Mar 11, 2014 • 1045
There is growing disquiet around the judging of this year’s Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, with some former judges asking if the Abbott government is tweaking the panel to be more Coalition-friendly.
The annual awards give out $600,000 in prize money across six categories. The plan was to announce the 2014 winners in July or August this year — entries closed last month – but the government is yet to finalise who the judges will be, months after they usually start reading.
Crikey understands the hold-up is in Arts Minister George Brandis’ office.
The awards were the brainchild of former PM Kevin Rudd. Up to 12 writers, publishing experts and academics are appointed to one of three judging panels. They are usually given the books — often about 150 — in December or January (that might sound like a lot of books, but after all, such a collection would easily fit on Brandis’ famous $15,000 taxpayer-funded bookcase, which sits in his ministerial office). The judges have about three months to read them and then hold successive meetings to thrash out longlists, shortlists and winners.
Some people have been sounded out to be judges, but nothing has been confirmed, and they’ve received no books. Some former judges are concerned at how committed the Abbott government is to the awards, recalling that Queensland Premier Campbell Newman scrapped the state’s literary gongs in 2012 when he won office.
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The annual awards give out $600,000 in prize money across six categories. The plan was to announce the 2014 winners in July or August this year — entries closed last month – but the government is yet to finalise who the judges will be, months after they usually start reading.
Crikey understands the hold-up is in Arts Minister George Brandis’ office.
The awards were the brainchild of former PM Kevin Rudd. Up to 12 writers, publishing experts and academics are appointed to one of three judging panels. They are usually given the books — often about 150 — in December or January (that might sound like a lot of books, but after all, such a collection would easily fit on Brandis’ famous $15,000 taxpayer-funded bookcase, which sits in his ministerial office). The judges have about three months to read them and then hold successive meetings to thrash out longlists, shortlists and winners.
Some people have been sounded out to be judges, but nothing has been confirmed, and they’ve received no books. Some former judges are concerned at how committed the Abbott government is to the awards, recalling that Queensland Premier Campbell Newman scrapped the state’s literary gongs in 2012 when he won office.
More
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