The Australian Literature Society Gold Medal (ALS Gold Medal) is awarded annually by the

Association for the Study of Australian Literature The Association for the Study of Australian Literature (ASAL) is an Australian organisation which promotes the creation and study of Australian literature and literary culture especially through the interaction of Australian writers with teache ...

for "an outstanding literary work in the preceding calendar year." From 1928 to 1974 it was awarded by the Australian Literature Society, then from 1983 by the Association for the Study of Australian Literature, when the two organisations were merged.

Award winners

1920s

* 1928: Martin Mills (Martin Boyd) – '' The Montforts'' * 1929: Henry Handel Richardson – '' Ultima Thule''

1930s

* 1930: Vance Palmer – '' The Passage''"Best Novel of 1930" ''The Argus'', 16 June 1931, p6
/ref> * 1931: Frank Dalby Davison – '' Man-Shy'' * 1932: Leonard Mann – '' Flesh in Armour''"In and About the City – Literature Award" ''The Courier-Mail'', 10 November 1933, p10
/ref> * 1933: G. B. Lancaster (Edith J. Lyttleton) – '' Pageant'' * 1934: Eleanor Dark – '' Prelude to Christopher'' * 1935: Winifred Birkett – '' Earth's Quality''"Gold Medal – Australian Literary Society" ''The Canberra Times'', 31 October 1936, p2
/ref> * 1936: Eleanor Dark – '' Return to Coolami'' * 1937: Seaforth Mackenzie – '' The Young Desire It'' * 1938: R. D. FitzGerald – '' Moonlight Acre'' * 1939: Xavier Herbert – '' Capricornia''

1940s

* 1940: William Baylebridge – ''This Vital Flesh'' * 1941: Patrick White – '' Happy Valley'' * 1942: Kylie Tennant – '' The Battlers'' * 1948: Herz Bergner – '' Between Sky and Sea'' * 1949:

Percival Serle Percival Serle (18 July 1871 – 16 December 1951) was an Australian biographer and bibliography, bibliographer. Early life Serle was born in Elsternwick, Victoria, Elsternwick, Victoria (Australia), Victoria to English parents who had migrate ...

– ''

Dictionary of Australian Biography The ''Dictionary of Australian Biography'', published in 1949, is a reference work by Percival Serle containing information on notable people associated with Australia, Australian History of Australia, history. With approximately a thousand e ...

1950s

* 1950: Jon Cleary – '' Just Let Me Be'' * 1951: Rex Ingamells – '' The Great South Land : An Epic Poem'' * 1952: T. A. G. Hungerford – '' The Ridge and the River : A Novel'' * 1954: Mary Gilmore – '' Fourteen Men'' * 1955: Patrick White – '' The Tree of Man'' * 1957: Martin Boyd – '' A Difficult Young Man'' * 1959: Randolph Stow – '' To the Islands''

1960s

* 1960: William Hart-Smith – ''Poems of Discovery'' * 1961: No Award * 1962: Vincent Buckley – '' Masters in Israel'' * 1963: John Morrison – '' Twenty-Three : Stories'' * 1964:

Geoffrey Blainey Geoffrey Norman Blainey, (born 11 March 1930) is an Australian historian, academic, best selling author and commentator. Blainey is noted for his authoritative texts on the economic and social history of Australia, including ''The Tyranny of ...

– ''The Rush that Never Ended'' * 1965: Patrick White – '' The Burnt Ones'' * 1966: A. D. Hope

1970s

* 1970: Manning Clark * 1971: Colin Badger * 1972: Alex Buzo – ''Macquarie'' (play) * 1973: Francis Webb * 1974:

David Malouf David George Joseph Malouf (; born 20 March 1934) is an Australian poet, novelist, short story writer, playwright and Libretto, librettist. Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2008, Malouf has lectured at both the University ...

– ''

Neighbours in a Thicket ''Neighbours in a Thicket : Poems'' (1974) is the second poetry collection by Australian poet and author David Malouf David George Joseph Malouf (; born 20 March 1934) is an Australian poet, novelist, short story writer, playwright and Lib ...

'' * 1975–79: ''No Award''

1980s

* 1980: No Award * 1981: No Award * 1982: No Award * 1983:

– ''Child's Play; Fly Away Peter'' * 1984: Les Murray – '' The People's Otherworld : Poems'' * 1985: David Ireland – '' Archimedes and the Seagle'' * 1986:

Thea Astley Thea Beatrice May Astley (25 August 1925 – 17 August 2004) was an Australian novelist and short story writer. She was a prolific writer who was published for over 40 years from 1958. At the time of her death, she had won more Miles Franklin ...

