State Library Victoria announces 2019 Inky Awards shortlist

The 2019 Inky Awards shortlist was selected by a panel of eight teen judges from around Australia and includes 10 titles across two categories: the Gold Inky for Australian fiction and the Silver Inky for international fiction. The winners will be announced as part of Melbourne Writers Festival Schools’ Program in September and the Gold Inky winner will take home $2000.

State Library Victoria Reading and Literacy Development Manager, Rebecca Henson, said the shortlist was selected from an impressive longlist of 20 novels, which covered a range of themes exploring mental health, racism, LGBTQI+ and social structures.

“Each year we are blown away by the calibre of teen works and this year is no exception. The eight judges had a challenging task of selecting the shortlist for the Gold and Silver Inky Awards. They spent hours discussing and deliberating their selection, and showed great dedication to the judging process. The result is an inclusive, authentic and engaging shortlist that showcases the best in young adult literature,” said Ms Henson.

Teen judge, Marlees, said she was proud to be part of a passionate judging panel.

“We quarrelled for three hours, yet at the end of that, we had finally created our hard-won, fabulous and diverse shortlist that was composed of five interesting Gold Australian novels and five intriguing Silver International novels. This process highlighted that although we may all be nerds and book lovers, we most definitely had conflicting views on certain topics. I hope everyone enjoys voting on the shortlist, as much as we enjoyed reading and narrowing it down,” said Marlees.

2019 Inky Awards Shortlist

Gold Inky Shortlist

Hive by A. J. Betts
Published by Pan Macmillan Australia

A Thousand Perfect Notes by C.G. Drews
Published by Hachette Australia

Amelia Westlake by Erin Gough
Published by Hardie Grant Egmont

Whisper by Lynette Noni
Published by Pantera Press

After the Lights Go Out by Lili Wilkinson
Published by Allen & Unwin

Silver Inky Shortlist
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
Published by Egmont UK Ltd (Electric Monkey)

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
Published by Allen & Unwin

The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton
Published by Hachette Australia

The Astonishing Colour of After by Emily X.R. Pan
Published by Hachette Australia

Scythe by Neal Shusterman
Published by Waker Books Public

Voting is now open to teen readers via State Library’s youth literature website insideadog.com.au.

Voting closes at 5pm AEST on 18 August and the winners will be announced at State Library Victoria on 4 September as part of Melbourne Writers Festival Schools' Program.

Information for editors
The Inky Awards were established in 2007 as Australia’s first national teen choice awards for young adult literature.

State Library Victoria connects Australia’s young people with literature, inspiring young adults to engage with books, stories, writing and ideas. Insideadog.com.au is Australia’s best loved website for books and reading for young people and a project of State Library Victoria.