‘The Rosie Project’ wins 2012 Victorian Premier’s unpublished manuscript award

Monday, 4 June 2012 Books+Publishing

A novel about a man with undiagnosed Asperger’s Syndrome who is looking for the perfect partner has won this year’s Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an unpublished manuscript, announced during the Emerging Writers’ Festival in Melbourne.

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion was selected for the $15,000 prize from a shortlist of three manuscripts, which also included The Day We Lost the Moon by Rose Mulready and Strange Eventful History by Stephen Samuel. In addition to the cash prize, Simsion will also receive professional development support from Writers Victoria.

The judges for this year’s award—Nick Gadd, Peter Mews, Zoe Dattner and Roderick Poole—described Simsion’s novel as ‘moving and comic’ and praised his ‘remarkable narrative voice’.

Announcing the winner on behalf of Premier and Arts Minister Ted Baillieu, Victorian member of parliament Jeanette Powell congratulated Simsion and the other shortlisted writers, saying that the award ‘represents a terrific opportunity for an emerging writer to get that big career break and the public recognition they deserve’.

The Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an unpublished manuscript was last presented in 2010, to Peggy Frew for House of Sticks, which was published by Scribe in 2011.

For more information about the award, visit the Wheeler Centre website here.

Category: Local news