# Stella Prize

The stella prize is an Australian annual literary award established in 2013 for writing by Australian women in all genres, worth $50,000. It was originally proposed by Australian women writers and publishers in 2011, modelled on the UK's Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (formerly the Orange Prize for Fiction).The award derives its name from the author Miles Franklin, whose full name was "Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin."It was established by a group of 11 Australian women writers, editors, publishers and booksellers who became concerned about the poor representation of books by women in Australia's top literary prize, the Miles Franklin Award."After a rapid acceleration in women's rights in the '70s and '80s, things have started to go backwards," Sophie Cunningham said in a keynote address at the 2011 Melbourne Writers' Festival. "Women continue to be marginalised in Australian culture and the arts sector – which likes to pride itself on its liberal values – is, in fact, complacent.