We acknowledge the traditional custodians on whose land our office stands: the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, and their Elders past, present and emerging. We recognise their continuing culture and their contributions to the life of our city and region. We value their heritage, beliefs and relationship with the land, which continue to be important to the Eora people living today. We pay our respects to the First Australians, the traditional custodians of this continent, whose cultures are among the oldest living cultures in human history. And we extend this respect to other Indigenous people who come to our office, and to more recent arrivals.
CHAIR’S MESSAGE Kim Williams
We live in complex, often confusing, and indeed quite dangerous times. Agreed facts are too often optional. Truth is malleable. Science is traduced as ideology and misinformation. Journalists are described as “the enemy of the people”. And our arts sector is under sustained and quite severe assault. Underfunded. Not afforded the respect it deserves as interpreters of our world. Too often ignored or derided, undermining its power to let us better understand the social order around us all. In such times, creativity is more important than ever before. And I mean creativity and its products, in a broad sense. From great journalism that is sustained by effective business models, on to writers and their publishers talking clearly, with imaginative insight about our world. Then of course, there are visual artists whose practice is focused on interpreting singular and collaborative visions of the world and other remarkable visions from musicians, poets, filmmakers and others all expressing personally in ways inherently important to humanity. Through often messy, contested and chaotic processes, creators bring not only joy to peoples’ lives, but insight and meaning. Engagement with the world. The possibility of reaching shared understanding and empathy for the lives of others. The arts liberate connections to wisdom through creativity, inquiry, and applied knowledge. The arts make us better, and society better – certainly better than surrendering to the ignorance, intolerance, and narrow ideology of too much seen in the social media cacophony.
And yet our arts sector has not only been neglected, in a policy sense, for too long, it has also been hit harder than many other sectors by COVID-19. The historic neglect is laid bare in a recent study from the think tank, A New Approach. A New Approach demonstrated that Federal funding of the arts has declined 20 per cent in real terms over the last 10 years. The impact from COVID on the sector is severe and extends that pattern with even more devastating impact. We need multiple policy responses to this historic and present crisis – including increased funding for the arts and more measures to encourage philanthropic giving. But we also need to reassert the centrality of copyright law as being fundamental to respect for, and remuneration of, creators. We at Copyright Agency, over the course of our history, and over this financial year, have worked tirelessly to defend copyright, to license content in new and relevant ways, to collect and distribute money for the use of our members’ work, and to provide additional investment support in the Australian creative sector, at a time when that sector has been smashed by COVID. Some of Copyright Agency’s achievements for the year include meeting all our budget targets, allocating almost $114m to members, completing a three-phase program of investing in new systems and processes to ensure we better serve members, and running two complex litigation actions against the universities sector on the one hand, and against the media monitoring organisations, on the other.
CHAIR’S MESSAGE Kim Williams
These actions are critical to setting the commercial arrangements and fees that Australia’s 39 universities and the media monitoring companies will pay for the use of original material and news content, respectively. The universities hearings are complete – with a decision expected sometime in the next calendar year. The final hearing in the media monitoring case is set down for February 2021. Copyright Agency – acutely aware of the hammer blow that COVID has delivered to Australia’s creative sector – granted an additional $500,000 to writers, publishers and visual arts. This was on top of the $2m in regular Cultural Fund grants provided under our usual investment program. Finally, I should advise that the Government has recently announced proposed changes to the Copyright Act. We are concerned about these proposals because as they currently stand, they will severely undermine the value of content and payment to creators. We are in dialogue with Government and will keep members informed of progress. It may well be that we need your help to campaign against these potentially quite egregious proposals.
I thank our Board members for their work and commitment to the Agency. I would also like to thank Adam Suckling, his team and the rest of the agency’s employees who have all worked hard, under the difficult conditions of 2020, to deliver good outcomes for members. There is much to do and we must always move forward, but there are also many good things to celebrate in this report. With every good wish,
Kim Williams
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CEO’S MESSAGE Adam Suckling
As 2020 ends, it’s hard not to reflect on the monumental events that will impact us all in the years ahead: the COVID-19 pandemic, global political unrest, and seismic shifts in the way we work, live and relax – to name a few.
Throughout the year, the Copyright Agency worked with the education sector to minimise disruptions and alleviate some of the pressure resulting from a radical transformation of teaching practices.
