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Daisy Utemorrah Award

The Daisy Utemorrah Award is NOW CLOSED. 

The Daisy Utemorrah Award is for an unpublished manuscript of junior or YA fiction by a First Nations author. The 2024 Daisy Utemorrah Award is open to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people currently living in Australia.

The winner of the award receives $15,000 and a publishing contract with Magabala Books. 

Eligibility
Applicants must be:
  • An Aboriginal person and/or Torres Strait Islander person;
  • Living in Australia;
  • Over 18 years of age or provide consent from a parent or guardian to enter;
  • Not have previously won the Daisy Utemorrah Award;
  • Co-authored manuscripts are eligible, but authors must comply with Magabala’s publishing eligibility criteria.
The submitted manuscript must be:
  • An original work;
  • Manuscripts must be within the category of Junior or Young Adult fiction, that is: fictional works specifically aimed at readers aged between 8 – 18 (Children's picture books are ineligible);
  • Unpublished – this means that the manuscript cannot have been previously published, or self-published, with an ISBN in print or electronic form (publication of up to 10 per cent of the manuscript will be accepted);
  • The manuscript must not be currently entered in other writing competitions, or under submission to a publisher, or subject to contractual negotiations;
  • Eligible manuscripts may be in English, Aboriginal English, an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander language, or a combination of these, including a bilingual text.

Complete the entry form and email with your manuscript as a Word document or PDF attachment to Magabala Books at projects@magabala.com 

Your email subject line should read: Daisy Utemorrah Award entry.
A copy of your confirmation of identity must also be attached to the email.

The Daisy Utemorrah Award is proudly presented as part of the Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards. Launched in 2018, this national award recognises excellence in junior and YA fiction and seeks to grow Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writing for young readers.

‘Our young people need stories... They need stories that speak of how to get through tough times, and stories that celebrate who they are and who they can be. The Daisy Utemorrah Award is an incredible opportunity for a First Nations voice to speak, and the story they will tell will help to nurture the next generation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander storytellers.’ – Ambelin Kwaymullina, Daisy Utemorrah Award judge.

Magabala Books acknowledges the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund and the WA State Government for their generous support of this award.

2024 Award Winners

Pictured: Linda Wells and Marly Wells at the WA Premier's Book Awards ceremony at the State Library of WA. 

 

Magabala Books would like to extend the warmest congratulations to Marly Wells and Linda Wells, the winner of the 2024 Daisy Utemorrah Award for their unpublished manuscript, Dusty Tracks. 

Marly Wells is a proud Warlpiri woman who grew up in Alice Springs. She completed a Batchelor of Arts at Melbourne University with majors in Sociology and Indigenous Studies. Marly has worked as a freelance editor and researcher for Hardie Grant. She co-wrote a children’s book for the Girls Can Boys Can project in Alice Springs and co-wrote an article for the Saturday Paper about the killing of Kumenjayi Walker at Yuendumu. 

In an emotional acceptance speech, Marly and Linda said:

'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. Dusty Tracks is a story for Mparntwe (Alice Springs), a place we know and love.'

2023 Award Winner

Pictured: Hon David Templeman, Jared Thomas, Magabala Director Edith Wright, State Library of Western Australia CEO Catherine Clark at the WA Premier's Book Awards ceremony at the State Library of WA. 


Magabala Books would like to extend the warmest congratulations to Jared Thomas, the winner of the 2023 Daisy Utemorrah Award for his unpublished manuscript, Uncle Xbox (book 2) - Getting Dusty.

Dr Jared Thomas is a Nukunu person of the Southern Flinders Ranges and the Research Fellow Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Material Culture and Art at the South Australian Museum and the University of South Australia. His novel Calypso Summer (Magabala Books, 2015) joined the 2015 International Youth Library White Raven list of books that deserve worldwide attention because of their universal themes and exceptional artistic and literary style.

In awarding the prize the judges said:

‘Getting Dusty is a middle grade story with a relatable young character, Dusty, whose culture, family, and in particular his Uncle teach and guide him through life – especially when Dusty throws a punch he shouldn’t have! The story of Dusty and his Uncle Xbox lingers long in your mind after reading.'

2022 Award Winner

Pictured: Mariah Sweetman with her Daisy Utemorrah Award at the WA Premier's Book Awards ceremony at the State Library of WA. 

We congratulate Mariah Sweetman, the 2022 winner of the Daisy Utemorrah Award for her manuscript 'Robert Runs'.

Mariah Sweetman is a Ugarapul woman living and creating on Gubbi Gubbi land with her husband and dog. She loves to create with words and paint in response to connection to culture. Professionally, Mariah is an English teacher in Gubbi Gubbi Country and is passionate about young people engaging with true Indigenous histories and stories.

In an emotional acceptance speech. Mariah Sweetman said:

"A huge thank you to Magabala Books. Most importantly I thank my Ugarapul family back home. Thank you so much for your stories, and I just pray that I honour you with this story I've told."

