The Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novelists award was created in 1997 by the newspaper's literary editor,Susan Wyndham and is made annually. The awards recognise emerging writing talent, and are made to writers who are aged 35 years or younger when their book is first published.[1]
The award criteria were relaxed in 2009 to allow the inclusion of short story collections.[2] That year,Nam Le won the award with his short story collection,The Boat.
The judges change regularly, and the number of writers named as "Best Young Australian Novelist" each year varies. Ten were named in the award's first year.
| Year | Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020[6] | Alice Bishop | A Constant Hum | Text Publishing |
| Joey Bui | Lucky Ticket | Text Publishing | |
| Josephine Rowe | Here Until August | Black Inc | |
| 2021[7] | Vivian Pham | The Coconut Children | Sydney Story Factory |
| Jessie Tu | A Lonely Girl Is a Dangerous Thing | Allen & Unwin | |
| K. M. Kruimink | A Treacherous Country | Allen & Unwin | |
| 2022[8] | Ella Baxter | New Animal | Allen & Unwin |
| Michael Burrows | Where the Line Breaks | Fremantle Press | |
| Diana Reid | Love and Virtue | Ultimo Press | |
| 2023[9] | Jay Carmichael | Marlo | Scribe |
| Katerina Gibson | Women I Know | Simon and Schuster | |
| George Haddad | Losing Face | University of Queensland Press | |
| 2024[10] | André Dao | Anam | Hamish Hamilton |
| Emily O'Grady | Feast | Allen & Unwin | |
| John Morrissey | Firelight | Text Publishing |