The Age Book of the Year
The Age Book of the Year Awards were annual literary awards presented by Melbourne's The Age newspaper. The awards were first presented in 1974. After 1998, they were presented as part of the Melbourne Writers Festival. Initially, two awards were given, one for fiction, the other for non-fiction work, but in 1993, a poetry award in honour of Dinny O'Hearn was added. The criteria were that the works be "of outstanding literary merit and express Australian identity or character", and be published in the year before the award was made. One of the award-winners was chosen as The Age Book of the Year. The awards were discontinued in 2013.
''The Age'' Book of the Year
- 2012: 1835: The Founding of Melbourne & The Conquest of Australia by James Boyce
- 2011: Indelible Ink by Fiona McGregor
- 2010: Lovesong by Alex Miller
- 2009: Things We Didn't See Coming by Steven Amsterdam
- 2008: American Journeys by Don Watson
- 2007: Colonial Ambition: Foundations of Australian Democracy by Peter Cochrane
- 2006: Friendly Fire by Jennifer Maiden
- 2005: Plenty: Digressions on Food by Gay Bilson
- 2004: Totem by Luke Davies
- 2003: Of a Boy by Sonya Hartnett
- 2002: Recollections of a Bleeding Heart: Paul Keating PM by Don Watson
- 2001: Untold Lives and Later Poems by Rosemary Dobson
- 2000: Isobel on the Way to the Corner Shop by Amy Witting
- 1999: Sacred Places: War Memorials in the Australian Landscape by K.S. Inglis
- 1998: Three Dollars by Elliot Perlman
- 1997: Jack Maggs by Peter Carey
- 1996: The Multiple Effects of Rainshadow by Thea Astley
- 1995: The Future Eaters by Tim Flannery
- 1994: The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith by Peter Carey
- 1993: The George's Wife by Elizabeth Jolley
- 1992: Lover's Knots by Marion Halligan
- 1991: Patrick White: A Life by David Marr
- 1990: Blessed City by Gwen Harwood
- 1989: Mariners are Warned: John Lort Stokes and HMA Beagle by Marsden Hordern
- 1988: Forty Seventeen by Frank Moorhouse
- 1987: Stories from the Warm Zone by Jessica Anderson
- 1986: Sister Ships by Joan London
- 1985: Illywhacker by Peter Carey
- 1984: The Bellarmine Jug by Nicholas Hasluck
- 1983: Mr Scobie's Riddle by Elizabeth Jolley
- 1982: Fly Away Peter by David Malouf
- 1980: Joint winners
- 1979: by Roger McDonald
- 1978: The Year of Living Dangerously by Christopher Koch
- 1976: A Late Picking by A. D. Hope
- 1975: A Kindness Cup by Thea Astley
- 1974: The Pure Land by David Foster
Fiction (or Imaginative Writing) Award
- 2012: Foal's Bread by Gillian Mears
- 2011: Indelible Ink by Fiona McGregor
- 2010: Lovesong by Alex Miller
- 2009: Things We Didn't See Coming by Steven Amsterdam
- 2008: Breath by Tim Winton
- 2007: Every Move You Make by David Malouf
- 2006: Dead Europe by Christos Tsiolkas
- 2005: Sixty Lights by Gail Jones
- 2004: The White Earth by Andrew McGahan
- 2003: Of a Boy by Sonya Hartnett
- 2002: Gilgamesh by Joan London
- 2001: True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey
- 2000: Isobel on the Way to the Corner Shop by Amy Witting
- 1999: The Deep Field by James Bradley
- 1998: Three Dollars by Elliot Perlman
- 1997: Jack Maggs by Peter Carey
- 1996: The Multiple Effects of Rainshadow by Thea Astley
- 1995: Billy Sunday by Rod Jones
- 1994: The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith by Peter Carey
- 1993: The George's Wife by Elizabeth Jolley
- 1992: Lover's Knots by Marion Halligan
- 1991: Double-Wolf by Brian Castro
