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Wilbur Smith Adventure Prize (2016-)
Subcategory of Awards International Awards
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History

Launched in September 2015, the Wilbur and Niso Smith Foundation is a charitable organisation dedicated to empowering young writers, the advancement of the adventure writing genre and the promotion of literacy.

Latest Winners / Recipients

Year: 2023

winner (Best Published Novel) y separately published work icon No Country for Girls Emma Styles , London : Sphere , 2022 24675545 2022 single work novel crime

''It's not exactly how I imagined the week starting. An accessory to murder. On the run in the victim's vehicle . . .'

'Charlie and Nao are strangers from different sides of the tracks. They should never have met, but one devastating incident binds them together forever.

'A man is dead and now they are unwilling accomplices in his murder there's only one thing to do: hit the road in the victim's twin cab ute, with a bag of stolen gold stashed under the passenger seat.

'Suddenly outlaws, Nao and Charlie must make their way across Australia's remote outback using only their wits to survive. They'll do whatever it takes to evade capture and escape with their lives . .

'.Thelma & Louise for a new generation, No Country for Girls is a gritty, twisty road-trip thriller that follows two young women on the run across the harsh, unforgiving landscape of Australia.'  (Publication summary)

Year: 2021

winner (Best Unpublished Manuscript) Paul Raffaele

Year: 2020

winner (Best Unpublished Manuscript) y separately published work icon Cave Diver Jacob P. Avila , Australia : Jacob P. Avila , 2018 19438696 2018 single work novel adventure

'The quest for a WW2 Japanese submarine in a bottomless Papuan cavern could be the opportunity Rob Nash needs to rebuild his once glittering career in cave diving exploration. Since losing his wife in a controversial diving accident he’s been dumped by sponsors, shunned by friends, and has developed a secret terror of confined spaces. Nash soon learns the price of redemption will consume every molecule of his self-belief. Not only must he battle his demons in the darkness below but vanquish fanatical terrorists hell-bent on unleashing a monstrous weapon lost in the depths for over seventy years.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

Year: 2019

winner y separately published work icon Blood in the Dust Bill Swiggs , Australia : Bonnier Zaffre , 2019 15986204 2019 single work novel historical fiction

'Winner of the best unpublished manuscript category of the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize: a fast-paced adventure story set in the Australian outback. 1853, Victoria. Five bushrangers raid a homestead. When they ride away, nineteen-year-old Toby O'Rourke's parents lay dead at his feet. Forced into adulthood, he and his brother Paddy will seek to restore the family fortunes and outwit not only the rich businessman who conspired to rob them of their birth right, but the vicious men who murdered their family.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

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