Northern Territory Literary Awards - Past winners
The annual Northern Territory Literary Awards have celebrated the unpublished work of Northern Territory writers for more than 35 years.
| Year | Category | Winner |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Creative Non-Fiction | James Murray - Lift Um Foot |
| Essay | Josephine Vassiliou - St Mary’s Star of the Sea War Memorial Cathedral in Darwin, Northern Territory | |
| Flash Fiction | Julie U'Ren - That Old Dog | |
| Poetry | Katharina Fehringer - HONEY | |
| Short Story | A’Mhara McKey - Blood and Dust | |
| Theatre | Lee Frank - The Last Anthill of the Wild Wild North | |
| Youth | Joe Abraham - AKAL – In the Shadows of the Slum | |
| Read the winning works from the 2023 Literary Awards | ||
2022 | Creative Non-Fiction | Naish Gawen - A World on the Wane |
| Essay | Ella Syme - Unsettling heritage: Difficult histories in the Red Centre, 1884 | |
| Flash Fiction | NG - An extra hour | |
| Poetry | Dave Clark - Velocipede | |
| Short Story | A'Mhara McKey - Into the Storm | |
| Theatre | Sean Guy - Under the Table | |
| Youth | Elisha Pettit - Flight | |
| Read the winning works from the 2022 Literary Awards | ||
| 2021 | Creative Non-Fiction | James Murray - Listnessness and the Hemisphere of Hope Alley Pascoe - A Homecoming |
| Essay | Laura Burfitt - Discrimination Against Women Prisoners in the Darwin Correctional Centre | |
| Flash Fiction | Stephen W Enciso - Re: application for the conversion of feelings | |
| Poetry | Brian Obiri-Asare - dear Alice | |
| Short Story | Barbara Eather - One Night in Millner | |
| Theatre | Sandra Thibodeaux - Calls to 1194 | |
| Youth | Elisha Pettit - Sunday | |
| Read the winning works from the 2021 Literary Awards | ||
| 2020 | Creative Non-Fiction | Susannah Ritchie - Mother's Day |
| Essay | Nuhansi Wijesinghe - To what extent does the architecture of the paediatric department at RDH promote a child's mental wellbeing and healing process? | |
| Flash Fiction | Kaye Aldenhoven - Sardines | |
| Poetry | Johanna Bell - If I were a bird | |
| Short Story | Miranda Tetlow - TAKE SHELTER | |
| Theatre | Sarah Rose Reuben and Jeffrey Jay Fowler - When The Clock Strikes Two | |
| Youth | Jethro Pollock - The Dripping Tap | |
| Read the winning works from the 2020 Literary Awards | ||
| 2019 | Creative Non-Fiction | Roland Bull - Still Flossing |
| Essay | Jacob Fajzullin - The Effects of Online Sexual Activity on Adolescent Development and its Implications for Northern Territory Middle and Secondary Schools | |
| Flash Fiction | Lee Frank - The Colours of an Arm | |
| Poetry | Susan Fielding- Lyapirtneme/No return | |
| Short Story | Glen Hunting - Centring | |
| Theatre | Mary Anne Butler - One More Hour | |
| Youth | Elisha Pettit - A Liar’s Colour | |
| Read the winning works from the 2019 Literary Awards | ||
| 2018 | Creative Non-Fiction | Lolla Stewart - OF EYES, ASTRONAUTS AND ANTS |
| Essay | Amy 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 | ||
| 2017 | Creative Non-Fiction | Kylie Stevenson - Notes from a Dying Town |
| Essay | Adelle Sefton-Rowston - Poetic Justice: A Writer's Response to Graffiti in Don Dale's Youth Detention Centre | |
| Flash Fiction | Shona 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 | |
| Youth | Sierra Haigh - Power Prey | |
| Read the winning works from the 2017 Literary Awards | ||
| 2016 | Essay | Adelle Sefton-Rowston - Cleansing and Catharsis: The River as Metaphor in Tony Birch's Ghost River |
| Flash Fiction | Oliver Kent Coulter - Outpatient | |
| Poetry | Leni Shilton - Into the West - Bertha Strehlow's Journey to Piltadi | |
| Short Story | Johanna Bell - Turning Back | |
| Theatre | Sandra Thibodeaux - The Age of Bones - Jaman Belulang | |
| Travel | Fernanda Dahlstrom - God Willing | |
| Youth | Ashleigh Abram - Visiting Hours | |
| Read the winning works from the 2016 Literary Awards | ||
| 2015 | Essay | Adelle Sefton-Rowston - Not at the End of the World: Creation Stories and Apocalypse in Alexis Wright’s ‘Carpentaria’ and ‘The Swan Book’ |
| Flash Fiction | Fernanda Dahlstrom - The Chapel | |
| Poetry | Penny Drysdale - territory night | |
| Short Story | Jo Dutton - It’s a Privilege to Live in Arrernte Country | |
| Theatre | Luke Scholes - Untitled | |
| Youth | Ka Wai (Micki) Teng – Yellow | |
| Travel | Barbara Eather - Fire in the Furnace | |
| Read the winning works from the 2015 Literary Awards | ||
| 2014 | Essay | Dr Tom Lewis - The Myth of Government Cover-up in the First Darwin Raids |
| Poetry | Kerrie A Nelson - Memento Mori | |
| Short Story | Natalie Sprite - Dark Water | |
| Theatre | Mary Anne Butler - Broken | |
| Travel | Barbara Eather - Great Wall Bad Idea | |
| Youth | Kierra-Jay Power - Climate Change | |
| Read the winning works from the 2014 Literary Awards | ||
| 2013 | Essay | Glenn Morrison - No Direction Home: Race and Belonging in a Frontier Town |
