The Horne Prize was an Australian award presented by Aēsop and The Saturday Paper from 2016 to 2020 for a literary essay of up to 3000 words on Australian life. The prize was valued at $15,000 (Australian) and named in honour of Donald Horne (1921–2005) in recognition of his contribution to literature and journalism in Australia. The inaugural winner was Anna Spargo-Ryan for The Suicide Gene.
In 2018 a guideline was introduced concerning the need for people from minority groups to tell their own stories. On learning of this restriction two judges, Anna Funder and David Marr resigned from the panel. The restriction was subsequently removed and the closing date for entries extended by one month. The winner was selected by the remaining three judges, Erik Jensen, Suzanne Santos and Marcia Langton.
In 2021, the prize's official website announced that the award would "take a break" that year, and since then no further announcements have been made regarding the prize's future, leaving it defunct as of 2023. Meg Watson in The Sydney Morning Herald speculated that the abolition of the award may have been related to Aēsop stopping funding the Next Chapter, another Australian literary initiative.
Award winners
Shortlists
Winners in bold.