Every second year, members are invited to submit books published over the previous two years. Separate awards are given for fiction, non-fiction, poetry and children’s books. Two Children’s Book Awards are given – one for a book for younger readers, and one for an adolescent/young adult book.
The next SWW Book Awards for Members of the Society of Women Writers NSW will be held in 2026, for books published between 1 July 2024 and 30 June 2026.
2024
FICTION - judged by Marcelle Freiman
Winner - Sally Colin-James ♦ One Illumined Thread
Highly commended - Anne Maria Nicholson ♦ Poker Protocol
Highly commended - Susan Steggall ♦ To Carve Identity
Commended - Pamela Rushby ♦ Those Girls
Judge's Report - Marcelle Freiman
Twelve books of fiction were submitted for this award. I applied the following criteria of literary writing in my assessment: the successful creation of imaginative fictional worlds and characters, even if the genre is based on research and/or the writer’s experience; control of narrative form and structure including: managing the scope of the entire project; character point of view; creating an engaging fictional world; management of pacing and time frames; appropriate use of dialogue and scene building; and the overall quality and creativity of the writing. The submitted entries achieved these criteria to different degrees.
I honour the obvious care and passion all these writers bring to their writing, however a number of the entries that were self-published (not difficult to achieve now) were somewhat let down by less than careful editing and structuring. I suggest investing in professional editing if you want to self-publish. Other books teetered somewhat between fiction and non-fiction, not quite making that necessary leap into imaginative fiction even if it is to be grounded in research, personal experience and realistic style.
The commended novel (Those Girls by Pamela Rushby) is indeed commendable for its engaging integration of historical research about the wartime experiences of young women serving in Australia’s Land Army during WWII.
The two (quite different) highly commended titles (Poker Protocol by Anne Maria Nicholson and To Carve Identity by Susan Steggall) each offered very engaging works of narrative fiction, their compelling, well-developed characters and interesting worlds making them hard to put down.
The extraordinary ambition and imaginative achievement of the winning novel One Illumined Thread by Sally Colin-James is to be congratulated. Here, extensive research is integrated into a complex structure across different historical time frames, weaving three parallel narratives linked via poetic motifs, parallel narrative events, and the deep significance of artistic creativity and its work for women in three different cultures and historical times. An utterly engrossing work of fiction!
NON-FICTION - judged by Carmel Bendon
Joint Winner - Katia Ariel ♦ the swift dark tide
Joint Winner - Deborah Fitzgerald ♦ Her Sunburnt Country: The Extraordinary Literary Life of Dorothea Mackellar
Highly commended - Gwen Bitti ♦ Between Two Worlds
Judge's Report - Carmel Bendon
Non-fiction is, in its most basic definition, a ‘true story, well told’. This means it covers a myriad of sub-genres including history, art, sport, travel, nature, spirituality, memoir, biography, to name a few. As it happened, this year’s Book Award submissions all came under the sub-genres of biography, history or memoir. Within the memoir area, travel experiences, family history and personal challenges featured strongly.
All submissions satisfied the ‘true story, well told’ dictum and I congratulate every author, especially those who made the Shortlist. Of course, many criteria must come into play when judging and, for travel memoir, I looked for a personal, emotive thread woven through engaging descriptions of destinations. Sally Anne Smith’s Repacking for Greece melds absorbing personal experience with tantalising descriptions of some well-known and less well-known Grecian destinations (and all the more impressive because this book is the second in Smith’s Greek odyssey series). Eva Rottenanger’s Going Solo. A Travel Memoir in Search of Meaning, Belonging and Identity blends the personal with historical and social details of destinations. For biographies I considered depth of research and the extent to which the author convinced of wide-ranging knowledge of, and (derivative) deep insights into her subject as well as the degree to which the material and writing style engaged the reader’s interest and emotions, and evoked the world in which the subject lived. For family-focused and personal memoir I looked for otherness, for moments of surprise and the unexpected, expressions of deep emotions balanced occasionally with lighter (even humorous) incidents; I sought vibrancy and vividness of experience, and the brave revelations of desires, vulnerabilities, joys and struggles.
