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Northern Territory Literary Awards - Past winners

The annual Northern Territory Literary Awards have celebrated the unpublished work of Northern Territory writers for 40 years. 

YearCategoryWinner
2024Creative Non-FictionDave Clark - Remember
 EssaySteve Hawkins - The Compulsory Teaching in English for the First Four Hours of Each School Day policy (2008, NT): an evaluation
 Flash FictionLee Frank - The Earth Flicking Beneath our Mobility Devices
 PoetryFiona Dorrell - Precious Thing
 Short StoryBarbara Eather - The Madness of Being Loved
 TheatreSarah Reuben - She Sits
 YouthGabriella Francis - Bittersweet Seventeen
  Read the winning works from the 2024 Literary Awards
2023Creative Non-FictionJames Murray - Lift Um Foot
 EssayJosephine Vassiliou - St Mary’s Star of the Sea War Memorial
Cathedral in Darwin, Northern Territory
 Flash FictionJulie U'Ren - That Old Dog
 PoetryKatharina Fehringer - HONEY
 Short StoryA’Mhara McKey - Blood and Dust
 TheatreLee Frank - The Last Anthill of the Wild Wild North
 YouthJoe Abraham - AKAL – In the Shadows of the Slum
  Read the winning works from the 2023 Literary Awards
2022Creative Non-FictionNaish Gawen - A World on the Wane
 EssayElla Syme - Unsettling heritage: Difficult histories in the Red Centre, 1884
 Flash FictionNG - An extra hour
 PoetryDave Clark - Velocipede
 Short StoryA'Mhara McKey - Into the Storm
 TheatreSean Guy - Under the Table
 YouthElisha Pettit - Flight
  Read the winning works from the 2022 Literary Awards
2021Creative Non-Fiction

James Murray - Listnessness and the Hemisphere of Hope

Alley Pascoe - A Homecoming

 EssayLaura Burfitt - Discrimination Against Women Prisoners in the Darwin Correctional Centre
 Flash FictionStephen W Enciso - Re: application for the conversion of feelings
 PoetryBrian Obiri-Asare - dear Alice
 Short StoryBarbara Eather - One Night in Millner
 TheatreSandra Thibodeaux - Calls to 1194 
 YouthElisha Pettit - Sunday
  Read the winning works from the 2021 Literary Awards
2020Creative Non-FictionSusannah Ritchie - Mother's Day
 EssayNuhansi Wijesinghe - To what extent does the architecture of the paediatric department at RDH promote a child's mental wellbeing and healing process?
 Flash FictionKaye Aldenhoven - Sardines
 PoetryJohanna Bell - If I were a bird
 Short StoryMiranda Tetlow - TAKE SHELTER
 TheatreSarah Rose Reuben and Jeffrey Jay Fowler - When The Clock Strikes Two
 YouthJethro Pollock - The Dripping Tap
  Read the winning works from the 2020 Literary Awards
2019Creative Non-FictionRoland Bull - Still Flossing
 EssayJacob Fajzullin - The Effects of Online Sexual Activity on Adolescent Development and its Implications for Northern Territory Middle and Secondary Schools
 Flash FictionLee Frank The Colours of an Arm
 PoetrySusan Fielding- Lyapirtneme/No return 
 Short StoryGlen Hunting - Centring
 TheatreMary Anne Butler - One More Hour
 YouthElisha Pettit - A Liar’s Colour
  Read the winning works from the 2019 Literary Awards
2018Creative Non-Fiction

Lolla Stewart - OF EYES, ASTRONAUTS AND ANTS

 EssayAmy Claire Thomas - ‘Unviable’ languages? Colonisation, assimilation, and bilingual education in the Northern Territory
 Flash Fiction