At the Copyright Agency, we worked hard to ensure that our workforce could operate remotely with minimal impact on our productivity. I am pleased to share that despite the challenges of FY20 we made almost $114m in distributions to publishers, writers, visual artists and surveyor members; undertook two substantial litigations; delivered a new technology platform; and kept costs under control.
The statutory education licence has been instrumental in the shift to online learning. Its broad and flexible coverage enabled educators to focus on the important business of teaching, without having to worry about permissions. This in turn has allowed students to easily access high quality resources wherever and whenever they needed.
In addition, we responded to the ongoing impact of the pandemic, which ravaged the economy and throttled much of the income that would normally flow to the creative industries. We brought forward $500,000 in Emergency Action Funding, which was overwhelmed with applications from creators and creative organisations. We adopted a quick-response process to ensure that successful applicants had the money in their hands as soon as possible. This meant that our members could keep creating material and receive payment in these very difficult times. We were very aware of the importance of the funding to provide hope for the creative industry at large, which continues to be decimated by the impact of COVID-19.
Thank you to our publisher members for the excellent service you provided to schools and educational institutions during this time. Despite the challenging year, we continued to advocate on behalf of our members to ensure that payment for the work they create is fair and equitable. We were pleased to settle our seven-year-long dispute with the NSW Government over the rate the State should pay for uses of copyright material, with both parties coming to an agreement on fair and equitable arrangements for members. In the last year, Copyright Agency has been involved in actions in the Copyright Tribunal in relation to major media monitoring organisations (MMOs) – Isentia, Meltwater and Streem – for the use of news content, and the agreement we have with Universities Australia (UA) for material used in course content.
CEO’S MESSAGE Adam Suckling
The Tribunal was scheduled to sit for three weeks from 12 October in relation to the copyright fees payable by the three major MMOs. However, the hearing was adjourned until February 2021, as we were able to settle the case with Streem by reaching a new licensing agreement. The other parties have requested time to consider their respective cases in light of that agreement. The hearing in our action against the 39 universities represented by UA ran for three weeks from 7 September. Copyright Agency asked the Tribunal to determine: 1) the amount payable for the copying and communication of copyright works by the universities; and 2) the design of the data collection scheme to be used in the future. Justice Perram, Deputy President of the Copyright Tribunal, noted that the Tribunal would not make a decision this calendar year. It is most likely to hand down its decision next calendar year. Copyright Agency would like to thank the members who assisted in the preparation of the case, particularly those who gave evidence at the hearing. I will continue to update you on these cases as they progress. Work also continued with our transformation of systems and processes. We delivered phase three of this program – which included upgrading our Member Portal – on time and on budget. This means that we have now upgraded all our systems from old 20th century technology to 21st century technology. The benefits delivered by this transformation program include: ensuring we can continue to pay members with systems supported by the vendor; enhancing transparency around the payments we make; and delivering a contemporary Member Portal that allows members
to process data more efficiently, manage which licence schemes they would like to opt into, invite others to manage their account, and generate their own payment reports. It’s been a tough year for everyone, but together we have been able to continue supporting Australian creative industries, enabling children to learn and advocating for the rights of creators. I’d like to thank you all for your cooperation and support during this time. We know our members are resilient, and are proud to continue serving you as best we can. My deep thanks to all Copyright Agency Board members for their commitment and guidance throughout 2019–20, and to the executive team and all employees who worked tirelessly throughout the year to deliver for our members. All the best,
Adam Suckling
AT A GLANCE
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our financial highlights
Each year we collect royalties from Australian schools, universities, colleges, governments, corporations and overseas collecting societies, and distribute them to writers, publishers, visual artists and surveyors. In spite of the challenges that emerged in the first half of 2020, we remained resolutely focused on distributing payments in a timely fashion and minimising the potential impacts to members.
