The Western Australian Premier's Book Awards is an annual book award provided by the Government of Western Australia, and managed by the State Library of Western Australia.
History and format Annual literary awards were inaugurated by the Western Australian Government in 1982 to honour and celebrate the literary achievements of Western Australian writers. Until 1990 the Western Australian Premier's Book Awards were called the WA Week Literary Awards. The title of the award refers to the year of publication, rather than the year in which the awards were announced e.g.the 2011 awards for works published that year were announced in 2012. This changed to the award year in 2023.
The categories included poetry, non-fiction, fiction, Western Australian history, children's book, YA fiction, scripts and digital narrative. There was also a Premier's Prize, which was awarded to an overall winner.
The Barnett government downgraded the awards from an annual event to a biennial one much to the disappointment of the WA arts sector.Writers anxious as a Book Award is edited, Artshub, 15 February 2015
The McGowan government reinstated the annual award format in 2018. There were four categories – the Western Australian Writer's Fellowship (valued at $60,000), the Premier's Prize for Writing for Children ($15,000), the Premier's Prize for an Emerging Writer ($15,000) and the Daisy Utemorrah Award for Indigenous Authors ($15,000 and publishing contract with Magabala Books). A fifth award was added in 2023, the Premier's Prize for Book of the Year ($15,000).
There have been calls for the awards to be restored to their previous levels as there are currently no categories for established poets and non-fiction writers.
In 2025 four new categories were introduced for fiction, nonfiction, poetry and young adult. Also new is the Book of the Year to be chosen from the category winners.
Honorees
1990s YearCategoryAuthorTitlePublisher 1993Children's Books Tjarany Roughtail: The Dreaming of the Roughtail Lizard and Other Stories told by the Kukatja Gracie GreenMagabala BooksFiction The House of BreathingFremantle Arts Centre PressHistorical & Critical Studies Central Mischief: Elizabeth Jolley on Writing, Her Past and HerselfVikingPoetry Full Fathom FiveFremantle Arts Centre PressSpecial Award One small step and WitchplayCurrency Press 1994Children's Books and Peter Kendall Rosa's Famous ElbowFremantle Arts Centre PressFiction Letter to ConstantineFremantle Arts Centre PressHistorical & Critical Studies The Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal AustraliaAboriginal Studies PressPoetry PeninsulaFremantle Arts Centre PressPremier's Prize PeninsulaFremantle Arts Centre PressScript MeekatharraBlack Swan Theatre CompanySpecial Award Summer ShortsFremantle Arts Centre Press1995Children's & Young Adult's Books Radical Take-offsAllen & UnwinFiction Fremantle Arts Centre PressHistorical & Critical Studies Searching for the SnowyAllen & UnwinPoetrySandstoneUniversity of Queensland PressPremier's Prize Radical Take-offsAllen & UnwinScript Whispering DemonsPerth Theatre CompanySpecial Award and Barbara Rowland Plants of the Perth Coast and IslandsUniversity of Western Australia Press1996Overall and Howard PedersenResistance: Jandamarra and the BunubaMagabala BooksChildren & Young Adult's BooksIdjhilUniversity of Western Australia PressFictionFremantle Arts Centre PressCity of LightFremantle Arts Centre PressHistorical & Critical Studies and Howard PedersenResistance: Jandamarra and the BunubaMagabala BooksPoetryCollected PoemsFremantle Arts Centre PressScript AwardCulture ClashRosenbaum WhitbreadSpecial AwardCIS Cardigan Street Publishers1997OverallFetish LivesFremantle Arts Centre PressPan Macmillan AustraliaChildren & Young Adult's BooksMammoth (Reed Books)FictionFetish LivesFremantle Arts Centre PressPan Macmillan AustraliaHistorical & Critical StudiesCarpet of Silver: The Wreck of the ZuytdorpUniversity of Western Australia PressPoetryVictor PublishingScript Award and Andrew RossMerry-Go-Round-In -the SeaBlack Swan TheatreSpecial Award Songs of Strength: Sixteen Women Talk About CancerWomen's Cancer Group (Macmillan)1998OverallPomegranate SeasonFremantle Arts Centre PressChildren's book and Jimmy PikeDesert DogMagabala BooksFictionGoing InlandFremantle Arts CentreHistorical & Critical Studies and Paul OmajiOur State of Mind: Racial Planning and the Stolen GenerationsFremantle Arts Centre PressPoetry Brandl & Schlesinger Fremantle Arts Centre PressScript AwardMilk and HoneyPerth Theatre CompanyWriting for Young AdultsRed HughLothian1999Children's bookShowtime: Over 75 Ways to Put on a ShowDorling KindersleyFictionBenang: From the HeartFremantle Arts Centre PressBenang: From the HeartFremantle Arts Centre PressHistorical & Critical StudiesBroken LivesStellar PublishingPoetryFremantle Arts Centre PressSpecial Award, Larry Mitchell, and Alison Wright Abrolhos Islands ConversationsFremantle Arts Centre PressWriting for Young AdultsScooterboyHodder Headline
