Best Literary or Media Work Advancing Public Debate (1999-2011)
or The Harry Williams Award
Subcategory of Queensland Premier's Literary Awards
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Latest Winners / Recipients

Year: 2011

winner y separately published work icon Into the Woods : The Battle for Tasmania's Forests Anna Krien , Collingwood : Black Inc. , 2010 Z1752662 2010 single work autobiography travel (taught in 2 units)

'For many years, the Tasmanian wilderness has been the site of a fierce struggle. At stake is the future of old-growth forests. Loggers and police face off with protesters deep in the forest, while savage political games are played in the courts and parliaments.

'In Into the Woods, Anna Krien, armed with a notebook, a sleeping bag and a rusty sedan, ventures behind the battlelines to see what it is like to risk everything for a cause. She speaks to ferals and premiers, sawmillers and whistle-blowers. She investigates personalities and convictions, methods and motives. This is a book about a company that wanted its way and the resistance that eventually forced it to change.

'Updated with a new afterword, Into the Woods is intimate, intrepid reporting by a fearless new voice.' (Publication summary)

Year: 2007

winner y separately published work icon Jonestown : The Power and the Myth of Alan Jones Chris Masters , 2006 Crows Nest : Allen and Unwin , 2006 Z1281656 2006 single work biography

'How do we rank a man who raises millions for people in need but whose actions waste millions in support of unworthy mates and poor public policy? How do we define someone who on his own finds jobs for the out of work but who routinely trashes the careers of others?

'These are some of the many paradoxes of Alan Jones. Why is he adored? Why is he reviled? Why does this talk radio host have the power to dine with presidents, lecture prime ministers and premiers, and influence government ministers? And how is it that he could not only survive such a scandal as the 'cash for comment' affair, but go on to greater reward? Chris Masters seeks the answers to these questions and in doing so reveals a complex individual and the potent relationship he has with both Struggle Street and the big end of town.

'Compelling and probing, Jonestown takes us to the hazardous intersection of populism and politics. It reaches deep into a powerful industry and exposes the myth and the magic of a very powerful man. a very powerful man.' (Publication summary)

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