THE YEAR THAT WAS 74 NEW
COVID-19 RESPONSE
education licences
to support writers, publishers, visual artists and creative organisations
Made submissions to ACCC on draft news media bargaining code
$500,000
in COVID-19 Emergency Action Funding
$980,000+ paid in artists’ resale royalties
Assisted ASA, APA and NCU to develop COVID-19 storytime arrangements
Continued proceedings in Copyright Tribunal to fairly value and measure content use
Worked with education and commercial sectors to ease admin burden during COVID-19
in payments to members
in Cultural Fund support
Reading Australia resources
Settled seven-year-long dispute with NSW Government over copyright fees
$113.9M
≈$2M
27 NEW
30+ EDUCATION PROVIDERS licensing or trialling FLEX
88 NEW
commercial licences
Major Member Portal upgrades to increase transparency, support and control
OUR MEMBERS highlights
832
new members admitted
2020 has been a year unlike any in recent history, and our members have faced huge challenges along the way. That’s why we have striven to improve services and increase support during these difficult times. Our Member Services team has worked tirelessly to answer almost 14,000 queries, around 1,400 via live chat. We are pleased to see so many members embracing this feature. No matter where you are, help has never been easier to find.
13,800 enquiries answered
29,000 Help Centre views
10,000+ recipients paid
97%
satisfaction rating
OUR MEMBERS
investment and advocacy New Member Portal With two major upgrades to our Member Portal in December 2019 and October 2020, we completed a two-year project – delivered on time and on budget – to completely rebuild the systems we use to make more than $100m in payments to members each year. With our old systems nearing end-of-life, we leveraged the latest cloud-based technologies to build new systems that offered greater transparency, efficiency, support and control. Guided by member feedback, the new and improved Member Portal features a more intuitive user experience; streamlined onboarding; easier account management; and simplified processes relating to shares and payments. These upgrades form part of our commitment to enhancing member services, and we will continue to deliver on this commitment with future releases.
International rights exchange In February 2020 we struck a new digital bilateral agreement with JCOPY, a collective management organisation (CMO) in Japan. This allows us to include JCOPY’s repertoire of copyright works in our voluntary licence schemes and vice versa. The new reciprocal agreement is one of many we maintain with overseas CMOs to ensure that our members are represented internationally.
Draft news media bargaining code The ACCC released its final report for the digital platforms inquiry in July 2019, then a concepts paper on a mandatory code to address bargaining power imbalances between the platforms and Australian news media in May 2020. Draft legislation was released shortly afterwards in July 2020. We welcomed the ACCC’s commitment to Australian news and journalism and supported the overall approach, commenting on some of the details in our response.
OUR MEMBERS
investment and advocacy Copyright Tribunal actions
The licence between Streem and Copyright Agency has increased the rights for media monitoring organisations and their customers, enhanced payments to publishers and set a benchmark for the industry, be it media monitoring or technology companies. We thank Copyright Agency for its leadership in this space.” Elgar Welch, Streem CEO —
NSW Government At the end of 2019, we settled our seven-year-long dispute with the State of NSW over the fees it pays for uses of members’ material by hundreds of thousands of NSW public servants. The NSW Government agreed to pay the same rate as all the other State and Territory Governments, covering past liabilities back to July 2012 and payments forward to June 2023. Universities Australia (UA) In September 2020, the Copyright Tribunal heard our case against the 39 universities represented by UA. We asked the Tribunal to determine a new rate for the university sector – which has last set 20 years ago – as well as a new monitoring system. The Tribunal is expected to give a determination next calendar year; in the meantime, UA is paying copyright fees under the Tribunal’s interim orders. Media monitoring organisations (MMOs) The Tribunal was scheduled to sit in October 2020 regarding copyright fees payable by the three major MMOs. Around that time, Copyright Agency and Streem signed a new industry-leading licensing agreement, thereby settling their case. The hearing has since been adjourned so that the other parties – Isentia and Meltwater – can consider their own cases.
Copyright reforms In August 2020 the government announced some proposed changes to the Copyright Act. As they currently stand, they threaten to undermine the value of copyright material and, by extension, payments to creators. We are concerned about the proposals and are discussing their potential impact with the Government. We will keep members informed of progress in this area.
LICENCES
highlights
74
≈$1.5m
newly-licensed education institutions
$385k in new commercial licences
in visual arts licensing fees
$300,000+ in royalties for Tasmanian surveyors
1,000+
total licences for other education institutions
792
extended commercial licences
Our licences cover the use of a vast amount of copyright material by the education, government and business sectors. Given the impact of the last Australian bushfire season, and the current global health crisis, payments from these licences are more vital than ever. They represent respect for the work of Australian creators and nurture the production of even more informing, entertaining, challenging and inspiring material.