– '' Beachmasters'' * 1987: Alan Wearne – '' The Nightmarkets'' * 1988: Brian Matthews – '' Louisa'' * 1989: Frank Moorhouse – '' Forty-Seventeen''

1990s

* 1990: Peter Porter – ''

Possible Worlds Possible Worlds may refer to: * Possible worlds, concept in philosophy * ''Possible Worlds'' (play), 1990 play by John Mighton ** ''Possible Worlds'' (film), 2000 film by Robert Lepage, based on the play * Possible Worlds (studio) * ''Possible ...

'' * 1991: Elizabeth Jolley – '' Cabin Fever'' * 1992: Rodney Hall – '' The Second Bridegroom'' * 1993: Elizabeth Riddell – '' Selected Poems'' * 1994: Louis Nowra – ''

Radiance In radiometry, radiance is the radiant flux emitted, reflected, transmitted or received by a given surface, per unit solid angle per unit projected area. Radiance is used to characterize diffuse emission and reflection of electromagnetic radiati ...

'' and '' The Temple'' * 1995: Helen Demidenko – '' The Hand That Signed the Paper'' * 1996: Amanda Lohrey – '' Camille's Bread'' * 1997: Robert Dessaix – '' Night Letters'' * 1998: James Cowan – '' A Mapmaker's Dream'' * 1999: Murray Bail – ''

Eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of more than 700 species of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae. Most species of ''Eucalyptus'' are trees, often Mallee (habit), mallees, and a few are shrubs. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalyp ...

2000s

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

: Drusilla Modjeska – '' Stravinsky's Lunch'' *

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

: Rodney Hall – '' The Day We Had Hitler Home'' *

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

Richard Flanagan Richard Miller Flanagan (born 1961) is an Australian writer, who won the 2014 Man Booker Prize for his novel ''The Narrow Road to the Deep North (novel), The Narrow Road to the Deep North'' and the 2024 Baillie Gifford Prize for ''Question 7'', ...

– '' Gould's Book of Fish'' *

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

Kate Jennings Catherine Ruth Jennings (20 May 1948 – 1 May 2021) was an Australian poet, essayist, memoirist, and novelist. Biography Born at Temora, Jennings grew up on a farm near Griffith, New South Wales. She attended the University of Sydney in the la ...

– ''

Moral Hazard In economics, a moral hazard is a situation where an economic actor has an incentive to increase its exposure to risk because it does not bear the full costs associated with that risk, should things go wrong. For example, when a corporation i ...

'' *

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

: Laurie Duggan – ''

Mangroves A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen and remove sal ...

'' *

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

: Gail Jones – '' Sixty Lights'' *

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

: Gregory Day – '' The Patron Saint of Eels'' *

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

Alexis Wright Alexis Wright (born 25 November 1950) is an Aboriginal Australian writer. She is best known for winning the Miles Franklin Award for her 2006 novel '' Carpentaria''. She was the first writer to win the Stella Prize twice, in 2018 for her "colle ...

– '' Carpentaria'' *

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

: Michelle de Kretser – '' The Lost Dog'' *

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

Christos Tsiolkas Christos Tsiolkas is an Australian author, playwright, and screenwriter. He is especially known for '' The Slap'', which was both well-received critically and highly successful commercially. Several of his books have been adapted for film and t ...

– '' The Slap''

2010s

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

– ''

Ransom Ransom refers to the practice of holding a prisoner or item to extort money or property to secure their release. It also refers to the sum of money paid by the other party to secure a captive's freedom. When ransom means "payment", the word ...

'' *

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

: Kim Scott – '' That Deadman Dance'' *

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

: Gillian Mears – '' Foal's Bread'' *

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

: Michelle de Kretser – '' Questions of Travel'' *

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

– '' The Swan Book'' *

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

: Jennifer Maiden – '' Drones and Phantoms'' *

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

: Brenda Niall – ''Mannix'' *

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

: Zoe Morrison – ''Music and Freedom'' *

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

: Shastra Deo – ''The Agonist'' *

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

: Pam Brown – ''click here for what we do''

2020s

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

: Charmaine Papertalk Green – ''Nganajungu Yagu'' *

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

: Nardi Simpson – '' Song of the Crocodile'' *

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

: Andy Jackson – ''Human Looking'' *

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

: Debra Dank – '' We Come With This Place'' *

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

– '' Praiseworthy''

Shortlisted works

References

External links

Association for the Study of Australian Literature (ASAL)
* {{AustLit, v68 Australian fiction awards Awards established in 1928 1928 establishments in Australia

Award winners

1920s

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Shortlisted works

See also

References

External links