(L-R): John Souness, Urzila Carlson, Geraldine Hickey, Joshua Ladgrove, Steph Tisdell, Aaron Chen, Blake Freeman, Sam Taunton and James Acaster. Photo supplied.
Melbourne International Comedy Festival Award winners revealed
Each year the Melbourne International Comedy Festival recognises the best and brightest shows and comedians with a series of awards presented in the final week of the Festival.
The winners of the 2019 Melbourne International Comedy Festival Awards are:
Melbourne International Comedy Festival Award for the most outstanding show: James Acaster, Cold Lasagne Hate Myself 1999 (UK);
Best Newcomer Award: Blake Freeman, There’s Something There;
People’s Choice Award: Urzila Carlson, Loser;
Directors’ Choice Award: Aaron Chen, Piss Off (Just Kidding);
The Pinder Prize: For 2019 the Pinder Prize is going to support two performers making their Edinburgh Fringe debut at the Assembly venues in August: Sam Taunton, who is taking his show Straight From The Shoulder, and Steph Tisdell (who will be appearing in The Aboriginal Allstars alongside Andy Saunders & Kevin Kropinyeri);
The Golden Gibbo: Neal Portenza & Joshua Ladgrove, Neal Portenza is Joshua Ladgrove;
The Piece of Wood: Geraldine Hickey, Things Are Going Well, and
The Funny Tonne (Presented to the person who saw the most Festival shows and wrote the most reviews): John Souness.
Australian Publishers Association Hall of Fame Award winners named
The Australian Publishers Association (APA) has announced the winners of their Australian Book Industry Awards’ (ABIAs) Hall of Fame Awards.
Recognising outstanding service to the Australian book industry, The Lloyd O’Neil Award was awarded to Richard Walsh.
The Pixie O’Harris Award for consistent contribution to children’s literature went to Kathy Kozlowski, a bookseller at Readings Kids bookstore in Melbourne.
The Rising Star Award went to Ella Chapman, Head of Marketing and Communications at Hachette Australia, who has also worked at other publishing houses in Sydney and Melbourne. Chapman said, ‘To be able to carve out a career that’s rooted in books and then to be able to lead and work with a team of people who share that passion and drive to bring our books to a local and global audience is almost unbelievable to me.’
2018 Ashurst Business Literature Prize Shortlist. Supplied.
Russell Prize for Humour Writing and Ashurst Business Literature Prize shortlists announced
The State Library of NSW has announced the shortlisted books for the Russell Prize for Humour Writing, Australia’s only prize for humour writing, valued at $10,000, and the $30,000 Ashurst Business Literature Prize:
2019 Russell Prize for Humour Writing Shortlist:
The Hunter and other stories of men by David Cohen (Transit Lounge);
Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton (HarperCollins Publishers);
Deadly Kerfuffle by Tony Martin (Affirm Press);
The Drover’s Wives by Ryan O’Neill (Brio Books);
The Helen 100 by Helen Razer (Allen & Unwin), and
The Lucky Galah by Tracy Sorensen (Picador Australia).
2018 Ashurst Business Literature Prize Shortlist:
The Big Four: The Curious and Perilous Future of the Global Accounting Monopoly by Ian D. Gow and Stuart Kells (La Trobe University Press);
The Price of Fortune by Damon Kitney (HarperCollins Publishers);
Swanston: Merchant Statesman by Eleanor Robin (Australian Scholarly Publishing);
Elizabeth Macarthur: A Life at the Edge of the World by Michelle Scott Tucker (Text Publishing), and
The Lives of Brian by Brian Sherman and AM Jonson (Melbourne University Publishing).