LICENCES
connecting users and creators of content
Education
Government
Commercial
We worked closely with the education sector to minimise disruptions and alleviate pressures associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. We offered our licensees flexible payment plans, paused data collection surveys in schools and universities, and – thinking further into the future – worked with the Copyright Advisory Group (CAG) to consider new data collection methodologies that would reduce the reporting burden on teachers.
Our agreements with the Northern Territory and Commonwealth governments cover payments for uses of copyright material until June 2021. We also have agreements with the ACT and NSW governments up to June 2022 and June 2023 respectively. Plans to extend our agreements with other governments are still in progress, having been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over the course of FY 2019–20, we signed 88 new licences with a combined value of $385,000. Licence extensions for additional content and uses led to a 2.1% increase in revenue from the commercial sector. We also continue to monitor websites with infringing newspaper content, with a view to increasing the uptake of commercial licences in the future.
In late 2019 we signed a retrospective deed with the Tasmanian Government for local surveyors’ plans copied and communicated between July 2003 and June 2019. We have since commenced negotiations with the Northern Territory Government regarding sales of survey plans in that state, and we are also close to finalising a surveyors agreement in the ACT.
In October 2020 we signed a new industry-leading licensing agreement with MMO Streem, setting a benchmark for valuing news content in the digital era. The deal represents a win for Australian journalism and sets out a 21st century licensing framework that responds to major changes in the media landscape.
The statutory education licence proved instrumental in the shift to online learning, with broad and flexible coverage enabling educators to focus on teaching without worrying about permissions. We also assisted the Australian Society of Authors (ASA), Australian Publishers Association (APA) and National Copyright Unit (NCU) to develop virtual storytime arrangements allowing teachers to read to their students – a move supported by many individual publishers and authors.
BÁBBARRA
x KIP&CO
LICENCES
connecting users and creators of content Visual Arts Throughout FY 2019–20 we licensed artworks by both Australian and overseas artists, with 70% of revenue coming from public galleries, auction houses and commercial licences for home furnishings, architecture, merchandise, branding and events. We were proud to be involved in the homewares collaboration between Bábbarra Women’s Centre (an enterprise of Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation) and leading lifestyle brand Kip&Co. The licence – which has huge potential for replication in other communities – has been hailed as a benchmark of best practice for a female-led Indigenous collaboration, establishing a framework to protect the integrity of the designs and the intellectual property rights of the artists. “I feel so good. When I see it, I am feeling really kamak [good]. Every artist is feeling so proud to see their designs used in this project, a mix of new designs and old. I’m proud for my Mum’s design, my designs and also my sister Jennifer, too, in this project,” says Kuninjku artist Deborah Wurrkidj. Other significant licences included a tattoo featuring artwork by Tiwi artist Chris Black; the sellout Miimi & Jiinda for Adairs homewares collection; a series of NBN cabinets wrapped in Indigenous artwork; a monograph honouring prolific Aboriginal artist Emily Kame Kngwarreye; NITV’s deadly Aboriginal art game show, Faboriginal; and the National Gallery of Australia’s Matisse & Picasso exhibition.
Recently there has been so much bad press about fake art and artists not getting acknowledged for their work. Being part of the tattoo licencing agreement was quite inspiring.” Hannah Raisin, Manager at Jilamara Arts and Crafts Association —
MIIMI & JIINDA
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INITIATIVES AND SUPPORT fostering creativity, communication and learning
841,900
$1.6m
views on Reading Australia
480% growth in FLEX views
approved for 81 new Cultural Fund projects
$500,000 in COVID-19 Emergency Action Funding
10 years of Resale Royalty in Australia
We offer career-sustaining grants and fellowships for creators and creative organisations, plus practical tools and resources for educators and librarians. This year we extended our support further than ever before with COVID-19 Emergency Action Funding for virtual writers’ festivals, innovative online projects and new literary and artistic works. With so many doing it tough in 2020, we are thrilled to be able to give back to them.
INITIATIVES AND SUPPORT fostering creativity, communication and learning
FLEX
Resale Royalty Scheme
John Fries Award
Our content delivery platform FLEX is helping librarians and educators to efficiently manage copyright compliance and compile course material for their students. By the end of Q1 FY 2020–21, student views of content were 480% higher than they were a year prior. The tool has been rolled out to libraries at private higher education and VET colleges around the country, with 13 in steady deployment, 12 in evaluation trials and 8 interested in starting a trial.
