On March 12 this year Brisbane's "Courier-Mail" newspaper announced details of this year's "Book of the Year Awards". Specifically they stated that the closing date for entries would be April 15, with the shortlist released in early July, and the winner announced on August 6.
So I kept that date of early July in mind and checked back pretty regularly to see if the shortlist had been finalised. Nope. Nothing seemed to have been announced. The newspaper's website doesn't seem to have a search facility - well, maybe it does but I can't find it - so, in despair, I googled the awards this morning and came up with the list of books on the shortlist that was announced on July 15th. Great. Still can't figure out how to get to it from the paper's front page though.
Anyway the list:
The Running Man by Michael Gerard Bauer
The Silver Donkey by Sonya Hartnett
Secret Scribbled Notebooks by Joanne Horniman
Black Juice by Margo Lanagan
The Spare Roo by Kathryn Lomer
The emphasis of this year's award is on novels for young adults. And from all accounts (I've only read the Lanagan) the list is pretty strong.
