The Kathleen Mitchell Award is a bi-annual Australian literature prize for young authors. It was established in 1996 and is awarded every second year with prize money originally being A$5000,[1] by 2012 that amount had grown to A$ 15,000[2] and in 2014 it increased to A$ 20,000.[3] After not being awarded in 2016 it was awarded again in 2019 with a prize money of A$ 15,000.
The prize was established in the will of Kathleen Mitchell with the following aim: "the advancement, improvement and betterment of Australian literature, to improve the educational style of the authors, and to provide them with additional amounts and thus enable them to improve their literary efforts". The price is managed by The Trust Company and a committee of 3 jurors is awarding the price every 2 years. Only Australian authors under the age of 30 are eligible to participate.[4]
^ Susan Leckey: The Europa Directory of Literary Awards and Prizes. Routledge, 2015, ISBN9781135356323, p. 182 (original publication: Europa Publications Limited 2002)