June 2020 marked a decade of the Resale Royalty Right for Visual Artists in Australia. In that time, the Resale Royalty Scheme has generated more than $8.5m from more than 21,000 resales and benefitted more than 1,975 artists.
The John Fries Award continues to be recognised as an important national award for early career vsiual artists. The 2019 prize, won by Sydney-based artist Justine Youssef, attracted more than 800 attendees to the opening evening and 2,500 attendees over the month-long finalist exhibition.
FLEX customers can access hundreds of digital original files from 12 participating publishers, plus high-quality scans from the British Library. We are currently seeking new publishers who would like to share their content on FLEX. We are also working to make the platform more accessible to students with a visual impairment.
In FY 2019–20 we paid royalties worth more than $980,000 to 480 recipients, with 150 making their first resale ever. These artists, both early career and senior, come from all over the country – though the scheme has a strong regional and remote impact, with 35% of recipients living in the Northern Territory and central Australia. First Nations artists make up 65% of the recipients and receive 37% of the royalties. They also make up 19 of the 50 artists who receive the most money under the scheme.
“The work I created for the finalist exhibition was my most experimental and vulnerable to date. It’s so affirming to be supported to work in this way,” says 2019 John Fries Award winner Justine Youssef. The 2020 exhibition has been postponed until March 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It will be a celebratory conclusion to our decade-long partnership with the Fries family in presenting the John Fries Award. We will continue our support for visual artists via the Cultural Fund.
CREATE
Supporting Australian Creativity
GRANTS
INITIATIVES AND SUPPORT fostering creativity, communication and learning Cultural Fund We began 2020 by announcing an exciting partnership with the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas, delivering $150,000 to support the publication of more arts reviews in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. This included a weekly column in The Australian by award-winning poet, editor, critic and academic Sarah Holland-Batt. “Coverage of Australia’s arts scene is important, and our support will generate more reviews and criticism, not just for Melbourne and Sydney audiences, but across the country. It will also allow these mastheads to hire new critics, which is good news for arts journalists.” says Judith Neilson Institute Executive Director Mark Ryan. From February to March 2020 we supported writers’ festival sessions in Perth and Adelaide, amassing impressive audiences at both. Once the pandemic unfolded and physical events drew to a halt, we supported subsequent writers' festivals (such as those in Sydney and Byron Bay) to develop alternative virtual programs. We also supported Sydney Contemporary’s transformation from a physical art fair into a virtual art-buying platform designed to support affected artists and galleries. This included the commissioning of two new works for the digital program.
Fellowships 2019 concluded with the announcement of three $80,000 fellowships in support and celebration of Australian writers and visual artists: Stephen Orr (Author Fellowship), for a novel examining the country, Indigenous people and the history of Lutheran missions; James Bradley (Fellowship for Non-Fiction Writing), for an essay collection interrogating the natural world, time and extinction; and Danielle Freakley (Fellowship for a Visual Artist), for a virtual reality piece questioning imaginary friend function. The announcement of the 2020 fellowships was brought forward to July 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The latest recipients are Rodney Hall (Author Fellowship), for a novel addressing the worldwide refugee crisis; Krissy Kneen (Fellowship for Non-Fiction Writing), to write creative non-fiction exploring her personal relationship with her body; and Khaled Sabsabi (Fellowship for a Visual Artist), for a major survey exhibition and comprehensive publication. Previously-awarded fellowships also came to fruition. Our 2019 Publisher Fellow Justin Ractliffe shared his research at an industry event hosted by Copyright Agency CEO Adam Suckling, while 2018 Visual Artist Fellow Karla Dickens completed two large-scale multimedia installations that exhibited at the 2020 Biennale of Sydney and Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art.
INITIATIVES AND SUPPORT fostering creativity, communication and learning Emergency Action Funding
National awards
Reading Australia
We responded to the arrival of COVID-19 by finding additional means of support for the hard-hit creative industries. Our Emergency Action Funding delivered a total of $500,000 to 61 applicants, including writers, visual artists, publishers, literary magazines and journals, awards and significant creative organisations.
