The Age Book of the Year Awards

The Age Book of the Year Awards were annual literary awards presented by Melbourne's The Age newspaper. The awards were first presented in 1974. After 1998, they were presented as part of the Melbourne Writers Festival. Initially, two awards were given, one for fiction (or imaginative writing), the other for non-fiction work, but in 1993, a poetry award in honour of Dinny O'Hearn was added. The criteria were that the works be "of outstanding literary merit and express Australian identity or character," and be published in the year before the award was made. One of the award-winners was chosen as The Age Book of the Year. The awards were discontinued in 2013.

In 2021 The Age Book of the Year was revived as a fiction prize, with the winner announced at the Melbourne Writers Festival. A non-fiction prize was added the following year.

First Book

 * 2005: The Unknown Zone by Phil Smith