澳大利亚漫画家李·赖创作的图像小说《Cannon》获得本年度Stella奖，获奖奖金为60,000澳元[1]。这一荣誉在澳大利亚文学奖项历史上创造了两个"第一次"——《Cannon》成为首部获得Stella奖的图像小说，而李·赖也成为首位获得该奖的非二元性别作者[1]。
在同一周末，李·赖还被《悉尼晨报》评选为年度最佳青年澳大利亚小说家[1]。这一殊荣更具历史意义，因为这是该奖项30年历史中首次将此奖颁给漫画创作者[1]。
在更广泛的背景下，图像小说获得顶级文学奖已有国际先例。美国漫画艺术家Art Spiegelman的《Maus》曾在1992年获得特殊普利策奖[1]。近年来，Tess Hulls的《Feeding Ghosts》去年获得普利策纪实文学奖，这也是自《Maus》以来34年间首部获胜的图像小说[1]。澳大利亚创作者Shaun Tan的作品《The Arrival》于2006年出版后获得澳大利亚儿童图书委员会年度图书奖，Tan本人还曾赢得奥斯卡最佳动画短片奖和2011年的Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award[1]。
Australian cartoonist Lee Lai has achieved a landmark milestone in literary recognition, with their graphic novel Cannon winning the prestigious Stella Prize worth A$60,000 [1]. The award marks two historic firsts: Cannon is the inaugural graphic novel to receive the Stella Prize, and Lai becomes the first non-binary author to win the accolade [1].
The recognition extended beyond this single honour in the same week, as Lai was named the Sydney Morning Herald's Best Young Australian Novelist—a distinction that represents the first time in the award's 30-year history that the prize has been granted to a graphic creator [1]. These back-to-back recognitions underscore a significant shift in how graphic novels are being acknowledged within Australia's literary establishment. While Art Spiegelman's Maus received a special Pulitzer Prize in 1992, graphic narratives have remained largely absent from major literary competitions until recently; Tess Hulls's Feeding Ghosts became only the second graphic novel to win a Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction last year, 34 years after Maus [1].
Within the Australian context specifically, Shaun Tan's The Arrival, published in 2006, had previously demonstrated the potential of graphic storytelling to achieve significant recognition, earning the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year award and leading Tan to wins including an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film and the 2011 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award [1].
