The Calibre Essay Prize is an annual ''

Australian Book Review ''Australian Book Review'' is an Australian arts and literary review. Created in 1961, ''ABR'' is an independent non-profit organisation that publishes articles, reviews, commentaries, essays, and new writing. The aims of the magazine are " ...

'' essay-writing award. The prize, first awarded in 2007, is worth AU$7,500 and is deemed 'the nation's premier essay-writing competition' and 'Australia's leading award for an original essay'. The prize is 'intended to generate brilliant new essays and to foster new insights into culture, society, and the human condition' and welcomes entries from published authors and commentators, as well as from emerging writers. All non-fiction subjects are eligible for submission.

History

The Prize was established in 2007. It is presented annually by the ''ABR'' and 'awards the most outstanding original essay contributed by a leading Australian author or commentator'. The Prize was previously co-funded by the Australian Copyright Agency. It is currently supported by Colin Golvan QC.

Winners

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 ...

– Elisabeth Elisabeth Holdsworth: "An die Nachgenborenen: For Those Who Come After" *

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 ...

–

Rachel Robertson Rachel Robertson (born 20 July 1976) is a New Zealand field hockey player who competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were a ...

: "Reaching One Thousand" and Mark Tredinnick: "A Storm and a Teacup" *

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 ...

– Kevin Brophy: "What're yer looking at yer fuckin' dog: Violence and Fear in Žižek's Post-political Neighbourhood" and

Jane Goodall Dame Jane Morris Goodall (; born Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall; 3 April 1934), formerly Baroness Jane van Lawick-Goodall, is an English zoologist, Primatology, primatologist and Anthropology, anthropologist. She is considered the world's foremo ...

: "Footprints" *

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 ...

– Lorna Hallahan: "On Being Odd" and David Hansen: "Seeing Truganini" *

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 ...

– Dean Biron: "The Death of the Writer" and Moira McKinnon: "Who Killed Matilda?" *

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 ...

– Matt Rubinstein: "Body and Soul: Copyright and Law Enforcement in the Age of the Electronic Book" *

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 ...

– Martin Thomas: "Because it's your country: Bringing Back the Bones to West Arnhem Land" *

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 ...

– Christine Piper: "Unearthing the past" *

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 ...

–

Sophie Cunningham Sophie Cunningham may refer to: * Sophie Cunningham (writer) * Sophie Cunningham (basketball) {{hndis, Cunningham, Sophie ...

: "Staying with the trouble" *

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 ...

– Michael Winkler: "The Great Red Whale" *

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 ...

– Michael Adams: "Salt Blood" *

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 ...

– Lucas Grainger-Brown: "We Three Hundred" *

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 ...

–

Grace Karskens Grace Elizabeth Karskens (born 12 March 1958) is an Australian historian who is professor of history at the University of New South Wales. Career Grace Elizabeth Karskens, born in Sydney, New South Wales in 1958, graduated from the University o ...

: "Nah Doongh's Song" *

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 ...

– Yves Rees: "Reading the Mess Backwards" *

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 ...

– Theodore Ell: "Façades of Lebanon" *

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 ...

–

Simon Tedeschi Simon Tedeschi (born 1 May 1981) is an Australian classical pianist and writer. Early life Tedeschi was born in Gosford to Mark Tedeschi QC, Senior Crown Prosecutor for New South Wales, and doctor Vivienne Tedeschi, the daughter of a Poli ...

: "This Woman My Grandmother" *

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 ...

– Tracy Ellis: "Flow States" *

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 ...

– Tracey Slaughter: "why your hair is long & your stories short" *

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

– Jeanette Mrozinski: "Eucharist"

References

{{Reflist Australian literary awards Essay awards