1.07.20
The Australian Society of Authors is pleased to announce the judging panel for the 2020 Barbara Jefferis Award: Dr Robyn Sheahan-Bright, Dr Jeremy Fisher OAM and Barbara Horgan.
Dr Robyn Sheahan-Bright has operated justified text writing and publishing consultancy services since 1997, and is widely published. She has judged several literary awards and was inaugural director, and is a Life Member, of the Queensland Writers’ Centre. She is President of IBBY Australia and Deputy-Chair of the Australian Children’s Laureate Foundation, and was recipient of the CBCA (QLD) Dame Annabelle Rankin Award in 2011, the CBCA Nan Chauncy Award in 2012, and the QWC Johnno Award in 2014.
Dr Jeremy Fisher OAM is Adjunct Senior Lecturer in Writing at the University of New England. He is the author of numerous pieces of creative fiction, many academic papers and several novels, one of which has been translated in Vietnamese. He was Executive Director of the ASA from 2004 to 2009. Before that, he worked for over 30 years in editorial and senior management roles in publishing. He was awarded his OAM in 2017 for services to literature, education and professional organisations.
Barbara Horgan, with her husband Tony, owned Shearer’s Bookshops from 1986 to 2014. Shearer’s was named overall Bookseller of the Year in 1993 and Australian Independent Bookseller of the Year in 2011, 2012 and 2013. Barbara wrote Arthritis in Children: A Practical Guide published by William Collins (now Harper Collins) in 1982 and in 1985 won an Advance Australia Award for Outstanding Contribution in Health Education. Barbara now lives in Perth and runs three book clubs, and interviews authors.
About the award
The Barbara Jefferis Award celebrates women in literature and is awarded biennially for “the best novel written by an Australian author that depicts women and girls in a positive way or otherwise empowers the status of women and girls in society.” It is named for highly regarded author Barbara Jefferis, a founding member and executive director of the Australian Society of Authors.
The award is supported by the Barbara Jefferis Literary Fund, which was established as a result of a bequest from Barbara Jefferis’ husband, ABC film critic John Hinde, who died in 2006. The Australian Society of Authors is the Trustee of the Fund.
The winner will receive a prize of $50,000, with $5000 to be distributed among the shortlist, making this one of the most generous literary awards in Australia. This year’s award has received a record number of entries.
The shortlist will be announced on Thursday 1 October 2020, with the winner announcement taking place on Thursday 12 November 2020.
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