Three books ticked these criteria, and more, for me. Gwen Bitti’s memoir Between Two Worlds is a journey into modern-day India as a window to the author’s fascinating early life there as part of an Anglo-Indian family and their fraught migration to Australia; and it’s a search for a way to reconcile two very different identities – Indian and Australian – all skilfully interwoven with the author’s personal spiritual (other-worldly) experience juxtaposed with the staunch faith of her beloved parents.
Deborah Fitzgerald’s Her Sunburnt Country. The Extraordinary Literary Life of Dorothea MacKeller is a thoroughly researched biography, enhanced by the author’s full access to, and inclusion of, details of the poet’s diaries, giving readers new insights into MacKellar’s literary and personal life and into the literary life of Sydney (and beyond) in the earlier years of the 20th century.
Katia Ariel’s The Swift Dark Tide is an exceptionally honest, exquisitely written story of the author’s love affair with another women, this affair subsequently precipitating the collapse of her (heterosexual) marriage. This story of Ariel’s coming to embrace her gayness is set against the background of a powerful family history that has its roots in Odessa and the Soviet Union of the mid-20th century, and of the author’s love and dedication to her family – husband included – as she negotiates her move to a new identity. It is a memoir, a love story, a family story, a coming to identity story which is specific to the author and yet speaks to the love and life of families across generations.
I have not awarded a Commended prize but I am pleased to award Highly Commended to Gwen Bitti for Between Two Worlds.
And I am pleased to award joint Winner of this year’s Book Awards to Deborah Fitzgerald for Her Sunburnt Country. The Extraordinary Literary Life of Dorothea MacKeller and to Katia Ariel for The Swift Dark Tide.
POETRY - judged by Magdalena Ball
Winner - Natalie Cooke ♦ Wrestling with Bees
Highly commended - Gayelene Carbis ♦ I Have Decided to Remain Vertical
Highly commended - Denise O’Hagan ♦ Anamnesis
Commended - Anne Casey ♦ Some Days the Bird
Judge's Report - Magdalena Ball
The 16 submitted books covered a broad spectrum, from chapbooks, travelogues, tanka, and visual beauties.
The winning book, Nathalie Cooke’s Wrestling with Bees, is a sophisticated collection combining striking nature imagery that goes beyond anthropomorphism to explore a nature as sentient as any human. Careful attention to the sounds, structure and line breaks creates a rich work which ends with a lovely section called 'Leaf Litter', poignant reminders of the vastness of the natural world when we look closely.
The two highly commended titles were Gayelene Carbis’ I Have Decided to Remain Vertical and Denise O’Hagan’s Anamnesis. What both books had in common was a mastery of language, taking the verse memoir to a new level. I Have Decided to Remain Vertical has a prosaic contour as it explores families, illness, love and heartbreak but the work often moves along the plane of dreams at the level of the subconscious. The surreal and the humorous are always present.
Anamnesis is a book that engages with notions of memory in sensual language and unique, moving imagery that transforms moments of recollection into something alive and present. This is a book that explores what language is able to create.
Some Days the Bird by Anne Casey and Heather Bourbeau explored the collusion between two private and very different lives through Covid lockdowns. The book reminds us that we are always connected even we feel most isolated.
The two other shortlisted books, Tuesdays Child is Full of Grace by PS Cottier and Banana Girl by Paris Rosemont were both delightful, richly varied in styles, and not afraid to stretch language into new forms that are fresh and even fun.
Congratulations to everyone who submitted. It was a delight to immerse myself in this work. Taken collectively, the books tell a beautiful and powerful story of life and love against a backdrop of femininity in all of its varied shapes and forms, and reading the books was a great privilege.
CHILDREN & YOUNG ADULT - judged by Cathie Tasker
Winner - Pamela Rushby ♦ The Mud Puddlers
Highly commended - Julie Thorndyke ♦ Alice’s Shoe
Commended - Karen Hendriks ♦ Our Shellharbour
Judge's Report - Cathie Tasker
Thank you for inviting me to judge your literary award. I am delighted to be the judge for the Children’s and Young Adults Award.
I am very sorry I can’t be there in person to present this award, but I am recovering from an auto-immune disease and am immuno-compromised. I hope you’ll have a wonderful event.
