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MEDIA RELEASE - 11 November 1998

TDK Australian Audio Book Awards celebrate 10 years of excellence


The National Library of Australia and audio tape manufacturer TDK (Australia) celebrated the 10th birthday of Australia's own groundbreaking audio book awards and congratulated the 1998 winners in a gala ceremony at Old Parliament House in Canberra on Tuesday 10 November.

Established by the National Library of Australia in 1988 and sponsored by TDK since 1991, the TDK Australian Audio Book Awards were the first to be established anywhere in the world and continue to be the only independent audio book awards in Australia. They are national in scope and open to commercial and noncommercial publishers/producers.

Both TDK and the Library are delighted that the awards have overwhelmingly met their initial objectives of improving the quality of Australian audio book production and increasing public awareness of literature in this form. A rich feast of Australian and international literature was contained in the 1998 short list, with both children's and adult works represented.

There is a growing recognition that audio books, often called spoken word cassettes or CDs, are not just for the print handicapped, but are great for ‘reading with your ears’, while driving, gardening, or travelling. They make literature accessible to those who may be frightened of printed books, perhaps because they failed to do well in literary subjects in school, evoking fond memories of being read to as children. Students and other ‘readers’ also find texts that are impenetrable in printed form—Shakespeare's Hamlet or James Joyce Ulysses, for instance, are accessible when read aloud.

Leading ABC broadcaster Jill Kitson presented the awards to the 1998 winners on 10 November:

Abridged Audio Book Award
ABC Enterprises for their production of Joan Lindsay's Picnic at Hanging Rock, narrated by Jacqueline McKenzie.

Unabridged Fiction Award
The Royal Blind Society for their production The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, narrated by Jenny Vuletic.

Unabridged Non-Fiction Award
Louis Braille Books for their production of Dreamtime Alice by Mandy Sayer, narrated by Deidre Rubenstein.

Audio Book for Young People Award
Australian Large Print Audio & Video P/L for their production of Blueback by Tim Winton, narrated by Stig Wemyss.

The Trish Trinick Prize for the Best Narrator, selected from all of the entries, is awarded to The God of Small Things.

A Special Award for Parkham Records for The General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, translated and narrated by Henry Smith.

A free CD of the winning entries is available for broadcast.


For more information call Annette Healy, (02) 6262 1279, or email ahealy@nlagov.au


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