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49-663: Andrew McGahan (10 October 1966 – 1 February 2019) was an Australian novelist. His first novel Praise is considered to be part of the Australian literary genre of grunge lit . His novel The White Earth won the 2005 Miles Franklin Award . Born in Dalby, Queensland , McGahan was the ninth of ten children and grew up on a wheat farm. commenced an Arts degree at the University of Queensland , but dropped out halfway through, in 1985, to return to

98-508: A Godless World , a work entirely without dialogue or proper nouns and delving into such topics as geology, weather and immortality and madness. It won the 2009 Aurealis Award for Science Fiction . In 2011 McGahan published The Coming of the Whirlpool , Book 1 of Ship Kings , a fantasy seafaring series. This was followed by Book 2, The Voyage of the Unquiet Ice in 2012, and Book 3, The War of

147-567: A big improvement on the way the AFI does things." The consultation period ended in July 2011 and on 20 July it was announced that the AFI would go ahead with the Australian Academy with Trewhella stating that "[The AFI] envisage that this will lead to greater opportunities for those working in the industry, as well as greater audience recognition and connection with Australian screen content." The name of

196-564: A description of the award category, the recipient of the award, and the film title cascade below each other. The statuette stands at 295mm in height, 70mm in width and 70mm in depth. When the Australian Film Institute launched the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts , it set out to create a new gold cast statuette. The statuette, which will be handed out from 2012, for the inaugural AACTA Awards, had to "reflect

245-622: A fictionalised version of the wheat district in which he had grown up. It became another bestseller, and won a raft of literary awards, in particular the Miles Franklin Award . In 2006 came Underground , an absurdist satire attacking the more extreme manifestations of the War on Terror in Australia. It received mixed reviews and caused conservative commentator Andrew Bolt to declare McGahan an "unhinged propagandist". In 2009 he wrote Wonders of

294-534: A museum, gallery or other not-for-profit institution, at the AFI's discretion. The awards were first presented in 1958 during the Melbourne Film Festival at Melbourne University 's Union Theatre. Since its inception, the awards have been predominantly presented in Melbourne but the event has alternated in there and Sydney during the 1990s and 2000s (decade). Awards are handed out over two separate events;

343-461: A production must be an Australian production or program and, in the case of a film, cannot have been previously submitted for consideration; the material is sent to the AFI in DVD or video formats; for a feature film, it must have been publicly exhibited for seven consecutive days in at least two Australian states; for television and documentaries, the production must have been broadcast on television between

392-469: A reputation than from first-time writers. For this reason, literary communities have created awards that help acknowledge exceptional debut novels. In contemporary British and American publishing markets, most authors receive only a small monetary advance before publication of their debut novel; in the rare exceptions when a large print run and high volume of sales are anticipated, the advance can be larger. For an example of an unusually high advance: in 2013,

441-588: A residency at the Queensland Theatre Company, McGahan wrote the play Bait , which was first performed by Renegade Theatre Company in Brisbane in 1995, directed by Shaun Charles, and which won a Matilda award that year. The play is set in a grim Social Security mailing room and concludes the "Gordon Trilogy" – finishing off the story of Gordon Buchanan that was begun in the novels Praise and 1988 . In 2009, McGahan co-wrote and co-directed with Shaun Charles

490-522: A stage version of The White Earth for La Boite Theatre Company in Brisbane. Both stageplays, Bait and The White Earth , have been published by Playlab Press. In 2006, McGahan's novel Last Drinks was performed at La Boite Theatre Company in an adaptation by Shaun Charles. McGahan wrote the screenplay for the feature film adaptation of Praise , featuring Sacha Horler and Peter Fenton , directed by John Curran and released in 1999. The film won multiple awards, including an AFI Award to McGahan for

539-564: A stylised Oscar, possibly Oscar's flamboyant brother waving 'hi'". The AACTA Award statuette remains the property of the Australian Film Institute, and is to remain with the winner and their heirs and descendants. It cannot be sold to a third party and if it were to part from the winner or their heir and descendants, the Academy reserves the right to repurchase it for one dollar . The award may, however, have its ownership transferred to

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588-470: A third novel, McGahan produced his first work of non-autobiographical fiction: the crime novel Last Drinks , a reflection upon the endemic political corruption in Queensland in the 1980s, and the aftermath of the famous Fitzgerald Inquiry. It won a Ned Kelly Award for crime writing. In 2004 McGahan published one of his most successful and respected novels – The White Earth , an epic and gothic tale set in