It’s always exciting to see new works of fiction. In this case, a mix of picture books and a novel. The picture book topics were interesting and varied, and one book of poems beautifully illustrated.
A good book has a beginning, middle and an end, so I was looking for narrative, which meant that as much as I loved the book of poetry, it did not fit that criteria. Having a cohesive narrative also gives novels an advantage as they have more narrative, although I believe that an exceptional picture book can have more literary merit than many novels.
The production values overall were very high quality, even those which were not published by a major publisher.
It was a bunch of very appealing books.
Commended: Our Shellharbour, by Karen Hendriks
This picture book is a celebration of the landscape and seascape around Shellharbour. Features an author’s note about the history of the area, and explores how the different areas were named, as well as their best features.
The two children journey along the coast, from the mountains to the sea. They bike down and run along the sand and they snorkel, swim and play in the water.
A visual feast. Congratulations to the author and illustrator.
Highly commended: Alice's Shoe, by Julie Thorndyke
An issues book. This book is well-researched, and cleverly written with a lot of sensory information. We gain an insight into the kind of life Alice lives without her sight or hearing.
This is the story of Alice Betteridge’s life until the age of 7. She was born in Sawyers Gully in the Hunter Valley. She catches a fever and emerges as deaf and blind. We share her sensory world as she adjusts to her new life. Then she goes to school where she meets Miss Reid who teaches her to sign and to navigate her new world. Congratulations to the author and illustrator.
Winner: The Mud Puddlers, by Pamela Rushby
This is a time-travel upper middle grade novel.
Research is always crucial when you are writing an historical novel, and both the present-day mudpuddling and the wartime London are well-researched. We learn about the suffragette movement, witch trials, and Nina’s main adventure, being evacuated from London to Wales during the Blitz of WW2.
Nina experiences visions of the various owners whose items she finds in the mud. This gives her a deep understanding of the lives of historical people. Their everyday life and their adventures. As she slips through time, each experience becomes more dangerous and she grows in understanding of the world and of human interaction. Her growth as a character is one of the strengths of the book.
Pamela Rushby has also created a strong sense of place — life on the barges in the river and in historical Britain. And also of the realities of everyday life — from Nina’s online international school to life on the edges of the city and the realism of the historical settings.
Congratulations to Pamela Rushby.
2022
FICTION - judged by Margaret Wick
Winner - Kelly Van Nelson ♦ The Pinstripe Prisoner
Highly commended - Susan Steggall ♦ The Heritage You Leave Behind
Highly commended - Maureene Fries ♦ Stones. Bones and Hollyhocks
Commended - Helen Lyne ♦ Love, Disappointment and Other Joys of Life
Judge's Report - Margaret Wick
There were 15 books by 12 authors submitted in the Society’s Fiction category. All showed evidence of relevant and detailed research on a diversity of subjects. Stories crossed the globe, and the time settings ranged from the preChristian era to the present day. Many of them were able to transfer the minutiae of everyday life into life changing and life affirming stories that made for compelling reading.
I never cease to be amazed at what a writer can do with the basic story writing framework of a beginning, a middle and an end that pivot on theme, character and plot development.
Choosing a winner is never easy. I know it is a cliche to say of all entrants that they are winners, and in many ways this can be true. My “Reading Eye“ criteria considered these components:
- consistent engagement of the reader
- depth of character and plot development and their sustained development throughout the narrative
- the writer’s stated intent/purpose is identified, and achieved in prose that does not ramble.
A real pleasure among the entries was the re-discovery of the Short Story, a format by its very nature that demands precision and economy of language. The four collections did not disappoint. The flaws and foibles of human nature were presented undisguised, and at times, celebrated. There was plenty of social commentary on a wide range of topics - youth, old age (and the process of getting there), sex, racism, murder, justice and retribution to name some.
It has been a pleasure sharing the creative talents of capable women writers.