Magabala Books published Mariah's award-winning manuscript 'Robert Runs' in 2023.

2021 Award Winner

Pictured: Carl Merrison and Hakea Hustler accepting the Daisy Utemorrah Award via video-link at the WA Premier's Book Awards ceremony at the State Library of WA. 

Carl Merrison and Hakea Hustler were awarded the 2021 Daisy Utemorrah Award at the Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards for their junior fiction manuscript ‘Dirran’, a moving sequel to their award-winning book Black Cockatoo.

Carl Merrison is a respected Jaru/Kija man from Halls Creek in the Kimberley. He has worked for over ten years alongside Aboriginal youth as a mentor and coach - in education, AFL and community. Hakea Hustler is an experienced teacher who has taught around Australia, including Halls Creek. Together, Carl and Hakea are inspired to write about their shared experiences of the Kimberley, and their belief in the power of stories for learning and change.

On winning the award Carl and Hakea said:

‘Winning the Daisy Utemorrah Award through the State Library of Western Australia is a really proud moment. The reason we write is for the mob back home, and for our kids to learn to read. Thank you to my Elders back home, Shel Sweeney from A Worded Life, State Library of Western Australia and Create Agency, and obviously to Rachel and the Magabala team. We appreciate all you do to support and encourage us.' 

Magabala Books published Carl and Hakea's winning manuscript 'Dirran' in 2023. 

2020 Award Winner

Pictured: Teela May Reid accepting the Daisy Utemorrah Award via video link, presented by State Librarian and CEO, State Library of Western Australia, Margaret Allen and Magabala Director Steve Kinnane. 

Wiradjuri and Wailwan lawyer, activist and storyteller Teela May Reid was awarded the 2020 Daisy Utemorrah Award for her powerful work of junior fiction, 'Our Matriarchs Matter'.

Teela Reid is a proud Wiradjuri and Wailwan woman, lawyer and activist born and raised in Gilgandra western NSW. Teela is a co-founder of @blackfulla_bookclub on Instagram, a platform that honours First Nations Ancestors as the original storytellers and is currently a criminal defence lawyer based in Sydney. She is an advocate for abolishing systemic racism in the criminal justice process and a campaigner for the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

On winning the award Teela said:

‘I am deeply humbled to receive this award and to be collaborating with my niece Jakayla, the little Wiradjuri and Wailwan artist who will come through and illustrate this story with me.

 

‘My gratitude to our ancestors and to the matriarchs in our First Nations communities. They are the backbone of our communities and their stories need to be honoured and told. They are integral to our history and our survival and our existence.

 

‘I would also like to acknowledge and recognise Daisy Utemorrah. It was never my intention to submit a manuscript, but I had an urge and energy, thinking about her and her story, and thinking about the matriarchs in my life.’

Magabala Books will publish Teela's winning manuscript 'Our Matriarchs Matter' in 2021. 

2019 Award Winner

Pictured: the Hon. David Templeman, WA Minister for Local Government; Heritage; Culture and the Arts, with Kirli Saunders and Rachel Bin Salleh, Publisher Magabala Books.

In July 2019, Kirli Saunders was awarded the inaugural Daisy Utemorrah Award for her rhythmic junior verse-novel, 'Mother Speaks'.

Kirli Saunders is a proud Gunai woman, with ties to the Yuin, Gundungurra, Gadigal and Biripi people, and currently resides on Dharawal Country. She is an international children’s author, poet, emerging playwright and artist. Of her win Kirli said:

‘It is a real privilege to be the inaugural recipient of the Daisy Utemorrah Award and to follow in the footsteps of a powerful poet and educator who spoke her truth.’

The Award Judges, Ambelin Kwaymullina and Rachel Bin Salleh, were impressed with the high standard of entries for the award. Of Kirli’s winning work they said:

‘Mother Speaks is a lovely, lyrical exploration of the wisdom of the earth. The gentle rhythm of the verse speaks to the patterns and cycles of the nature, and every line holds deep meaning that can be revisited many times over – this a story that will delight adults and children alike.’

Magabala Books published Kirli’s winning manuscript, as Bindi in October 2020. With Bindi now published Kirli reflects that:

'The Daisy Utemorrah Awards gave me a space to create. I had the time to shape the story. It was a career highlight. Writing Bindi was soul work – being part of the conservation of Language and storytelling.'

Daisy Utemorrah

 

 

The award is named in honour of author and poet 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 Elders of Magabala Books. Born in 1922 at Kunmunya Mission, Daisy was an award-winning poet, author, community leader and passionate educator. Daisy’s poetry collection Do Not Go Around the Edges (illus by Pat Torres), published by Magabala Books in 1991, was shortlisted for the 1991 CBCA Book of the Year for Younger Readers, and won the 1992 Australian Multicultural Children’s Book Award.

Magabala is grateful to Daisy Utemorrah’s family who have given permission for us to honour her memory with this award.

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