637-509: Is often credited with launching the short-lived Grunge Lit or Dirty realism movement – terminology that McGahan himself (along with most of the writers to whom it was applied) rejected. In 1995 McGahan followed up with 1988 , a prequel to Praise , partially based on time the author spent working at a lighthouse in the Northern Territory during Australia's bicentennial year. In 2000, having by his own admission struggled to come up with

686-610: The Oxford English Dictionary , the earliest attested usage of "first novel" is from 1876. However, the term is much older, with instances going back to at least 1800. The Oxford English Dictionary does not have an entry for "debut novel". The earliest usage of "debut novel" in the Google Books database is 1930 (as of 2011 ). The term appears in newspapers as early as 1922, in a review of Marjorie L.C. Pickthall 's novel The Bridge . The Google Books Ngram Viewer shows

735-405: The 2011 AACTA Awards . A medal was used between 1958 and 1975 as a gold, silver or bronze prize and depicted "three leaping jesters . Around left side, film strip with leaping jester in each frame . Around right side: THE KODAK FILM AWARD". The medal, which was designed by Andor Mészáros , represents two elements of film-making: the leaping jesters represent what the audience sees on screen;

784-910: The Australian Film Institute (AFI) as the Australian Film Institute Awards (more commonly known as the AFI Awards), "to recognise and honour outstanding achievement in the Australian film and television industry." They were instituted in 1958, "as a way to improve the impoverished state of Australian cinema", and was part of the Melbourne International Film Festival (known then as the Melbourne Film Festival) until 1972. The first AFI Awards ceremony consisted of seven fields: Documentary, Educational, Advertising, Experimental Film, Public Relations and Teaching, and an Open category for other films which did not fit in

833-488: The roll of film on the right symbolises the individual frames which capture the motion depicted. It was designed in Melbourne and minted by John Pinchas in London, in 1958. The statuette used between 1979 and 2010 is made of "four clear acrylic rectangular prisms on a silver metal base, green felt on bottom"; a plaque, which is attached to the base, has the "afi" insignia, with the words "Australian Film Institute" beneath it;

882-523: The "Kodak film award", a gold, silver or bronze medal, which was handed out from 1958 to 1975; the Grand Prix award which was a "bronze leaf shaped award mounted on a square wooden base", also presented between 1958 and 1975; a statuette, made of acrylic on a silver metal base, handed out from 1979 to 2010; and a gold statuette, based on the Southern Cross constellation, which has been in use since 2012 for

931-651: The 2005 awards judging: The controversy is a blow for the institute, which after years of criticism this year revamped its awards in an effort to restore credibility. Producer John Edwards, who collected seven nominations for Foxtel's Love My Way , did not enter a second drama series, The Surgeon , because it missed the screening deadline. "If I'd known it was this flexible, of course I would have entered it," Edwards said. "Awards are useless if they break their own rules." AFIA has also been criticised for narrow selection of artists for award nominations and an unfair judging process. There has also been controversy over both

980-666: The AACTA Awards Luncheon, a black tie event where accolades are given for achievements in non-feature and short films, film production (with the exception of the Best Film, Direction and Screenplay awards), non-drama related television programs and the Longford Lyell Award ; the AACTA Awards Ceremony presents the awards in all other categories at a larger venue and is broadcast on television. Awards were presented at

1029-463: The AFI announced an industry consultation for an "Australian Academy". The aim of the Academy is to create awareness for Australian film in local and international markets and to improve the way the AFI rewards practitioners with the formation of an "Honorary Council". Of the announcement Damian Trewhella, CEO of the AFI said, "We thought a better way to engage with the industry would be to try and improve our professional membership structure...It's quite

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1078-470: The Chapters who vote through a two step voting process. The fifteen Chapters consist of professionals from industry guilds and organisations including actors, producers, directors and screenwriters. In round one of feature film voting, each chapter determines the nominees for their own respective category; in round two all members of the Academy can vote for the shortlisted nominees in each category to determine

1127-572: The Four Isles in 2014. The fourth and final volume in the series, The Ocean of the Dead , was released in 2016. McGahan's final novel, The Rich Man's House was published posthumously in September 2019. John Birmingham praised the book, saying 'a uniquely powerful voice roars out one last time, and then stillness and silence forever. This is Andrew's masterwork. His final gift to us.' In 1992, while serving

1176-541: The Philosopher's Stone , only receive small initial print runs. Debut novels that do well will be reprinted as sales increase due to word of mouth popularity of the novels—publishers do not often run large marketing campaigns for debut novelists. There are numerous literary prizes for debut novels often associated with genre or nationality. These prizes are in recognition of the difficulties faced by debut novelists and bring attention to deserving works and authors. Some of

