To coincide with The University of Western Australia Publishing's 90th anniversary in 2025, UWA Publishing announces the establishment of a new national children's fiction manuscript prize.
Retired primary school teacher and philanthropist Gail Spiers first became enamoured with children's literature during her studies in Reading Education as a mature age student. Thereafter, the promotion of quality Australian children's literature and their creators became the focus of her career as a primary school teacher and her life, as a decades-long volunteer with the Children's Book Council of Australia WA Branch.
Made possible by her generous monetary endowment to UWA Publishing, The Spiers Prize, created in her honour, will be open and awarded annually to Australian writers of middle grade and young adult fiction.
Spiers says, "it's a great thrill to be able to support talented authors of middle grade and young adult fiction into the future through The Spiers Prize."
The inaugural judges for the prize are Gail Spiers, Kate Pickard (publishing manager of UWA), Sally Murphy OAM (children's author, poet and academic) and Danielle Binks (writer and literary agent). Each are proud to be part of a publishing initiative dedicated to children and youth, and one which forges new opportunities for new and emerging authors of these readerships.
Fresh off two CBCA 2025 Notables nods, Pickard elaborates, "UWA Publishing have recently re-entered the exciting world of children's and young adult publishing. We have been sharing stories with the world since 1935 and believe that children deserve interesting, educational and beautiful books. We intend to publish books that have a grounding in research and education, whether that is through the subject matter or the work of the author. We hope to foster and deepen children's love of reading by bringing them stories they want to read and showcasing unique voices from around Australia."
The annual winner will be offered a publishing contract with UWA Publishing and a cash prize of $5,000. Submissions for the Prize will open at 10am AWST 1 May 2025 and will close at 11.59pm AWST 31 May 2025.
