read the eligibility criteria for each specific category before entering a book into The Readings Prize. There is a $50 entry fee per book, and four copies of each published work must be submitted for the consideration of the judging panel. Once you’re sure the title is eligible, simply nominate the chosen book here. Please put the title of the book and the author’s name in the comments field at checkout, then contact Angela Crocombe at [email protected] to arrange submission of the reading copies.