Winners announced for 2024 Australian Book Industry Awards

ABIA Winner graphic
09/05/2024
The much-anticipated 2024 Australian Book Industry Awards were presented on Thursday 9 May at a star-studded event in Melbourne. Featuring some of the biggest names in the Australian book industry, this year’s shortlists and winners were a showcase of established luminaries and emerging talents.

The 22 winners were selected by an experienced cohort of highly-respected publishers, booksellers, agents and media and industry representatives, with winning titles presenting a significant contribution to their respective genre or category.

Thomas Mayo, co-author of The Voice to Parliament Handbook, with his three ABIA trophies

The prestigious and highly coveted 2024 ABIA Book of the Year Award was awarded to The Voice to Parliament Handbook by Thomas Mayo and Kerry O’Brien.

Crafted during a pivotal moment in Australia's political and cultural landscape, The Voice to Parliament Handbook is an extraordinary achievement, developed under intense time constraints imposed by the Referendum, and bolstered by strong support from retailers.

Indigenous leader Thomas Mayo and acclaimed journalist Kerry O'Brien co-authored the Handbook, produced by Hardie Grant Publishing, which also won the ABIA Social Impact and General Non-Fiction Book of the Year awards. Despite the Voice referendum's shortfall in support for change, this accessible guide stands as a poignant reminder of a significant moment in Australian history.

This year's Australian Book Industry Awards underscore the crucial role publishers, authors and booksellers play in combating misinformation, delivering fact-checked, trusted, and high-quality content. Another notable winner is Welcome to Sex by Melissa Kang and Yumi Stynes, with illustrations by Jenny Latham. The industry rallied behind this guide when faced with attempts by a minority to censor its content and ban it from shelves - a victory that validates the demand for trustworthy content.

Michael Gordon-Smith, CEO of the Australian Publishers Association, said of this year's Awards:

'In a year when the rights and freedoms of many of our fellow humans around the world have been misrepresented and vilified, the need for accessible, clear and trusted information has never been more pronounced. The winners of this year's awards stand as a poignant reminder of how books and reading significantly enrich our society.'

Several established and award-winning authors came to the fore this year:

  • The Teacher’s Pet by Hedley Thomas won Audiobook of the Year for its production of the  global podcast phenomenon that would eventually bring down a killer.
  • Biography Book of the Year was awarded to Miles Franklin Award-winning author Anna Funder for Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life, that uncovers the story of George Orwell’s forgotten wife.
  • Literary Fiction Book of the Year was awarded to internationally best-selling author Trent Dalton for Lola in the Mirror, which explores the darkest corners of Australian life.
  • Maxine Beneba Clarke, one of Australia’s most innovative and celebrated poets, was awarded Book of the Year for Younger Children for her latest collection of poetry, It’s The Sound of the Thing.
  • The award-winning team of Jane Godwin and Anna Walker were awarded Children’s Picture Book of the Year for A Life Song - a musically inspired story of growing up and finding your place in the world.

 

Driven by contemporary themes, 2024 saw a mix of emerging and new talent awarded:

  • Welcome to Sex written by Melissa Kang and Yumi Stynes, illustrated by Jenny Latham was awarded Book of the Year for Older Children for its ‘there’s no silly question’ guide to sexuality and pleasure.
  • Amber Creswell’s Australians Abstract was awarded Illustrated Book of the Year building on her artistic review credentials with her survey of more than 40 Australian abstract artists.
  • International Book of the Year was awarded to Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros, a book that achieved viral success on TikTok's reader community BookTok, propelling it to number one on The New York Times bestseller list.
  • Small Publishers’ Children’s Book of the Year was awarded to Artichoke to Zucchini: an alphabet of delicious things from around the world by Alice Oehr, which introduces young readers to fruit, vegetables, and dishes from around the globe.
  • The Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year was awarded to Green Dot by Madeleine Gray for her relatable tale of a messy love story that captures the allure of chasing something that promises nothing.

 

Indigenous authors and publishing were once again featured in this year’s awards:

  • Edenglassie by Melissa Lucashenko was awarded Small Publisher’s Adult Book of the Year for her epic novel set in Brisbane, telling two extraordinary First Nations stories, set five generations apart.
  • The Voice to Parliament Handbook by Thomas Mayo and Kerry O'Brien was also awarded both General Non-Fiction Book of the Year and Social Impact Book of the Year.
  • Magabala Books, Australia’s leading Indigenous publisher based in the remote Kimberley town of Broome, Western Australia was awarded Small Publisher of the Year for its work in nurturing the talent and diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices.

 

Business Awards

Recipients of the industry business awards were:

  • Penguin Random House Australia for Publisher of the Year;
  • Fullers Bookshop in Hobart for Bookshop of the Year;
  • Magabala Books, for Small Publisher of the Year.
  • Catherine Milne was awarded Commissioning Editor/Publisher of the Year
  • The Affirm Press campaign for The Bookbinder of Jericho won Marketing Strategy of the Year

 

Browse the full list of winners with comments from judges on the ABIA website.

Thank you to our sponsors

Our grateful thanks to all our ABIA 2024 partners and sponsors. Their contributions and dedicated support of the industry are a valued part of this event.

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