Next year the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards (VPLAs) celebrates 40 years, and entries to the 2025 awards are now open. But this time, as part of its birthday celebrations, there’s a new category introduced: the John Clarke Prize for Humour Writing. As of next year, it joins the awards program that includes the country’s most lucrative literary prize.
As one of only two awards to recognise humour writing in Australia, the inaugural John Clarke Prize for Humour Writing will be open to books of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and young adult writing published in 2023 and 2024. Writer-director Lorin Clarke, the eldest of John’s two daughters, will serve as a member of the prize’s judging panel.
