The Arts Minister John Day says the prize has now been scrapped. Instead, he says the government will increase the prize money for the Premier's Book Awards.
"The State Government is now under a lot more pressure than was the case two years ago and there is simply not the ability to continue that sort of prize in the longer term."
"So we've made the decision to increase the funding that will be going into the WA Premier's Book Awards and to increase the status of those awards and I think that that is really the best outcome."
The Australia-Asia Literary Award is gone but a little more money will put toward the Premier's Book Awards. The top prize money for the Premier's Awards is being increased from $27,000 to $40,000.
