Burrell wins Ashurst Business Literature Prize

4 March 2015 Books+Publishing

Andrew Burrell has won the 2014 Ashurst Business Literature Prize for his book Twiggy: The High Stakes Life of Andrew Forrest (Black Inc.).

Burrell was presented with the $30,000 prize at an event in Sydney on 4 March. His book was selected from a shortlist of four, which also included Stop the Presses: How Greed, Incompetence (and the Internet) Wrecked Fairfax (Ben Hills, ABC Books), Kerry Stokes: Self-Made Man (Margaret Simons, Penguin) and Rupert Murdoch: A Reassessment (Rodney Tiffen, NewSouth).

Judge chair Alan Cameron described Twiggy as ‘an important record of one of the nation’s most successful businesspeople who is also one of our most generous philanthropists’, as well as ‘an entertaining read’.

The Ashurst Business Literature Prize aims to encourage literary commentary on Australian business and financial affairs, and is administered by the State Library of NSW and the law firm Ashurst. The prize was previously called the Blake Dawson Business Literature Prize, but was renamed in 2012 as a result of the rebranding and amalgamation of Blake Dawson with Ashurst law firm.

Previous winners include Malcolm Knox, who won the prize in 2014 for Boom: The Underground History of Australia, from Gold Rush to GFC (Viking); Peter Hartcher, who won in 2013 for The Sweet Spot: How Australia Made Its Own Luck (Black Inc.); and Trevor Sykes, who won in 2012 for Six Months of Panic: How the Global Financial Crises Hit Australia (A&U).

For more information about the prize, visit the State Library of NSW website here.

Category: Local news