The ALS Gold Medal is awarded annually for an outstanding literary work in the preceding calendar year. The Medal was inaugurated by the Australian Literature Society, which was founded in Melbourne in 1899 and incorporated into the Association for the Study of Australian Literature in 1982. The winner receives a gold medal. ASAL members are invited to propose potential winners to the judging panel and publishers are also invited to nominate titles.

Eligibility

Nominations are invited for literary works published in the year prior to the year of the award.

Selection process

The awarding of the prize is administered and judged by a panel set up by the Association for the Study of Australian Literature.

2025 Judges

Brigid Rooney (Chair),  Joseph Steinberg, Margaret Harris.

ALS Gold Medal winner 2025

Fiona McFarlane, Highway 13 (Allen & Unwin)

ALS Gold Medal Shortlist 2025
Brian Castro, Chinese Postman (Giramondo)
Bonny Cassidy, Monument (Giramondo)
Melanie Cheng, The Burrow (Text)
Helen Garner, The Season (Text)
Nam Le, 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem (Scribner)
Siang Lu, Ghost Cities (UQP)
Fiona McFarlane, Highway 13 (Allen & Unwin)

ALS Gold Medal Longlist 2025

Judith Beveridge, Tintinnabulum (Giramondo)
Brian Castro, Chinese Postman (Giramondo)
Bonny Cassidy, Monument (Giramondo)
Melanie Cheng, The Burrow (Text)
Helen Garner, The Season (Text)
Gail Jones, One Another (Text)
Nam Le, 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem (Scribner)
Siang Lu, Ghost Cities (UQP)
Fiona McFarlane, Highway 13 (Allen & Unwin)
Raeden Richardson, The Degenerates (Text)
Elfie Shiosaki, Refugia (Magabala)
Jessie Tu, The Honeyeater (Allen & Unwin)

Warmest congratulations to all the longlisted writers! Many thanks to the judges, Brigid Rooney, Joseph Steinberg, and Margaret Harris.

The winner will be announced at the awards night of the upcoming ASAL + IABA conference of 30 June.

Winner 2024

Alexis Wright – Praiseworthy

“Alexis Wright’s astonishing novel Praiseworthy is a novel for and of our time…we need to attend and listen to this literary elder about the need for literary creativity, ancient and new ways of literary sympathy, and the intimate connection of both to justice.”

Judges, Elizabeth McMahon, Ali Alizadeh and Ann Vickery.

Terms and conditions

The ALS Gold Medal will be awarded in July 2025.

Nominations may be made either by the author or, with the nominee’s permission, by the book’s publishers or by any member of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature (ASAL).

The judges’ decision is final.

Submission process

There is a 2-step process.

1. Deadline for the nomination form is 25 October 2024.

Please select the appropriate form – Melbers / Public OR Publishers

Nomination forms must be emailed to [email protected].

2. Publishers will need to submit volumes to the judges by 4 November 2024.

Contact details for judges will be provided immediately on receipt of the Nomination Form.

Please note that all submissions will be received in confidence and securely held. Information provided will be used only for the purpose of administering the award. Entries will be accepted including proofs and embargoed copies for works published between 1 January 2024 and 31 December 2024.

ASAL thanks everyone for their participation in this process.

Queries

Queries should be directed to Dr Monique Rooney (ASAL Prize Coordinator)

ALS Gold Medal Winner 2023

Debra Dank, We Come With This Place

ALS Gold Medal shortlist citations

ALS Gold Medal shortlist 2023

Debra Dank, We Come With This Place

Robbie Arnott, Limberlost

Fiona Kelly McGregor, Iris

Gavin Yuan Gao, At the Altar of Touch

Adam Ouston, Waypoints

Charmaine Papertalk Green & John Kinsella, ART

ALS Gold Medal Longlist 2023

Robbie Arnott, Limberlost (Text)
Jessica Au, Cold Enough for Snow (Giramondo)
Michelle Cahill, Daisy and Woolf (Hachette)
Debra Dank, We Come With This Place (Echo Publishing)
Michael Farrell, Googlecholia (Giramondo)
Lionel Fogarty, Harvest Lingo (Giramondo)
Sarah Holland-Batt, The Jaguar (UQP)
Gail Jones, Salonika Burning (Text )
Fiona Kelly McGregor, Iris (Pan Macmillan)
Adam Ouston, Waypoints (Puncher & Wattmann)
Charmaine Papertalk Green & John Kinsella, ART (Magabala Books)
Jock Serong, The Settlement (Text)
Gavin Yuan Gao, At the Altar of Touch (UQP)

