National Seniors Literary Prize
Subcategory of Awards Australian Awards
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History

The National Seniors Literary Prize was sponsored by Random House Australia and presented by National Seniors Australia. It was open to works of fiction written by writers aged 50 years or older who have not previously had work published. The winner receivee 12 print copies of their novel, with additional copies via print-on-demand, as well as a three-year membership to National Seniors Australia.

Latest Winners / Recipients

Year: 2014

winner y separately published work icon The Last Eaglehawk Bruce Gannaway , North Sydney : Random House , 2014 7457489 2014 single work novel war literature

'A thrilling action adventure set in wartime Australia, The Last Eaglehawk is the winner of the National Seniors Literary Prize for 2014.

'On a cold Brisbane morning in 1997, seven-year-old Benjamin Taylor is happy to stay indoors and fly jet fighters in the virtual world. For his grandfather, however, the computer game triggers a childhood memory he's kept hidden all these years . . .

'An aircraft cockpit . . . A Japanese plane in the crosshairs . . . A terrible explosion . . .

It's 1942, and aviation designer Richard Gannon is coming to terms with the rejection of his prototype fighter plane, The Eaglehawk, 'when news comes through that Darwin has been bombed by the Japanese. The Australian Government can no longer afford to drag their feet and Air Commodore Wilfred Benham has a risky, and decidedly controversial, proposal to make.

'Richard's plane will be put into production – but at only half the size. And it will be children, recruited from streets and orphanages across Australia, who will become its fighter pilots.

'The Last Eaglehawk is an exciting story of triumph and tragedy, of audacious wartime operations and the courageous children who take to the skies to defend their land. ' (Publication summary)

Year: 2013

winner y separately published work icon Burned Persephone Nicholas , North Sydney : Random House , 2013 Z1930800 2013 single work novel 'One tragic event connects four lives in this haunting story of loss, love and renewal. Burned is the winner of the National Seniors Literary Prize 2013.

Noah Daniels is an innocent young boy who treasures the telescope his father bought him and who daydreams of one day travelling through space ...

His mother Kate nurses bittersweet memories of her marriage to Richard and deeply regrets moving the family from Sydney to England ...

Malcolm Martin is still paralysed with grief twenty years after the death of his son. Home for him now is a park bench by the canal ...

And then there's Matthew Hooper - a classmate of Noah's - who has come to suspect his older brother, Tom, has a dangerous obsession with fire...

Four people, from opposites sides of the world, are about to be brought together by one horrifying event that will burn them forever.' (Publisher's blurb)

Year: 2012

winner y separately published work icon No Heil Hitler! Paul Cieslar , Warburton : Signs Publishing , 2015 17168335 2015 single work autobiography

'September 1, 1939: "The stillness of the morning was suddenly shattered when three German fighter planes appeared from behind the mountain of Kubalonka. They were in strict formation, one slightly in front of the other, as if taking part in a demonstration, barely above ground level. I could see the grey fuselage, the pilots in the cockpits and the ominous black crosses on the wings. The noise alone felt like it would shake all my teeth out. I saw the flicker of flames as the first plane fired its guns, and heard the trees above my head splintering as the stream of bullets hit them. Branches toppled down, Cattle panicked. Leaves and twigs sprayed across the field. The ricocheting bullets whined around the valley." 
'War had come to Poland and 10-year-old Paul's life had suddenly changed. Forced to abandon any outward allegiance to their Polish heritage and Seventh-day Adventist faith, Paul's family were determined to keep obedience to God foremost.' (Publication summary)

Works About this Award

Never too Old Marc McEvoy , 2012 single work column
— Appears in: The Sun-Herald , 12 August 2012; (p. 15)
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