NON-FICTION - judged by Sybil Jack
Winner - Christine Sykes ♦ Gough and Me
Highly commended - Valerie Clifford ♦ Fijian Shadows
Highly commended - Jan Conway ♦ Skimming the Surface – Expats in Kiribati
Commended - Kate Forsyth & Belinda Murrell ♦ Searching For Charlotte
Judge's Report - Sybil Jack
Non-fiction potentially covers a wide range of writing except for the study of the dance school Randells, which was a key rendezvous for mid c20th century teenagers. These twelve books are primarily addressed to that ‘art of the impossible’, biography or autobiography. All are interesting because they have distinctively different approaches to the genre, most avoiding the established conventional approach and studying the individual life story from a variety of unfamiliar angles not all of them psychological or chronological. They compare favourably with studies that have won the National Biography awards. They fit into recent professional critical debate about the role of the idea of public and private and the subject’s context and persona in biographical writing. For instance, Jessica North’s Mary Ann and Capt Piper raises issues of the nature or necessity of truth in biography when there is little historical material while Carmel Bendon attempts to make the ideas of medieval mystics relevant and creative to the 21st century by setting her medieval mystics in a modern social gathering. In one work which illustrates how many others were structured Kate Forsyth and Belinda Murrell demonstrate the steps that lie behind a biography’s composition. A work in verse on Olive Pink is uncommon in presentation although familiar in approach.
The autobiographies which are addressed to the ways in which personal identity is formed, revealed or endured by travel (Painters, Philosophers and Poets) or interaction with the living and the dead are varied. Half are focussed on the nature of the individual caught up in an unusual and difficult social situation such as Another Love, presenting a multiple marriage. The others relate to a more common cultural experience, particularly a medical academic story, Breaking through the Pain Barrier.
In selecting a winning title, I was guided by a mental list of innovative approaches likely to result in a novel presentation which would provide a previously unconsidered but persuasive interpretation. My winning title Gough and me employed a remarkable interrelationship of the public political and the private individual experience to produce an unexpected insight into how the culture of Australia was altered in the mid-twentieth century at several interlocking levels. Less unusual but distinctive, I would rate second and Highly Commended Fijian Shadows where the analytic method revealed the course of the hesitant growth of the political understanding of an outsider unexpectedly involved in the racial offensives underlying the 2000 Fijian coup. This is paralleled by my second Highly Commended Skimming the Surface where the ex-pat life is set against the complicated anthropology of different tribes in Kiribati still surviving from the days when Arthur Grimble was a colonial administrator of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. Finally I would commend Searching For Charlotte for its thorough explanations of historical process.
POETRY- judged by Carmel Bendon
Winner - Pip Griffin ♦ Virginia and Katherine, the Secret Diaries
Highly commended - Anne Casey ♦ the light we cannot see
Highly commended - Colleen Keating ♦ Olive Muriel Pink. Her radical and idealistic life. A poetic journey
Commended - Denise O’Hagan ♦ The Beating Heart
Judge's Report - Carmel Bendon
There were fifteen entries, many of which focused on contemporary issues: Covid, climate change, violence against women, nature, relationships. Biographical poems – both imagined and factually-based – also featured.
Poetry is that unique combination of form (cadence, rhythm, sound, visual shape on the page) and content (subject matter, images, emotions), enlivened by a poet’s creativity. It is the paring down of human experience to carefully chosen, evocative words, phrases, lines, to produce something that is new and yet profoundly familiar, and emotionally resonant. All entries found an intellectual response in me but not all resonated on an emotional level.
The shortlisted works exhibited this balance of form, content, creativity, and emotion. They were works that stayed with me, long after the books were closed.
Anne Casey’s Portrait of a Woman Walking Home is a journey through womanhood, a portrait of all women, in its astute and moving engagement with the experiences of every woman: love, death, grief, sexual abuse, new life, hope.
Anne Casey’s the light we cannot see is a wide-ranging reflection on the human condition and the state of our planet. Loss, Covid, separation from homeland, nature, birth, are intermingled with the vibrant shadow of what lies beyond life. In perfectly structured forms, Casey achieves a mystical evocation of that ‘light we cannot see’ but can sense in our hearts.
Antonette M Diorio’s Attachments takes the ordinary attachments of life and shines new light on them by means of vivid images, strong and authentic emotions, and poetic lines that are clear and true.
Virginia & Katherine. The Secret Diaries by Pip Griffin takes imagined diary entries of Virginia Woolfe and Katherine Mansfield to put the women in an intriguing ‘conversation’. Based on thorough research and Griffin’s own profound insights into these two great authors, this multi-layered and skilfully crafted work is vibrant, poignant and, at times, erotic in its content.
