Magabala Books presents the Daisy Utemorrah Award as part of the Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards in 2025.

Entries for the Daisy Utemorrah Award are now open.

The Daisy Utemorrah Award is presented annually for an outstanding unpublished manuscript of junior or YA fiction by an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander writer. Generously supported by the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund and the State Government of Western Australia, the winner receives a cash prize of $15,000 and a publishing contract with Magabala Books.

Published and unpublished First Nation writers of all ages are eligible to enter with works of junior or YA fiction. Full entry details and eligibility criteria can be found here.

Applications close on 16 April 2025.

The Daisy Utemorrah Award was launched in 2019. Gunai woman, Kirli Saunders, was the inaugural winner of the Daisy Utemorrah Award. Kirli’s winning junior verse-novel Bindi was published by Magabala in 2020.

'It's an honour and a privilege to get this opportunity to share our story with the world and be able to contribute to the representation of Indigenous voices telling First Nations stories. They are love stories to culture, people, and land - as well as a tool for fighting ignorance and prejudice. Desert Tracks is a story for Mparntwe (Alice Springs), a place we know and love.' – Marly and Linda Wells 2024 Daisy Utemorrah Award Winners

Other winners of the Daisy Utemorrah Award include Teela Reid, Carl Merrison and Hakea Hustler, Mariah Sweetman, Jared Thomas, Marly and Linda Wells.

This year Magabala published the 2023 Daisy Utemorrah Award winner's manuscript, Getting Dusty by Jared Thomas. 

The Daisy Utemorrah Award is part of Magabala’s growing suite of creative development opportunities for First Nation writers and illustrators and represents an ongoing commitment to writing for young people.

Daisy Utemorrah was an Elder of the Wunambal people from the Mitchell Plateau area in the far north Kimberley and one of the founders of Magabala Books. She was an award-winning poet, author, community leader and passionate educator. Daisy’s poetry collection Do Not Go Around the Edges (illustrated by Pat Torres) was published by Magabala Books in 1991. The Daisy Utemorrah Award is named in her honour.

For further information, contact Magabala Books: projects@magabala.com or call (08) 9192 1991.

Further information on the WA Premier’s Book Awards can be found through the State Library of Western Australia: https://slwa.wa.gov.au/about-us/western-australian-premiers-book-awards