We support two awards for writers as part of the Queensland Literary Awards: the Judith Wright Calanthe Award for a poetry collection by a single author, and the David Unaipon Award for an emerging Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander writer. The November 2019 QLAs were a particularly historic occasion, with BLAKWORK by Gomeroi poet Alison Whittaker becoming the first Indigenous poetry collection to win the Judith Wright Calanthe Award.
Reading Australia is about to break 20,000 subscribers, having seen a 20.2% increase from 16,500 to 19,831 in FY 2019–20. There are now 127 secondary and 78 primary resources, having grown by 19 and 8 respectively, plus new colouring sheets from Bigambul and Mandandanji children's book Illustrator Dub Leffler. There are also 8 new resources to accompany The Garret podcasts, bringing the total to 24.
With events pivoting online due to COVID-19, we announced the prestigious Miles Franklin Literary Award shortlist on YouTube for the first time in the award’s history. #MFLA trended number one in Australia on the night of the July premiere. As usual, each of the 2020 shortlisted authors received $5,000 from our Cultural Fund and Award trustee Perpetual eventually announced the winner as Wiradjuri author Tara June Winch, whose novel The Yield took home the $60,000 grand prize.
The 2020 Reading Australia Fellow was announced in July 2020 as Karen Yager, deputy head at Knox Grammar School in NSW. The $15,000 fellowship will enable her to develop an extensive resource to support English teachers in improving their students’ writing, focusing on the connection between the Australian landscape and literature.
A significant project to emerge from this funding was Fire Flood Plague, a series of personal essays by Australian writers responding to the challenges of 2020. These essays were originally published by Guardian Australia and now appear in an anthology edited by Sophie Cunningham and published by Penguin Random House in December 2020.
This doesn’t just make a huge difference to the progress of my project, but broader than that, it’s hugely energising and reassuring, especially during these uncertain times.” — Dan Elborne, visual artist and funding recipient
See Awards and Sponsorships for a more complete list of supported initiatives.
AWARDS AND SPONSORSHIPS We sponsor the following awards either directly or through our Cultural Fund. Money given to the recipient as a component of the award is noted.
Aunty Kerry Reed-Gilbert Poetry Award Winner Under 30s, $2,000
Jazz Money, Transit of Venus (false gods) Winner Open Age $2000
Luana Towney, Our Protests for Our People
David Unaipon Award for an Emerging Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Writer 2020 Winner $15,000 plus manuscript development and publication with UQP
Jazz Money, The Space Between the Paperbark
Dorothy Hewett Award for an Unpublished Manuscript 2020 Karen Wyld, Where the Fruit Falls
John Fries Award 2020 Finalists
Darcey Bella Arnold, Melbourne, Vic – painting Daniel Jenatsch, Melbourne, Vic – sound, video, installation Sara Morawetz, Sydney, NSW/New York, USA – performance, video, installation
Australian Book Industry Awards 2020
Ryan Presley, Brisbane, QLD – painting, drawing, performance
General Non-Fiction Book of the Year
Kitty Flanagan, Kitty Flanagan’s 488 Rules for Life (Allen & Unwin)
Carmel Bird Digital Literary Award (Spineless Wonders) 2020 Winner $3,000
Michalia Arathimos, Apologia
Educational Publishing Awards Australia 2020
JD Reforma, Sydney, NSW – video, installation
Primary Publisher of the Year, Promoting Literacy Development (PLD)
Melanie Jame Wolf, Melbourne, Vic/Berlin, Germany – performance, sound, video, installation
Secondary Publisher of the Year, Jacaranda
Shevaun Wright, Melbourne, Vic/Los Angeles, USA – installation
Runners-up $1,000 each
First Nations Australia Writers Network (FNAWN) Literary Awards 2019
Katerina Cosgrove, Zorba The Buddha
Short Story Award, winner $2,000
Brooke Dunnell, Female(s and) Dogs
Alexis West, Young, Beautiful and Free
Daisy Utemorrah Award 2020 for an unpublished manuscript of junior or YA fiction by an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander writer
Griffin Award (Australian Playwriting) 2020
Winner $15,000 and a publishing contract with Magabala Books
Finalists $1,000 each
Teela May Reid, Our Matriarchs Matter
Winner $10,000
Dylan Van Den Berg, way back when Grace Chapple, Never Closer
Judith Wright Calanthe Award for a Poetry Collection 2019 Winner $15,000
Alison Whittaker, BLAKWORK (Magabala Books) 2020 Winner $15,000
Pi.O, Heide (Giramondo Publishing)
Microflix Writers Award (Spineless Wonders) 2019 Winner $500
David Finniga, 44 Sex Acts in One Week
Dorothy Simmons, On The Hour
Daley Rangi, Curiosity
Finalists $50 each
Keziah Warner, LuNa
50 finalists receive an initial royalty payment of $50 for the screening of their adapted work as part of the Microflix Festival, total $2,500
AWARDS AND SPONSORSHIPS Stella Prize Longlist 2020 $1,000 each
Miles Franklin Literary Award Shortlist 2020 $5,000 each
Tara June Winch (winner), The Yield (Penguin Random House) Tony Birch, The White Girl (University of Queensland Press)
The UNSW Bragg Press Prize for Science Writing 2019
Jess Hill (winner), See What You Made Me Do (Black Inc.)