Colleen’s Keating’s Olive Muriel Pink: Her radical and idealistic life. A poetic journey transforms meticulous research into vivid images and crisp, engaging writing, to bring to light an extraordinary pioneering Australian woman’s life and achievements in this substantial biographical poem.
Denise O’Hagan’s The Beating Heart is a beautifully observed evocation of time, place, memory, exquisite and painful moments of a life, and of poetry itself. There is variety in the poems but all share rich imagery and perfectly structured lines that enable O’Hagan to touch the ‘beating heart’ in all of us.
CHILDREN & YOUNG ADULT - judged by Gail Erskine
SPONSORED BY CHRISTMAS PRESS
Winner - Libby Hathorn & Lisa Hathorn Jarman ♦ No! Never! A cautionary tale
Highly commended - Libby Hathorn ♦ The Best Cat the Est Cat
Highly commended - Pamela Rushby ♦ The Mummy Smugglers of Crumblin’ Castle
Judge's Report - Gail Erskine
A small number of books were submitted for judging, hence the reason I have shortlisted four titles, with one winner and two highly commended.
Those submitted spread across many genres - contemporary life, historical fiction, fantasy, adventure stories and speculative fiction. All were stories worth telling, especially those telling stories from our past. Some of these books featured young characters with whom the reader could identify. War stories that relate to the author’s own family are told in a relatable way. The fantasy books transported the reader to another world which seemed real and magical. Realistic stories included the tender story of a boy missing his dead mother and how his father cares for him and an independent young girl learning her place in the world.
Cover and design are important components in ensuring the book jumps into the reader’s hands. Most books scored highly in this criteria, however no imprint page and poor paper quality was noted. Interesting end papers added to the picture books while maps and additional historical facts supported some middle grade stories.
Above all an authentic voice which was consistent, together with rich language were critical to my choices. Additionally I believe the chosen books are ones which our children would enjoy reading.
2020
The Society's Members Book Awards ceremony was held on 10 February 2021, delayed because of COVID until we could all meet in person back in the Dixson Room at the State Library.
We congratulate everyone who entered, especially the Commended, Highly Commended and Winners, as listed below, and offer our sincere thanks to the judges for their hard work and heart-felt comments.
POETRY - judged by Margaret Bradstock
Winner: Colleen Keating ◊ Hildegard of Bingen
Highly Commended: Pip Griffin ◊ Margaret Caro
Highly Commended: Colleen Keating ◊ Desert Patterns
Commended: Tricia Dearborn ◊ Autobiochemistry
FICTION - judged by Carolyn Beaumont
Winner: Christine Sykes ◊ The Changing Room
Highly Commended: Diane Armstrong ◊ The Collaborator
Highly Commended: Carmel Bendon ◊ Grasping at Water
Commended: Cindy Broadbent ◊ The Revolutionary's Cousin
NON-FICTION - judged by Judith O'Connor
Winner: Colleen Keating ◊ Hildegard of Bingen
Highly Commended: Jo Oliver ◊ Jessie Traill - a Biography
Highly Commended: Annabet Ousback ◊ Red Herrings for Breakfast
Commended: Jessica North ◊ Esther
CHILDREN- judged by Paul McDonald
Winner: Libby Hathorn ◊ Miss Franklin
Highly Commended: Georgina Donaghey ◊ In the Shadow of an Elephant
Highly Commended: Susanne Gervay ◊ The Boy in the Blue Glasses
YOUNG ADULT - judged by Paul McDonald
No prizes awarded.
2018
NON-FICTION
- Winner: Carolinda Witt ◊ Double Agent Celery: MI5's Crooked Hero
FICTION
- Winner: Pippa Kay ◊ Keeping It In The Family
- Highly Commended: Sue Woolfe ◊ Do You Love Me Or What?
