Mark & Evette Moran Nib Literary Award

With a major prize of $40,000, the Mark & Evette Moran Nib Literary Award is Waverley Council’s annual celebration of the best in Australian research-based literature. Submissions are judged on high literary merit, quality research, readability and value to the community. Other prizes on offer include the Nib People’s Choice Prize ($4,000) and the Alex Buzo Shortlist Prize (6 x $1,500).

Latest news

Nominations for this year’s $40,000 Mark & Evette Moran Nib Literary Award have now closed.  A long list will be announced Monday 8 August.

Literary works of any genre first published between 1 July 2023 and 30 June 2024 are eligible for submission. For more information please refer to the 2024 Award Nomination GuidelinesThis external link will open in a new window.

2024 Judges announced

Waverley Council has announced this year’s panel of judges, each bring a wealth of experience to the task of choosing the w inner of the $40,000 Literary Award: Jamie Grant, Julia Carlomagno and Angela Meyer.

Sydney poet and anthologist Jamie Grant leads the judging panel for a final time in 2024 bringing a wealth of experience from across the book world including advertising, publishing, bookselling, teaching, proofreading, and in newspaper and magazine journalism. His latest book, Hallucination, is the tenth collection of his poetry.  Jamie has served as a judge since the award’s inception in 2002, contributing to the foundation, evolution and success of council’s literary award for over 22 years.

Melbourne based writer, lecturer and publishing professional Angela Meyer commenced as a Nib Award Judge in 2024. Angela has worked in the book industry for almost two decades, including as a bookseller, book journalist, Books+Publishing editor, commissioning editor and publisher, freelance editor, and author. She is currently a lecturer in the Masters of Writing and Publishing at RMIT. Her debut novel, A Superior Spectre, was shortlisted for an Aurealis Award, the MUD Literary Prize, an ABIA, the Readings Prize and a Saltire Literary Society Award. She is the author of a novella, Joan Smokes, which won the inaugural Mslexia Novella Award (UK), and a book of flash fiction, Captives. Her second novel, Moon Sugar, was released in October 2022. She has a Doctor of Creative Arts from the Writing and Society Research Group at Western Sydney University.

Melbourne based publisher and editor Julia Carlomagno joined the panel in 2023. Julia has been lucky to work with some of the country’s best writers at Houses including Monash University Publishing, Penguin, Macmillan, Scribe and Black Inc. She holds a degree in English Literature and a Master in Publishing and is the recipient of Australia’s two national editing awards, the Barbara Ramsden and the Rosie Award for Editorial Excellence. She taught editing at RMIT University for several years and has judged several other literary prizes.

Express your interest in becoming an award judge

Each year Waverley Council invites writers, authors, academics, literary critics, and book industry professionals to express their interest in joining the Mark & Evette Moran Nib Literary Award Judging Panel for a three-year term. The annual judging cycle typically spans from late April until October. Judging positions are rotated annually with the longest serving judge making way for a new appointment to the panel each year. Judges are appointed by Waverley Council with support from the independent Nib Advisory Group.

The next round EOI will open in November. Interested parties can contact nibaward@waverley.nsw.gov.au for more.

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