‘Zac and Mia’ wins 2012 Text Prize

18 July 2012 Books+Publishing

Perth writer Amanda Betts has won this year’s Text Prize for Young Adult and Children’s Writing for her manuscript Zac and Mia.

Betts was presented with the prize by Text publisher Michael Heyward at an event in Melbourne on 17 July. Betts has won a $10,000 advance against royalties as well as a publishing contract with Text. Zac and Mia will be published by Text in 2013.

Betts’ novel, which tells the story of a friendship between two teenage patients who meet in a Perth hospital, was selected from a shortlist of three titles, announced earlier this month. Shortlisted author Louise Curtis also attended the winner’s announcement, as did previous Text Prize winners Myke Bartlett and Leanne Hall.

Betts is the author of two other young adult novels, ShutterSpeed and Wavelength, both published by Fremantle Press.

Text Publishing presents the Text Prize annually to an unpublished manuscript by an Australian or New Zealand writer. Bartlett’s novel Fire in the Sea, which won last year’s Text Prize, will be published this month.

For more information about each of the manuscripts shortlisted for this year’s prize, click here.

Category: Local news