1225-700: The Pickwick Club (1837), all of which lack the complexity or stylistic characteristics which audiences praise in the authors' later work. There are however some debut novels that are regarded as the author's masterpiece , for example Gustave Flaubert 's Madame Bovary , Joseph Heller 's Catch 22 , Günter Grass ' The Tin Drum and Chinua Achebe 's Things Fall Apart . Sometimes, instead of writing novels to begin their career, some authors will start with short stories , which can be easier to publish and allow authors to get started in writing fiction. According to

1274-421: The aforementioned categories. Between 1958 and 1980, submitted films were presented with a gold, silver or bronze prize, and in some circumstances, a Grand Prix award, which was the highest honour a film could receive. Additionally, films were also presented with a gold or silver medallion for technical achievements, and films which did not receive a prize were given a certificate of honourable mention. From

1323-582: The author gains a literary reputation. There are exceptions, however; YouTuber Zoella published her debut novel Girl Online in November 2014, and the book sold 78,109 copies in Britain in its first week. The novel saw huge sales because she already had an established audience, and publishers were willing to run a large print run. By comparison, bestselling Fifty Shades of Grey sold 14,814 copies in its first week, or later popular novels, like Harry Potter and

1372-471: The author's typical literary characteristics . Huffington Post ' s Dave Astor attributes these to two forces: first that authors are still learning their own unique style and audiences are more willing to read works from unknown authors if they resemble more conventional styles of literature. As examples, Astor points to J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit (1937), Margaret Atwood's The Edible Woman (1969) and Charles Dickens' The Posthumous Papers of

1421-495: The awards inception to 1968, documentary and educational films were the only films submitted for awards due to few feature films produced in Australia, but in 1969, Jack and Jill: A Postscript became the first feature film to receive an award from the AFI, with a silver prize in the "Open" category, and is considered a winner in the Best Film category of the current awards. Up until 1970, prizes were handed out in recognition of

1470-471: The awards with the international awards season. When the Academy announced the dates for the inaugural awards season, they introduced awards which "recognise international excellence within the categories of best film, acting, writing and direction". On 23 November 2011, it was announced that the first award to be handed out since the Academy's inception is the Longford Lyell Award , which was presented to Don McAlpine for his contribution to cinematography, at

1519-447: The best achievements in screen excellence, regardless of geography... [and to honour] our international screen peers and celebrate fellow Australians working in screen internationally". In 2018, two new categories were announced for the 8th AACTA Awards : AACTA Award for Best Indie Film, and AACTA Award for Best Casting in Film presented by Casting Networks. To be eligible for nomination,

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1568-412: The eligibility period. The submission of a production is accompanied by an entry fee in Australian dollars, of up to A$ 1680 for feature films, $ 400 for documentaries, $ 330 for short film and animation and $ 1125 for television categories. At the time of the awards inception, a jury of five judges, composed of film critics and filmmakers, determined the winner of a production. In 1976, the jury system

1617-587: The end of each calendar year (November or December) to celebrate film achievements of the corresponding year but beginning in 2012, the awards date was changed to January to celebrate films from the previous year. Past ceremonies and a selection of main awards are shown below. As of 2023 There have been controversial decisions of the Australian Film Institute Awards that have led to claims that it has broken its own rules by including an unscreened mini series in

1666-518: The excitement of finding authors and writers without established legacies. In the same piece for the Times , Ayana Mathis describes the debut novel as "a piece of the writer's soul in a way that subsequent books can't ever be", because the novel is necessarily a work of passion and a product of all of their life before that moment. Often an author's first novel will not be as complex stylistically or thematically as subsequent works and often will not feature

1715-426: The family farm, and to commence his first novel – which was never published. He then spent the next few years working in a variety of jobs, until 1991, when he wrote his first published novel, Praise . In 1991 McGahan won The Australian/Vogel Literary Award for unpublished novels with Praise – a semi-autobiographical account of a doomed, drug and alcohol-fuelled relationship. It became an Australian bestseller, and

1764-429: The film and production, rather than achievements of individual filmmakers and crafts people. However, from 1971 special achievement awards were introduced to recognise actors, directors, screenwriters, musicians, editors and cinematographers in feature films, and from 1975, an additional cash prize was given per achievement. In 1977 feature film categories became competitive, while non-feature films continued to be awarded

