The winner of ‘The Australian’/ Vogel Award for 2022 announced

The Australian/Vogel’s Literary Award is one of the most prestigious awards in Australia for an unpublished manuscript. Congratulations to Melbourne-based author Nell Pierce who won The Australian/Vogel Award for 2022 for her novel, A Place Near Eden.

From the press release:
“Award-winner Nell Pierce was raised in Canberra where she was dux of Canberra Girls Grammar school. Pierce studied her undergraduate degree, A Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Arts at The University of Melbourne before working as a Legal Associate at the Family Court of Australia.

In 2013 she moved abroad to study a Master of Fine Art in Fiction at the New School in New York City. After graduating, she worked there as an Associate Literary Agent until moving back to Australia at the start of the pandemic. A Place Near Eden is her first novel.”

About the award
The Australian/Vogel’s Literary Award is Australia’s oldest, richest and most prestigious prize for an unpublished manuscript by a writer under thirty-five years. In addition to the $20,000 prize, the winner is guaranteed an advance against royalties for publication with Allen & Unwin. The Award has launched the careers of some of Australia’s most successful writers, including Tim Winton, Kate Grenville, Gillian Mears, Mandy Sayer, Andrew McGahan and Rohan Wilson.

Established in 1980, The Australian/Vogel’s Literary Award changes young writers’ lives. Between them, many Vogel’s-winning authors have gone on to win or be shortlisted for other major awards, such as the Miles Franklin Award, the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, the Booker Prize and numerous Premier’s Literary Awards.