Western Australian Premier's Book Awards - Special Category Winners

For the 2000 Awards, the categories of Historical and Critical Studies and Special Award were combined into a Non-Fiction category with two awards presented in this category.

1999

Abrolhos Islands Conversations - Victor France, Larry Mitchell & Alison Wright
Fremantle Arts Centre Press
Judges' Comments
An authentic and distinctive culture with its own traditions, mores and expectations has emerged from the human activity that has taken place in the unique environment of the Abrolhos Islands. It is brilliantly captured in the frank, unembellished interviews in this collaborative work, which is enhanced by excellent drawings and portraits.

1998

Pomegranate Season - Carolyn Polizzotto
Fremantle Arts Centre Press
Judges' Comments
This is a beautifully written autobiographical account of the author's gradual acceptance of her child's disability.
It is structured as a detailed diary which has the effect of underlining the slow daily process of healing. The author focuses especially on daily minutiae concerning the plants growing in her garden, the tending of which she shares with her husband. Sometimes the plants have to be cut back or controlled in some way; sometimes they burst unexpectedly into wonderful blooms. The daily attention to the garden is a metaphor for the daily observance and care of the loved but disabled child who also sometimes performs in unexpected ways, bringing moments of unlooked-for joy. This is an innovative work by one of our most skilled writers.

1997

Songs of Strength: Sixteen Women Talk About Cancer
Women's Cancer Group (Macmillan)
Judges' Comments
In Songs of Strength: Sixteen Women Talk about Cancer, by the Women's Cancer Group, we are presented with clear readable accounts of the changes in the lives of women who have been diagnosed as having cancer. They eschew sentimentality in favour of tough-minded accounts of their experiences and of the changes in their lives because of this illness. This is an unusual book by people who have experienced something widely dreaded by most of the community. There is a note of defiance, even of celebration about this book, which is truly a remarkable achievement. The book has been made with enormous skill and craft; its intelligence shines through the individual compositions as well as the editing and the final shape of the work.

1996

The Kimberley - A journey through Northwest Australia - Mike Leonard
CIS Cardigan Street Publishers
Judges' Comments
Mike Leonard's The Kimberley - A Journey through Northwest Australia is a book of superb and precise photographs presented with the highest standards of production.

1995

Plants of the Perth Coast and Islands - Elizabeth Rippey and Barbara Rowland
University of WA Press
Judges' Comments
Elizabeth Rippey and Barbara Rowland's Plants of the Perth Coast and Islands is a superb combination of scientific exactitude and artistic creativity. It is a wonderful resource book and delightful companion to keep in hand when walking along the western beaches.

1994

Summer Shorts - Peter Holland
Fremantle Arts Centre Press
Judges' Comments
In compiling his very eclectic collection of stories, poetry and graphics, Summer Shorts, Peter Holland has succeeded in coaxing memorable contributions out of new, unexpected and expatriate Western Australian writers. The standard of writing and production is uniformly high.

1993

One Small Step - Heather Nimmo
Unpublished film script

1992

Day of the Dog - James Ricketson
Unpublished film script

1991

Bran Nue Dae - Jimmy Chi, Patrick B. Amat, Garry Gower, Michael Manolis, and Stephen Pigram
Currency Press and Magabala Books

1990 (Joint Winners)

Noonkanbah - Steve Hawke and Michael Gallagher
Fremantle Arts Centre Press
Dying Inside - Duncan Graham
Allen & Unwin

1989 (Joint Winners)

Raparapa - Paul Marshall (editor)
Magabala Books
Organise! Labour a Visual Record - Lenore Layman and Julian Goddard
Trades & Labour Council

1988

Kathleen O'Connor: Artist in Exile - P A Hutchings and Julie Lewis
Fremantle Arts Centre Press

1987

No Sugar - Jack Davis
Currency Press

1986

Portrait - A West Coast Collection - B. R. Coffey and Wendy Jenkins
Fremantle Arts Centre Press