2008 Barbara Ramsden Award
On Friday 1 May 2009 the Fellowship of Australian Writers presented the 2008 National Literary Awards Presentation Ceremony. The Society of Editors (Victoria) sponsors the Barbara Ramsden Award, a major literary award for a book of fiction or nonfiction.
The winning entry was submitted by Allen & Unwin for their book for young adults, Pip: The Story of Olive, written by Kim Kane and edited by Elise Jones.
The FAW supplies two specially cast bronze plaques designed by renowned sculptor and medallionist, Michael Meszaros, which are presented to the author and editor to recognise the combined effort of both parties to produce a quality product. All entries must include commentary from the author or publisher on how the author or publisher felt the editor contributed to the final result.
In its twenty fifth year for a major literary award for a book of quality writing in any field of literature the award recognises the contribution by both author and editor in producing the final product. The award is named in honour of Barbara Mary Ramsden (1903-1971), editor, who completed her Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Melbourne in 1928. She obtained employment as a clerk in the university's engineering and metallurgy library in May 1928. Transferred to the central library in June 1931, she worked there part time and in the bookroom of Melbourne University Press before performing the duties of assistant reader with the publishers.
In their report to the FAW, the judges, Janet Mackenzie, Renée Otmar and Stephanie Holt, said:
‘The books submitted for the 2008 Barbara Ramsden Award reveal the diversity of editorial roles, from providing critical suggestions about structure to identifying nuances of voice and vocabulary, helping select and refine a collection of poems, and guiding a first-time author.
The winners of the award, for Pip: The Story of Olive, are author Kim Kane and editor Elise Jones. In a very exacting genre - the young adult novel - we were particularly impressed by the delicate handling of the eponymous Pip, an imaginary friend, and the fluent narrative enlivened by well-rounded characters, convincingly realized settings and delightful use of language, with exemplary attention to detail throughout.
Given that this award recognises both individual editors and the value of editing more generally, we were disappointed that several otherwise impressive books entered were let down by frequent, distracting copyediting and proofreading errors; offering the judges (not to mention ordinary readers) a book in this state is like sending a designer gown down a Fashion Week runway without bothering to iron it first.
We urge publishers to adequately resource the editing of their books, at all levels, and encourage them to recognise the input of editors by including editorial credits in their books.'