2000s YearCategoryAuthorTitlePublisher2000OverallInto the WadiFremantle Arts CentreChildren's bookZarconi's Magic Flying FishAllen & UnwinFictionPan MacmillanNon-fictionVikingNon-fictionInto the WadiFremantle Arts CentrePoetryParochialFremantle Arts CentreWriting for Young AdultsUniversity of Queensland Press2001OverallDirt MusicPicadorChildren's bookScholasticFictionDirt MusicPicadorNon-fictionBlue China: Single Female Migration to Colonial AustraliaMelbourne University PublishingNon-fictionMacmillanPoetryHalfway up the MountainFremantle Arts CentreScript and Archie WellerConfessions of a HeadhunterWriting for Young AdultsObsessionFremantle Arts Centre2002OverallMussoliniEdward ArnoldChildren's book and Frané LessacCygnet/University of Western AustraliaFictionBlack MirrorPicadorNon-fictionMussoliniEdward ArnoldNon-fictionWalmajarri storytellers, ed. Joyce Hudson, Pat Lowe, and Eirlys Richards Out of the Desert: Stories from the Walmajarri ExodusMagabala BooksPoetryGoing Feral Fremantle Arts CentreScriptBenchWriting for Young AdultsFeeling the Heat Penguin2003OverallLast Cab to DarwinPork Chop Productions/Black Swan Theatre CompanyChildren's bookCygnet/University of Western AustraliaFictionVintageNon-fictionOld FremantleUniversity of Western Australia PressNon-fictionShadow LinesFremantle Arts CentrePoetryPeripheral LightFremantle Arts CentreScriptLast Cab to DarwinPork Chop Productions/Black Swan Theatre CompanyWriting for Young AdultsNights in the SunPenguin2004Overall Sixty LightsChildren's book and Grace FieldingMagabala BooksFiction Sixty LightsRandom House AustraliaNon-fiction Conversations with the ConstitutionUniversity of New South WalesNon-fiction Redbill: From Pearls to Peace: The Life and Times of a Remarkable LuggerFremantle Arts CentrePoetry Against Certain CaptureFive Islands PressScript YandyBlack Swan Theatre CompanyWestern Australian History Behind the PlayWest Australian Football CommissionWriting for Young Adults FireshadowUniversity of Queensland2005Overall, Peter Johnson, and YuwaliCleared Out: First Contact in the Western DesertChildren's bookWhere's Stripey?Stunned Emu PressFictionEveryman's Rules for Scientific LivingPicadorNon-fiction and Stephen D HopperSoul of the DesertFremantle Arts CentreNon-fictionMussolini's Italy: Life Under the Dictatorship 1915-1945Allen Lane/PenguinPoetrySalt PublishingScriptLast Train to FreoSue Taylor MediaWestern Australian History, Peter Johnson, and YuwaliCleared Out: First Contact in the Western DesertAboriginal Studies PressWriting for Young AdultsAllen & Unwin2006Overall Children's book Hachette Livre AustraliaFiction Pan Macmillan AustraliaNon-fiction Rob Riley: An Aboriginal Leader's Quest for JusticeAboriginal Studies PressNonfictionArthur Tange: Last of the MandarinsAllen & UnwinPoetry All the Time in the WorldSalt PublishingScript SardinesTropic Sun Theatre QueenslandWestern Australian History University of Western Australia PressWriting for Young Adults Destroying AvalonFremantle Arts Centre Press2007Overall and Robert IngpenZiba Came on a BoatChildren's book and Robert IngpenZiba Came on a BoatViking PressFiction Other CountryAllen & UnwinHistory Section Bobbie Oliver and Patrick Bertola: The History of the Westrail Midland Railway WorkshopsUniversity of Western Australia PressNon-fiction Sir Ronald Wilson: A Matter of ConscienceUniversity of Western Australia PressPoetryConnor Court PublishingScript and Jimmy the ExploderBlack Balloon Film ProductionsWestern Australian History Cottesloe: A Town of DistinctionTown of CottesloeWriting for Young Adults Love Is a UFOPan Macmillan Australia2008Past winners: 2008–2009Overall Children's bookHow to Heal a Broken WingFiction WantingNon-fiction Poetry Script Western Australian History Doing Life: A biography of Elizabeth JolleyWriting for Young Adults Tales from Outer Suburbia2009Overall South SolitaryChildren's book and Freya BlackwoodHarry & HopperFiction Jasper JonesFiction SummertimeNon-fiction Darwin's ArmadaPoetryFire SeasonScript South SolitaryWestern Australian History Paupers: Poor Relief & Poor HousesWriting for Young Adults Liar
2010s