2019 Winner
Joey Bui, Lucky Ticket (Text)
2019 Runners up
Gay’wu Group of Women, Songspirals: Sharing women’s wisdom of country through songlines (Allen & Unwin)
Cameron Muir, Ghost species and shadow places (Griffith Review)
Yumna Kassab, The House of Youssef (Giramondo) Caro Llewellyn, Diving into Glass (Hamish Hamilton) Mandy Ord, When One Person Dies the Whole World is Over (Brow Books) Favel Parrett, There was Still Love (Hachette)
Melissa Fyfe, Getting cliterate (The Good Weekend)
Jackson Ryan, How CRISPR could save six billion chickens from the meat grinder (CNET)
The UNSW Bragg Student Prize for Science Writing 2019 2019 Winner
Peggy Frew, Islands (Allen & Unwin)
Josephine Rowe, Here Until August (Black Inc.)
Arwyn Stone, Abbotsleigh (NSW), ‘The science (or lack thereof) behind period and fertility trackers’
John Hughes, No One (UWA Publishing)
Vikki Wakefield, This is How We Change the Ending (Text)
2019 Runners up
Philip Salom, The Returns (Transit Lounge)
Tara June Winch, The Yield (Penguin Random House)
Carrie Tiffany, Exploded View (Text Publishing)
Charlotte Wood, The Weekend (A&U)
National Indigenous Story Awards 2019
Sally Young, Paper Emperors (NewSouth)
William Flintoft, Melbourne Grammar School, (VIC), ‘Errare humanum est’
Jacob Ridgeway, Bullyman
The Lifted Brow Prize for Experimental Non-Fiction 2019
Finalists $1,000 each
Winner $5000
Walkley Foundation Mid-Year Awards 2020 The June Andrews Award for Arts Journalism
Nathan Joseph McCoy, Let me Fly
Jean Bachoura, TRETINOIN
Winner $5000
Kalem Murray, Curtain Call
Queensland Poetry Festival Oodgeroo Noonuccal Indigenous Poetry Award 2019 Winner $2,000
Jeanine Leane
Stanley Awards Book Illustrator of the Year Award 2019
Joanne Brooker
Runners up $500 each
Oliver Reeson, Body Language Tess Pearson, What Sprouts at the Fissures
Phoebe Adam, Presbyterian Ladies College Croydon, (NSW), ‘Driverless cars: are we there yet?’
Winner $5,000
Steve Dow, Meanjin, The Saturday Paper and Guardian Australia “Stream Drama,” “Acts of Faith” and “A Buŋgul, a Procession, An Overnight Vigil”
The Pascall Prize for Arts Criticism Winner $5,000
Mireille Juchau, newyorker.com and The Monthly, “How Dreams Change Under Authoritarianism,” “Twilight Knowing: Jenny Offill’s Weather” and “Missing Witnesses: Valeria Luiselli’s Lost Children’s Archive”
PHOTOGRAPHY credits
THE YEAR THAT WAS Maggie MacKellar Reading Australia resources CHAIR’S MESSAGE Kim Williams AM
Photo supplied
Teacher and students
Arthur Baker
Photo supplied
Jane Curry
Photo supplied
Jason Eades
Photo supplied
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