The Stella Prize -
The Stella Count

The Stella Prize is Australia's pre-eminent literary award for women, celebrating, supporting and advocating for Australian women writers through The Stella Prize, Stella Schools and The Stella Count.

More than just a prize, Stella exists to effect social change, in which Australia is a place that hears and values women's voices.

Since 2012, Stella has compiled and published the annual Stella Count, tracking the number of books by women and men reviewed in Australian major newspapers and literary magazines. When the Stella Count was first published in 2012, about one-third of book reviews in mainstream publications focused on books by women. The result of Stella's scrutiny, and the resultant community discussion and awareness-raising, has seen the number of reviews of women's books climb, in 2017, to 46%.

The Count has become an integral part of the literary community's conversations.

Why did we fund this project? The Stella Count is about hearing, and valuing, women's voices. It is the start of the conversation and its findings have proven to be resonant with the publishing industry; mainstream media organisations; the arts sector and to the wider reading community. We believe it challenges traditional gender biases in Australian writing and publishing and uses an evidence-based approach to reduce barriers for Australian Women Writers.

For further information regarding the Stella Count, click here

The Guardian OCT2021: 10 years of The Stella Prize and how Australia's women's writing award changed a nation's literature.
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/oct/07/10-years-of-the-stella-prize-how-australias-womens-writing-award-changed-a-nations-literature?fbclid=IwAR2ILzNfR18JVecrXpnciD8R_cJ4tWSHWYvWfXNLmkwpn-k4elzJuDeXWYE