The Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary Award is presented annually by the Foundation for Australian Literary Studies at Queensland's James Cook University for "the best book published in Australia which deals with any aspect of Australian life". It was first presented in 1967 and now has a prize of A$50,000. Starting in 1980, the H. T. Priestley Memorial Medal has also been bestowed upon the award winner.
The Award was founded by Colin Roderick, an Australian "writer, editor, academic and educator".Colin Roderick, austlit.edu.au. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
Award winners
2020s 2025: Khin Myint, Fragile Creatures : A Memoir 2024: Melissa Lucashenko, Edenglassie 2023: Sarah Holland-Batt, The Jaguar 2022: Emily Bitto, Wild Abandon 2021: Sofie Laguna, Infinite Splendours 2020: Sally Young, Paper Emperors: The rise of Australia’s newspaper empires
2010s 2019: Robert Drewe, The True Colour of the Sea 2018: Jock Serong, On the Java Ridge 2017: Josephine Wilson, Extinctions 2016: Gail Jones, A Guide to Berlin 2015: Not Awarded 2014: Michael Wilding, Wild Bleak Bohemia : Marcus Clarke, Adam Lindsay Gordon and Henry Kendall - A Documentary 2013: Ashley Hay, The Railwayman's Wife & Stephen Edgar, Eldershaw 2012: Thomas Keneally, The Daughters of Mars 2011: Gillian Mears, Foal's Bread 2010: Karen Kissane, Worst of Days: Inside the Black Saturday Firestorm
2000s 2009: Michael Cathcart, The Water Dreamers 2008: Graham Freudenberg, Churchill and Australia & James Boyce, Van Diemen's Land 2007: Malcolm Knox, Jamaica 2006: Deborah Robertson, Careless 2005: Peter Temple, The Broken Shore 2004: Alan Wearne, The Lovemakers & Tim Winton, The Turning 2003: Thomas Keneally, The Tyrant's Novel 2002: Don Watson, Recollections of a Bleeding Heart: A Portrait of Paul Keating PM 2001: Peter Rose, Rose Boys 2000: Peter Carey, True History of the Kelly Gang
1990s 1999: Christopher Koch, Out of Ireland 1998: Robert Dessaix, (And So Forth) 1997: Peter Edwards, A Nation at War 1996: Tim Flannery, Roger Martin and Alexandra Szalay, Illustrator Peter Schouten, Tree Kangaroos 1995: Judy Cassab, Diaries 1994: Patrick Buckridge, The Scandalous Penton: A Biography of Brian Penton 1993: Cassandra Pybus, Gross Moral Turpitude: The Orr Case Reconsidered 1992: Ruth Park, A Fence Around the Cuckoo 1991: Joan Dugdale, Struggle of Memory 1990: Roland Griffiths-Marsh, Sixpenny Soldier
1980s 1989: Chris Symons, John Bishop: A Life for Music 1988: Peter Carey, Oscar and Lucinda 1987: Nancy Phelan, Home Is the Sailor and the Best of Intentions 1986: Fr Tom Boland, James Duhig 1985: John Gunn, The Defeat of Distance: Qantas 1919-1939 1984: Alan Gould, The Man Who Stayed Below 1983: Dudley McCarthy, Gallipoli to the Somme 1982: Geoffrey Serle, John Monash: A Biography 1981: Gavin Souter, A Company of Heralds 1980: Allan Grocott, Convicts, Clergymen and Churches
1970s 1979: Thea Astley, Hunting the Wild Pineapple 1978: Leslie Rees, History of Australian Drama 1977: Alan Marshall, The Complete Stories of Alan Marshall 1976: Gavin Souter, Lion and Kangaroo 1975: Denis Murphy, TJ Ryan 1974: David Malouf, Neighbours in a Thicket : Poems 1973: Dorothy Green, Ulysses Bound: Henry Handel Richardson and Her Fiction 1972: Sir Keith Hancock, Discovering Monaro 1971: Geoffrey Serle, The Rush to Be Rich 1970: Margaret Lawrie, Myths and Legends of Torres Strait
1960s 1969: Francis Webb, Collected Poems 1968: Gavin Souter, A Peculiar People 1967: Douglas Stewart, Collected Poems 1936–1967
Shortlisted works
2020s
+The Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary Award shortlistsYearAuthorTitleResultRef.2024Trent DaltonLola in the MirrorShortlistedAisha Dow and Melissa CunninghamLife as We Knew It: the Extraordinary Story of Australia's PandemicKate GrenvilleRestless Dolly MaunderRebecca LimTwo Sparrowhawks in a Lonely SkyAmanda LohreyThe ConversationRachelle UnreichA Brilliant LifeAlexis WrightPraiseworthyMelissa LucashenkoEdenglassieWinnerBradley ChristmasSaltwater BoyLonglistedSally HepworthDarling GirlsRed Room PoetryA Line in the Sand: 20 years of Red Room PoetryAllison TaitThe First Summer of Callie McGeeEllen van NeervenPersonal ScoreSally YoungMedia Monsters: the Transformation of Australia's Newspaper Empires2025 Garry Disher SanctuaryShortlisted Jane Godwin Look Me in the Eye Gail Jones One Another Leah Kaminsky Disorders of the Blood Khin Myint Fragile CreaturesWinner Lainie Anderson The Death of Dora Black Longlisted Robbie ArnottDusk Danielle Binks Six Summers of Tash Leopold Darren McCullum The Wobbly Bike John Wayne Parr The Fighter2026Evelyn AraluenThe RotShortlistedAaron Fa'Aoso & Michelle Scott Tucker with Lyn WhiteSpirit of the CrocodileGlen Farmer IllortaminniTiwi in ParisNatalie HarkinApron-Sorrow / Sovereign-TeaRaaza JamshedWhat Kept You?Hannah KentAlways Home, Always Homesick: A MemoirTony BirchPictures of YouLonglistedNicole CroweThe WashupGarry DisherMischance CreekMegan Morais, Lucy Nampijinpa Martin, Peggy Nampijinpa Martin, Marilyn Nampijinpa Martin, Leah Nampijinpa Martin, Helen Napurrurla Morton, Janet Nakamarra Long, Maisie Napaljarri Kitson, Maureen Nampijinpa O’Keefe, Clarrie Kemarr Long, Jeannie Nampijinpa Presley, Marjorie Nampijinpa Brown, Selina Napanangka Williams, Myfany TurpinYawulyu: Art and Song in Warlpiri Women’s CeremonyOmar MusaFiercelandLeonie Norrington, Merrkiyawuy Ganambarr-Stubbs, Djawa Burarrwanga and Djawundil MaymuruA Piece of Red ClothJosephine RoweLittle WorldGrace YeeJoss: a History
References
External links