1813-565: The gold, silver and bronze prizes until 1981, when they also became competitive. In 1976 the awards were broadcast live on television for the first time on the Nine Network at the Hilton Hotel in Melbourne. In 1986 television categories were introduced, presenting awards for mini-series and telefeatures before expanding to dramas, comedies and documentaries in the 1990s. In June 2011,

1862-403: The highly anticipated City on Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg captured the attention of ten publishers who started a bidding war that ended with Knopf buying the rights to the book for 2 million dollars. The book's film production rights were purchased soon after by producer Scott Rudin . For similar reasons that advances are frequently not very large—novels frequently do not sell well until

1911-504: The inaugural awards luncheon. Also in 2011, the first AACTA International Awards were launched, to take place around a month before the Oscars in Los Angeles, "to recognise excellence within the categories of best film, best acting, writing and directing and is open to any international film, voted on by the Australian academy". As of 2023 , the scope of these awards had broadened, to "honour

1960-805: The more prestigious awards around the world include the American Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award , the French Prix Goncourt du Premier Roman , the British Guardian First Book Award , the German Aspekte-Literaturpreis and the Japanese Noma Literary Prize . The New York Times commentator Leslie Jamison described the big, and often very public, "to do" about debut novels and novelists created by these book awards, as associated with

2009-623: The new Academy was revealed on 18 August 2011 as the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA), with the awards renamed to the AACTA Awards. Prior to this announcement, the awards date and location was changed to January 2012 at the Sydney Opera House in Sydney as opposed to Melbourne where it was held for the majority of the AFI Awards history. The date change was made to align

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2058-522: The prestige and heritage of the Awards[...] but which was above all distinctly Australian", while incorporating the Southern Cross constellation and the human spirit. After receiving submissions from Australian artists, with their interpretations of the design brief, a statuette designed by sculptor Ron Gomboc became the winning design. The statuette, which has a 22 karat gold body, whose human form takes on

2107-993: The producers, directors, actors, writers, and cinematographers. It is the most prestigious awards ceremony for the Australian film and television industry . They are generally considered to be the Australian counterpart of the Academy Awards for the United States and the BAFTA Awards for the United Kingdom. The awards, previously called Australian Film Institute Awards or AFI Awards , began in 1958, and involved 30 nominations across six categories. They expanded in 1986 to cover television as well as film. The AACTA Awards were instituted in 2011. The AACTA International Awards, inaugurated on 27 January 2012, are presented every January in Los Angeles. The awards were presented annually by

2156-689: The screenwriting. McGahan lived in Melbourne, with his partner of many years, Liesje. He died of pancreatic cancer, aged 52, on 1 February 2019. Debut novel Sometimes new novelists will self-publish their debut novels, because publishing houses will not risk the capital needed to market books by an unknown author to the public. Most publishers purchase rights to novels, especially debut novels, through literary agents , who screen client work before sending it to publishers. These hurdles to publishing reflect both publishers' limits in resources for reviewing and publishing unknown works, and that readers typically buy more books from established authors with

2205-550: The shape of the Southern Cross, on a tiger iron gemstone base, was designed over three months at Gomboc's home in Western Australia , before it was presented to the AFI board in June 2011. Gomboc worked with stone artist, Richard Williamson, who cut and polished each individual gemstone base for the statuette, with each base representing "[...] the unique talent and contribution to the industry of every AACTA Award recipient." When

2254-491: The statuette was unveiled at the launch of the Academy by Geoffrey Rush , he announced that a competition to name the award would commence, where people could log onto the Academy's Facebook page and post potential names on its wall. In the media it was well received, with Gary Maddox from the Sydney Morning Herald comparing it to the previous statuette, stating that it, "looks less like a lethal doorstop and more like

2303-482: The term becoming more widely used after about 1980, gaining in popularity since. Australian Film Institute Awards The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards , known as the AACTA Awards , are presented annually by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA). The awards recognise excellence in the film and television industry , both locally and internationally, including

2352-551: The winner. All television and non-feature film awards, and feature film pre-selection are determined by juries. Members of the Australian Film Institute are eligible to vote in the Best Short Fiction Film, Best Short Animation , and Audience Choice award categories only. The votes are audited by accounting firm Ernst and Young from 2011. Throughout the history of the awards there have been several differently designed awards given to winners. Most notable ones given are:

2401-456: Was replaced by a peer voting process for feature films which would allow public members the right to vote, but only in the Best Film category. The nominees and winners were later peer-voted by a jury which was made up of representatives from all industry crafts, including members of guilds, who have a "professional membership" with the AFI. When the AFI announced the launch of the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts, it introduced

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