Ross wins final Vogel

First Year by Kristina Ross has won this year’s $20,000 Australian/Vogel’s Literary Award, for an unpublished manuscript by an author under the age of 35.

First Year follows Maeve, a seventeen-year-old who wins a place at one of the most esteemed drama schools in Australia to study acting. Moving from Queensland to Melbourne, Maeve ‘throws herself into the classes, pushing the boundaries of her craft, and is pushed to the limits herself by her peers and mentors’. ‘These are Maeve’s formative years, and she is thrust quickly into a world where failure isn’t an option, where the rigorous daily tasks take a physical and mental toll,’ publisher A&U said. ‘And it doesn’t take long for her to figure out the drama isn’t only saved for the classroom stage.’

Ross is a Gold Coast writer and producer for the stage and screen. A graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts and a recipient of Queensland Theatre’s Young Playwrights Award, Ross has worked as an actor for the Melbourne Theatre Company, Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre, the Artisan Collective and the ABC.

First Year is published today, 18 June.

As previously reported by Books+Publishing, this year’s Australian/Vogel’s Award will be the last, with the Australian’s literary editor Caroline Overington stating the newspaper will ‘honour [the Vogel’s] legacy’ with a new prize, ‘open to all Australian writers—regardless of age’.

The new Australian Fiction Prize will be presented in partnership with HarperCollins, with the winner to receive prize money of $20,000, plus an advance of $15,000, and publication by HarperCollins.

Category: Awards Local news