- 1990: Longleg by Glenda Adams
- 1989: My Father's Moon by Elizabeth Jolley
- 1988: Forty Seventeen by Frank Moorhouse
- 1987: Stories from the Warm Zone by Jessica Anderson
- 1986: Sister Ships by Joan London
- 1985: Illywhacker by Peter Carey
- 1984: The Bellarmine Jug by Nicholas Hasluck
- 1983: Mr Scobie's Riddle by Elizabeth Jolley
- 1982: Fly Away Peter by David Malouf
- 1981: Turtle Beach by Blanche d'Alpuget
- 1980: Joint winners
- 1979: 1915 by Roger McDonald
- 1978: The Year of Living Dangerously by Christopher Koch
- 1976: A Late Picking by A. D. Hope
- 1975: A Kindness Cup by Thea Astley
- 1974: The Pure Land by David Foster
Non-fiction Award
- 2012: 1835: The Founding of Melbourne & The Conquest of Australia by James Boyce
- 2011: A Three-Cornered Life by Jim Davidson
- 2010: Ten Hail Marys by Kate Howarth
- 2009: Down to the Crossroads by Guy Rundle
- 2008: American Journeys by Don Watson
- 2007: Colonial Ambition: Foundations of Australian Democracy by Peter Cochrane
- 2006: Velocity by Mandy Sayer
- 2005: Plenty: Digressions on Food by Gay Bilson
- 2004: A Death in Brazil by Peter Robb
- 2003: Charles Condor: The Last Bohemian by Ann Galbally
- 2002: Recollections of a Bleeding Heart: Paul Keating Prime Minister by Don Watson
- 2001: The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift by Nadia Wheatley
- 2000: Craft for a Dry Lake by Kim Mahood
- 1999: Sacred Places: War Memorials in the Australian Landscape by K.S. Inglis
- 1998: The Hunt by John Kinsella
- 1997: Snake Cradle by Roberta Sykes
- 1995: The Future Eaters by Tim Flannery
- 1994: Lyrebird Rising by Jim Davidson
- 1993: Journeyings by Janet McCalman
- 1992: A Fence Around the Cuckoo by Ruth Park
- 1991: Patrick White: A Life by David Marr
- 1990: Blessed City by Gwen Harwood
- 1989: Mariners are Warned: John Lort Stokes and HMA Beagle by Marsden Hordern
- 1988: Big-Noting: The Heroic Theme in Australian War Writing by Robin Gerster
- 1987: The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes
- 1986: George Johnston: A Biography by Gary Kinnane
- 1985: Vietnam: A Reporter's War by Hugh Lunn; Mapping the Paddocks by Chester Eagle
- 1984: HB Higgins: The Rebel and Judge by John Rickard
- 1983: History of Tasmania by Lloyd Robson
- 1982: John Monash: A Biography by Geoffrey Serle
- 1981: A Million Wild Acres by Eric Charles Rolls
- 1978: The Anzacs by Patsy Adam-Smith
- 1976: Capitalism, Socialism and the Environment by Hugh Stretton
- 1974: A History of Australia by Manning Clark
Dinny O'Hearn Poetry Prize
- 2012: The Brokenness Sonnets I-III And Other Poems by Mal McKimmie
- 2011: Starlight: 150 Poems by John Tranter
- 2010: Pirate Rain by Jennifer Maiden
- 2009: Better Than God by Peter Porter
- 2008: Not Finding Wittgenstein by J. S. Harry
- 2007: The Goldfinches of Baghdad by Robert Adamson
- 2006: Friendly Fire by Jennifer Maiden
- 2005: The Colosseum by Dipti Saravanamuttu
- 2004: Totem by Luke Davies
- 2003: Mangroves by Laurie Duggan
- 2002: After Images by Robert Gray
- 2001: Untold Lives and Later Poems by Rosemary Dobson
- 2000: Empty Texas by Peter Minter
- 1999: The Impossible, and other Poems by R. A. Simpson
- 1998: The Hunt and Other Poems by John Kinsella
- 1997: Joint winners
- 1996: Weeping for Lost Babylon by Eric Beach
- 1995: Selected poems 1956–1994 by Chris Wallace-Crabbe
- 1994: The Monkey's Mask by Dorothy Porter
- 1993: At the Florida by John Tranter
First Book
- 2005: The Unknown Zone by Phil Smith