ALS Gold Medal Winner 2022

Andy Jackson, Human Looking (Giramondo)

ALS Gold Medal Shortlist 2022

Emily Bitto, Wild Abandon (Allen and Unwin)
Andy Jackson, Human Looking (Giramondo)
John Kinsella, Pushing Back (Transit Lounge)
SJ Norman, Permafrost (University of Queensland Press)
Elfie Shiosaki, Homecoming (Magabala Books)
Maria Takolander, Trigger Warning (University of Queensland Press)

ALS Gold Medal Longlist 2022

David Allen-Petale, Locust Summer (Fremantle Press)
Eunice Andrada, Take Care (Giramondo)
Emily Bitto, Wild Abandon (Allen and Unwin)
Katherine Brabon, The Shut Ins (Allen and Unwin)
Andy Jackson, Human Looking (Giramondo)
John Kinsella, Pushing Back (Transit Lounge)
Omar Musa, Killernova (Penguin)
SJ Norman, Permafrost (University of Queensland Press)
Elfie Shiosaki, Homecoming (Magabala Books)
Maria Takolander, Trigger Warning (University of Queensland Press)

Winner of the ALS Gold Medal 2021

Nardi Simpson, Song of the Crocodile (Hachette Australia)

 ‎ALS Gold Medal Citations 2021

ALS Gold Medal Shortlist 2021

Robbie Arnott, The Rain Heron (Text Publishing)

Luke Best, Cadaver Dog (University of Queensland Press)

Laura Jean MacKay, The Animals in That Country (Scribe Publications)

Ronnie scott, The Adversary (Penguin Books)

Nardi Simpson, Song of the Crocodile (Hachette Australia)

Ellen Van Neerven, Throat (University of Queensland Press)

ALS Gold Medal Longlist 2021

The judges for the 2021 ALS Gold Medal, Brigid Magner, Clare Archer-Lean and Jessica White, read 80 titles from 2020 and were astounded by the fecundity and innovation they demonstrated. While the pandemic has been devastating, these works show that it has also been energising for the writing and reading of Australian literature. Reflecting the open-ness of the ALS Gold medal, the longlist includes works of poetry, crime, speculative and young adult fiction by authors ranging from early career to established. Congratulations to all of the longlist contenders!

Amanda Lohrey, The Labyrinth
Robbie Arnott, The Rain Heron
Laura Jean McKay, The Animals in that Country
Cath Moore, Metal Fish, Falling Snow
Philip Salom, The Fifth Season
S.L. Lim, Revenge: Murder in Three Parts
Ali Whitelock, The Lactic Acid in the Calves of Your Despair
Ronnie Scott, The Adversary
Nardi Simpson, The Song of the Crocodile
Ellen van Neerven, Throat
Luke Best, Cadaver Dog
Andrew Pippos, Lucky’s

ALS Gold Medal Shortlist 2020

• Jordie Albiston, Element (Puncher and Wattman)
• Charmaine Papertalk Green, Nganajungu Yagu (Cordite)
• Favel Parrett, There was still love (Hachette)
• Carrie Tiffany, Exploded View (text)
• Charlotte  Wood, The Weekend (Allen & Unwin)

ALS Gold Medal Longlist 2020

ALS Gold Medal Winner 2019

click here for what we do, Pam Brown (Vagabond)

ALS Gold Medal Shortlist 2019

Read the judges’ citations

• Aqua Spinach, Luke Beesley (Giramondo)
• click here for what we do, Pam Brown (Vagabond)
• False Claims of Colonial Thieves, John Kinsella and Charmaine Papertalk-Green
• The Death of Noah Glass by Gail Jones (Text)
• Pink Mountain on Locust Island by Jamie Marina Lau (Brow)
• Beautiful Revolutionary, Laura Elizabeth Woollett (Scribe)

ALS Gold Medal Longlist 2019

• • Aqua Spinach, Luke Beesley (Giramondo)

• • Beautiful Revolutionary, Laura Elizabeth Woollett (Scribe)

• • Blakwork, Alison Whittaker (Magabala)

• • click here for what we do, Pam Brown (Vagabond)

• • False Claims of Colonial Thieves, Charmaine Papertalk-Green and John Kinsella (Magabala)

• • Flames, Robbie Arnott (Text)

• • Newcastle Sonnets, Keri Glastonbury (Giramondo)

• • Pink Mountain on Locust Island, Jamie Marina Lau (Brow)

• • The Children’s House, Alice Nelson (Vintage)

• • The Death of Noah Glass, Gail Jones (Text)

• • The Everlasting Sunday, Robert Lukins (UQP)

• Zanzibar Light, Philip Mead (Vagabond)