Johanna Bell - Virginia Woolf would be proud 

 Poetry

Johanna Bell - What to do with the foam in my mouth

 Short Story

Mhairi Duncan - The Virgin Mary and Katrina Sparks

 Theatre Mary Anne Butler - Cusp
 Youth

Ellaby Kenneth - Vanilla

  Read the winning works from the 2018 Literary Awards
2017Creative Non-FictionKylie Stevenson - Notes from a Dying Town 
 EssayAdelle Sefton-Rowston - Poetic Justice: A Writer's Response to Graffiti in Don Dale's Youth Detention Centre
 Flash FictionShona Ford - Dear Diary 
 Poetry    Michael Giacometti - In the Soft Light of Dawn
 Short Story    Miranda Tetlow - This Is Where You Come From
 Theatre Lee Frank - Lured
 YouthSierra Haigh - Power Prey
  Read the winning works from the 2017 Literary Awards
2016EssayAdelle Sefton-Rowston - Cleansing and Catharsis: The River as Metaphor in Tony Birch's Ghost River
 Flash FictionOliver Kent Coulter - Outpatient
 PoetryLeni Shilton - Into the West - Bertha Strehlow's Journey to Piltadi
 Short StoryJohanna Bell - Turning Back
 TheatreSandra Thibodeaux - The Age of Bones - Jaman Belulang 
 TravelFernanda Dahlstrom - God Willing 
 YouthAshleigh Abram - Visiting Hours 
  Read the winning works from the 2016 Literary Awards
2015EssayAdelle Sefton-Rowston - Not at the End of the World: Creation Stories and Apocalypse in Alexis Wright’s ‘Carpentaria’ and ‘The Swan Book’
 Flash FictionFernanda Dahlstrom - The Chapel
 PoetryPenny Drysdale - territory night
 Short StoryJo Dutton - It’s a Privilege to Live in Arrernte Country
 TheatreLuke Scholes - Untitled
 YouthKa Wai (Micki) Teng – Yellow
 TravelBarbara Eather - Fire in the Furnace
  Read the winning works from the 2015 Literary Awards
2014EssayDr Tom Lewis - The Myth of Government Cover-up in the First Darwin Raids    
 PoetryKerrie A Nelson - Memento Mori
 Short StoryNatalie Sprite - Dark Water
 TheatreMary Anne Butler - Broken
 TravelBarbara Eather - Great Wall Bad Idea
 YouthKierra-Jay Power - Climate Change
  Read the winning works from the 2014 Literary Awards
2013EssayGlenn Morrison - No Direction Home: Race and Belonging in a Frontier Town
 PoetryKaye Aldenhoven - Five memories from the end of a life
 Short StoryLois Murphy - Responsible
 Performance ScriptSarah Hope - The Hoist
 TravelNatalie Sprite - It Feels Like Happiness
 YouthJuliette Parsons - Change Takes a Change 
  Read the winning works from the 2013 Literary Awards
2012Aboriginal and Torres StraitJoey Flynn - Territory Days
 EssayLeni Shilton - Looking for Bertha Strehlow - Giving Voice to Silence    
 PoetryMichael Giacometti - kwatye scours the sand, a sonnet
 ScreenplayMary Anne Butler - Hopetown
 Short StoryKaren Manton - Pig
 ScriptSandra Thibodeaux - Lion Tamer
 TravelKaren Manton - The Slow Living Diary
 YouthKierra-Jay Power - I'm Faster Than You Now
  Read the winning works from the 2012 Literary Awards
2011Aboriginal and Torres StraitJohn Bodey - Wadjita
 EssayKate Smith - Imagining Darwin    
 PoetryBronwyn Mehan - under attack
 ScreenplayPhilip Denson - Lucid    
 ScriptAlex Ben-Mayor - C (299 792 458)
 Short StorySophie Constable - Khmoc
 TravelChristine Wilson - The Streets of France
 YouthKierra-Jay Power - With Stars in His Eyes
  Read the winning works from the 2011 Literary Awards
2010Aboriginal and Torres Strait IslanderRenato Marocchini - Guilty
 EssayGlenn Morrison - Two Towns Called Alice Springs
 PoetryLeni Shilton - Thoughts of the Desert
 ScreenplayJane Hampson - Between the lines
 ScriptMary Anne Butler - Dragons
 Short StoryKaren Manton - Susannah
 TravelKathleen Epelde - Learning to Read
 YouthKierra-Jay Power - Familiar Strangers
 
  Read the winning works from the 2010 Literary Awards
2009Aboriginal and Torres Strait IslanderEllen Maria Pocock - Time Marches On
 EssayRoland Dyrting - The Poinciana Woman of East Point
 PoetryDani Powell - Sketch of This Day
 Short StoryKaren Manton - Hannah’s Bread
 TravelBarbara Eather - Castronomy 
 YouthShona Welsh - Oubliette
  Read the winning works from the 2009 Literary Awards 
2008Aboriginal and Torres Strait IslanderDavid Curtis - What a Fright
 EssayDael Allison - Psyche and the Crocodile
 PoetryAli Cobby Eckerman - Intervention Pay Day
 Short StoryJennifer Mills - Plain Indians
 TravelAnne Fitzpatrick - South Asia by Crutch
 YouthRosanna Cameron - Caught
  Read the winning works from the 2008 Literary Awards 
2007Aboriginal and Torres Strait IslanderNabajin -  A Question of Identity
 EssayNigel Turvey - On natural selection and the characteristic qualities of the greater number of sailors
 PoetryBill Coburn - Kadaitcha
 Short StoryBruce Hocking - Shrink
 YouthOceana Setaysha - Yellow-dress Girl
  Read the winning works from the 2007 Literary Awards 
2006Aboriginal and Torres Strait IslanderGloria Corliss - The Red Dress
 EssayRon Ball -  A Day in the Life of a Stockman
 PoetryJenny Denton - This Country
 Short StoryRoland Dyrting - The Dead Travel Fast
 YouthStephen Caraher - Diffuse Vertigo
  Read the winning works from the 2006 Literary Awards 
2005Aboriginal and Torres Strait IslanderMichael Torres - Rodeo Girl
 EssayJohn Bloomfield - The Lottery of Land
 PoetryCatalin Kaser - Pinata
 Short StoryRoland Dyrting - The Humiliation of Alfredo Garcia
 YouthAmber Munkara - Coming Home
  Read the winning works from the 2005 Literary Awards 
2004Aboriginal and Torres Strait IslanderMichael Torres - King of Mangroves
 EssayDavid Wise - Where The Shark and Crocodile Play
 PoetryCarmel Williams - Time to Die
 Short StoryAndrew McMillan - Who Can Blame Us For That
 YouthManya Eamus - Lost
  Read the winning works from the 2004 Literary Awards 
2003Aboriginal and Torres Strait IslanderAmeina Brunker - Street Dreams
 EssayJane Clancy - More Firmer – Less Terror! Darwinite Recollections f the Moon Landing
 PoetryEva Rainow - No Longer
 Short StoryKaren Manton -  The Tempest (Or walking off Progress Drive)
 YouthAnita Sheridan - A Technological Dorian Gray
  Read the winning works from the 2003 Literary Awards 
2002Aboriginal and Torres Strait IslanderYaritji Green - Fifty Seven
 EssayAlan Whykes - Smoke Gets in my Alice
 PoetryJudith Steele - Train Times
 Short StoryJennifer White - Dragonfly Season
 YouthBriohny Doyle - On Murulax and saving the world
  Read the winning works from the 2002 Literary Awards