| Poetry | Kaye Aldenhoven - Five memories from the end of a life | |
| Short Story | Lois Murphy - Responsible | |
| Performance Script | Sarah Hope - The Hoist | |
| Travel | Natalie Sprite - It Feels Like Happiness | |
| Youth | Juliette Parsons - Change Takes a Change | |
| Read the winning works from the 2013 Literary Awards | ||
| 2012 | Aboriginal and Torres Strait | Joey Flynn - Territory Days |
| Essay | Leni Shilton - Looking for Bertha Strehlow - Giving Voice to Silence | |
| Poetry | Michael Giacometti - kwatye scours the sand, a sonnet | |
| Screenplay | Mary Anne Butler - Hopetown | |
| Short Story | Karen Manton - Pig | |
| Script | Sandra Thibodeaux - Lion Tamer | |
| Travel | Karen Manton - The Slow Living Diary | |
| Youth | Kierra-Jay Power - I'm Faster Than You Now | |
| Read the winning works from the 2012 Literary Awards | ||
| 2011 | Aboriginal and Torres Strait | John Bodey - Wadjita |
| Essay | Kate Smith - Imagining Darwin | |
| Poetry | Bronwyn Mehan - under attack | |
| Screenplay | Philip Denson - Lucid | |
| Script | Alex Ben-Mayor - C (299 792 458) | |
| Short Story | Sophie Constable - Khmoc | |
| Travel | Christine Wilson - The Streets of France | |
| Youth | Kierra-Jay Power - With Stars in His Eyes | |
| Read the winning works from the 2011 Literary Awards | ||
| 2010 | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander | Renato Marocchini - Guilty |
| Essay | Glenn Morrison - Two Towns Called Alice Springs | |
| Poetry | Leni Shilton - Thoughts of the Desert | |
| Screenplay | Jane Hampson - Between the lines | |
| Script | Mary Anne Butler - Dragons | |
| Short Story | Karen Manton - Susannah | |
| Travel | Kathleen Epelde - Learning to Read | |
| Youth | Kierra-Jay Power - Familiar Strangers | |
| Read the winning works from the 2010 Literary Awards | ||
| 2009 | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander | Ellen Maria Pocock - Time Marches On |
| Essay | Roland Dyrting - The Poinciana Woman of East Point | |
| Poetry | Dani Powell - Sketch of This Day | |
| Short Story | Karen Manton - Hannah’s Bread | |
| Travel | Barbara Eather - Castronomy | |
| Youth | Shona Welsh - Oubliette | |
| Read the winning works from the 2009 Literary Awards | ||
| 2008 | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander | David Curtis - What a Fright |
| Essay | Dael Allison - Psyche and the Crocodile | |
| Poetry | Ali Cobby Eckerman - Intervention Pay Day | |
| Short Story | Jennifer Mills - Plain Indians | |
| Travel | Anne Fitzpatrick - South Asia by Crutch | |
| Youth | Rosanna Cameron - Caught | |
| Read the winning works from the 2008 Literary Awards | ||
| 2007 | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander | Nabajin - A Question of Identity |
| Essay | Nigel Turvey - On natural selection and the characteristic qualities of the greater number of sailors | |
| Poetry | Bill Coburn - Kadaitcha | |
Short Story | Bruce Hocking - Shrink | |
| Youth | Oceana Setaysha - Yellow-dress Girl | |
| Read the winning works from the 2007 Literary Awards | ||
| 2006 | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander | Gloria Corliss - The Red Dress |
| Essay | Ron Ball - A Day in the Life of a Stockman | |
| Poetry | Jenny Denton - This Country | |
Short Story | Roland Dyrting - The Dead Travel Fast | |
| Youth | Stephen Caraher - Diffuse Vertigo | |
| Read the winning works from the 2006 Literary Awards | ||
| 2005 | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander | Michael Torres - Rodeo Girl |
| Essay | John Bloomfield - The Lottery of Land | |
| Poetry | Catalin Kaser - Pinata | |
| Short Story | Roland Dyrting - The Humiliation of Alfredo Garcia | |
| Youth | Amber Munkara - Coming Home | |
| Read the winning works from the 2005 Literary Awards | ||
| 2004 | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander | Michael Torres - King of Mangroves |
| Essay | David Wise - Where The Shark and Crocodile Play | |
| Poetry | Carmel Williams - Time to Die | |
| Short Story | Andrew McMillan - Who Can Blame Us For That | |
| Youth | Manya Eamus - Lost | |
| Read the winning works from the 2004 Literary Awards | ||
| 2003 | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander | Ameina Brunker - Street Dreams |
| Essay | Jane Clancy - More Firmer – Less Terror! Darwinite Recollections f the Moon Landing | |
| Poetry | Eva Rainow - No Longer | |
| Short Story | Karen Manton - The Tempest (Or walking off Progress Drive) | |
| Youth | Anita Sheridan - A Technological Dorian Gray | |
| Read the winning works from the 2003 Literary Awards | ||
| 2002 | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander | Yaritji Green - Fifty Seven |
| Essay | Alan Whykes - Smoke Gets in my Alice | |
| Poetry | Judith Steele - Train Times | |
| Short Story | Jennifer White - Dragonfly Season | |
| Youth | Briohny Doyle - On Murulax and saving the world | |
| Read the winning works from the 2002 Literary Awards |