Premier's Book Awards winners announced

• Premier's Prize awarded to Kim Scott for That Deadman Dance
• Record number of entries and two new award categories this year
• Awards celebrate creativity, hard work and talent

Culture and the Arts Minister John Day has announced the winners of the Western Australian Premier's Book Awards and presented the $25,000 Premier's Prize to Kim Scott for his fiction novel That Deadman Dance.

"The Premier's Book Awards have a long and proud history and they are evolving with a record number of entries received and two additional award categories established," Mr Day said.

"The awards are a celebration of the industry's creativity, hard work and talent and each shortlisted author should be proud of their contributions to the richness and diversity of our literary culture."

Category winners:

• Non-Fiction: Jim Davidson - Three-Cornered Life: The Historian W. K. Hancock
• Fiction: Kim Scott - That Deadman Dance                                      
• Scripts: Tommy Murphy - Gwen in Purgatory                 
• Children's Books: Sally Murphy and Rhian Nest James - Toppling
• Poetry: Mark Tredinnick - Fire Diary                                           
• Young Adults: (Joint winners) James Roy for Anonymity Jones, and Scot Gardner for Happy as Larry
• State Library of Western Australia WA History: Dr Susanna Iuliano - Vite Italiane: Italian Lives in Western Australia
• People's Choice Award: Lisa Lang - Utopian Man.

The Digital Narrative Encouragement Award was presented to Robin Craig Clark for The Garden.

      Fact File

• For more information on the WA Premier's Book Awards visit the website
• The Judging Panel was chaired by Dr Rose Lucas with panel members Frank Palmos, Beverley Jacobson, Dr Lucy Dougan, Professor John Tonkin, Tehani Wessely, Miffy Farquharson, Judi Jagger, Professor Jan Carter, Associate Professor Robyn McCarron, Delys Bird, Dr Jean Chetkovich and Polly Low. 

Minister's office - 9213 6600