The Stella Prize
Shortlist Prize Funding
The Stella Prize is a major new literary award celebrating Australian women's writing (both non-fiction and fiction). The prize is named after one of Australia's iconic female authors, Stella Maria 'Miles' Franklin, and was awarded for the first time in 2013. The Stella Prize seeks to recognise and celebrate Australian women writers' contribution to literature; bring more readers to books by women and thus increase their sales; and provide role models for schoolgirls and emerging female writers. The Nelson Meers Foundation provided funding to The Stella Prize in 2014 and 2015 to permit the shortlisted authors to also receive financial acknowledgement.
Why did we fund this project? Prize money such as this secures a writer a small measure of financial independence, which gives them time - that most undervalued yet necessary commodity for women - to focus on their writing. Storytelling is an essential part of our national identity, and we believe in giving in Australian writers more opportunities to tell our stories.
The winner of the 2015 Stella Prize was Emily Bitto for The Strays. This was the first time a debut work had won the Stella Prize. Click here to read more.
The Stella Prize
Schools Program
The Stella Prize Schools Program (SPSP) has been established to promote the study of books by Australian women in secondary school classrooms. The program aims to give students a fuller understanding of Australia's rich literary history; to raise awareness about issues of unconscious bias in the publishing world; and to provide students with sharper critical reading skills both in terms of gender dynamics of the books they study and the ways that books are marketed and presented to them.
Why did we fund this project? The SPSP is a crucial component of Stella’s work to achieve equal representation for Australian women writers, and a step towards a more inclusive Australian identity.
http://thestellaprize.com.au/resources/schools-program/
For further information regarding The Stella Prize click here.