In partnership with the Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards, Magabala Books is delighted to announce the Daisy Utemorrah Award shortlist:

• ‘Our Matriarchs Matter’ - Teela May Reid

• ‘18 Comments’ - Ellen van Neerven

• ‘Swell’ - Elizabeth Stuart

• ‘Yenda’ - Jannali Jones

• ‘Noble Intentions’ - Krista Dunstan

Congratulations to these writers!

The Daisy Utemorrah Award for unpublished junior and Young Adult writing recognises excellence and seeks to grow Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writing for younger readers. Launched as part of the WA Premier’s Book Awards, this national award is open to Australian Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander writers of junior and YA fiction. 

The five manuscripts were selected from an impressive pool of entries which included both emerging writers and award-winning authors. Judges were impressed by the strength and diversity of entries to this year's award.

See the complete WA Premier's Award's shortlist here.

The winner of the Daisy Utemorrah Award will be announced in early August at the Premier’s Book Awards at the State Library of Western Australia and online. The winner receives $15,000 prize money and a publishing contract with Magabala Books. 

The award is named in honour of the late Daisy Utemorrah, who was an elder of the Wunambal people from the Mitchell Plateau area in the far north Kimberley, and one of the founding Elder's of Magabala Books. Utemorrah was an award-winning poet, author, community leader and passionate educator.

The Daisy Utemorrah Award is generously supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund and the State Government of Western of Australia.