Two awards that in previous years were announced at the same time as the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards were not awarded at last night’s dinner, but they will continue to be awarded in slightly different contexts. The next biennial prize for Indigenous Writing will return next year and be announced to coincide with the Wheeler Centre’s opening Gala event on 11 February 2012. The annual prize for an Unpublished Manuscript is resting this year but will return to coincide with the Emerging Writers' Festival in 2012.
Last year, as part of the prize in the Unpublished Manuscript category, the Wheeler Centre announced fellowships for each of the three shortlisted authors, with a space to work on those manuscripts in the Wheeler Centre and an allowance for the two shortlisted authors who didn’t take home the prize. The Wheeler Centre Fellows were Peggy Frew, Michelle Aung Thin and Andrew Nette.
Those fellowships were made possible through the generous assistance of the Readings Foundation, which has expanded its support into 2012. Last night, Wheeler Centre director Chrissy Sharp announced the introduction of 20 Wheeler Centre Writers' Fellowships over the next twelve months.
Each fellowship, available to both published and unpublished writers, will offer two months' use of a desk at the Wheeler Centre, along with a stipend of $1000 to support them during that period. Details about the application process for these fellowships will be published on this website soon.