- Highly Commended: Melissa Bruce ◊ Picnic at Mount Disappointment
- Commended: Carol Chandler ◊ Black Mountain
POETRY
- Winner: Susan Fealy ◊ Flute of Milk
- Highly Commended: Beverley George ◊ Only In Silence
- Highly Commended: Colleen Keating ◊ Fire on Water
- Commended: Kathryn Fry ◊ Green Point Bearings
YOUNG ADULTS
- Winner: Helen Thurloe ◊ Promising Azra
- Commended: Rosalind Sharbanee Meyer ◊ Angel Magic
CHILDREN - Hilarie Lindsay Children's Book Award
- Winner: Pamela Rushby ◊ Lizzie and Margaret Rose
- Highly Commended: Libby Hathorn ◊ Butterfly, We're Expecting You
- Highly Commended: Michelle Worthington ◊ World's Worst Pirate
- Commended: Pamela Rushby ◊ Princess Parsley
2016
NON-FICTION
- First Prize: Rosalind Meyer ◊ Rosie's War
- Second Prize: Susan P Ramage ◊ Kokoda Secret: Ian Hutchison, Australian Hero
- Third Prize: Sue Castrique ◊ Under the Colony's Eye
- Highly Commended: Ann Howard ◊ You'll be sorry. How World War II changed women's lives
FICTION
- First Prize: Libby Sommer ◊ My Year With Sammy
- Second Prize: Johanna Nicholls ◊ Golden Hope
- Third Prize: Isolde Martyn ◊ The Golden Widows
- Highly Commended: Johanna Nicholls ◊ The Lace Balcony
POETRY
- First Prize: Cynthia Rowe ◊ Floating Nest
- Second Prize: Karen Throssell ◊ Motherhood Statement
- Equal Third Prize:
- Marilyn Peck ◊ A Girl in the River
- Colleen Keating ◊ A Call to Listen
YOUNG ADULTS
- First Prize: Pamela Rushby ◊ The Ratcatcher’s Daughter
- Second Prize: Pamela Rushby ◊ Flora’s War
- Third Prize: Libby Hathorn ◊ Eventual Poppy Day
CHILDREN:
- First Prize: Susanne Gervay ◊ Being Jack
- Second Prize: Libby Hathorn ◊ Outside (illustrated by Ritva Voutila)
- Third Prize: Libby Hathorn ◊ IncredibilIia (illustrated by Gaye Chapman)
2013
NON-FICTION
- Equal First Prize:
Carol Baxter ◊ Captain Thunderbolt & His Lady
Dr Susan Steggall ◊ A Most Generous Scholar - Third Prize: Clio Calodoukas ◊ All Roads Lead to Shanghai
- Highly Commended: Heather Bird ◊ I Hear You
- Highly Commended: Colleen O’Sullivan ◊ Once A Day Dawn
JUNIOR FICTION
- First Prize: Felicity Pulman ◊ A Ring Through Time
- Second Prize: Susanne Gervay ◊ Ships In The Field
- Third Prize: Libby Hathorn ◊ A Boy Like Me
POETRY
- First Prize: Yve Louis ◊ A Door In The Forest
- Second Prize: Dr Penelope Cottier ◊ The Cancellation of Clouds
- Third Prize: Brenda Saunders ◊ Looking for Bullin Bullin
2011
NON-FICTION
- First Prize: Lindsay Lewis & Sharyn Killens ◊ The Inconvenient Child
- Second Prize: Dr Maria Hill ◊ Diggers & Greeks
- Third Prize: Yvonne Louis ◊ A Brush with Mondrian)
- Highly Commended: Pam Bayfield ◊ Come with Me
- Highly Commended: Beverley Earnshaw ◊ Carss Park
FICTION
- First Prize: Mary-Ellen Mullane ◊ Once on a Road
- Highly Commended: P S (Penelope) Cottier ◊ A Quiet Day
- Commended: Dr Patricia Gaut ◊ Sympathetic Vibrations
JUNIOR FICTION
- First Prize: Susanne Gervay ◊ Always Jack
- Second Prize: Cynthia Rowe ◊ Bad Grass
- Third Prize: Libby Hathorn ◊ I Love You Book
- Highly Commended: Wendy Blaxland ◊ I Can Cook – series
POETRY
- First Prize: Winifred Weir ◊ Walking on Ashes
- Highly Commended: Carolyn Gerrish ◊ The View from the Moon
- Commended: Libby Hathorn ◊ Vietnam Reflections