Nominations for the Melbourne Prize for Literature 2006 are now open. We reported in March that this prize, which is to be awarded for a body of work rather than just an individual work, is to be the richest literary prize in Australia, worth $60,000. Which we think is a good thing.
The current issue of "Australian Book Review" arrived with a insert advertising the prize. It gives details of the award, lists of sponsors and patrons, and a detachable nomination form. It also list two websites which readers can visit for more information. Trouble is, at this date, neither of them lead anywhere. This is a bit poor. A lot of money and time has been spent getting the prize up and running, and in getting the organisation in place. And yet no one carried out a system check to see if the websites worked or not. It's called project development and it's the last box on the checklist. Hopefully the sites will be accessible soon. The two sites in question are: http://www.melbourneprize.org/ and http://www.melbourneprizetrust.org/.
