Chris Masters, whose biography of the broadcaster Alan Jones proved the most controversial book of the year, has received endorsement at the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards.

Jonestown: the Power and the Myth of Alan Jones is one of six works shortlisted for the $20,000 Douglas Stewart Prize for non-fiction. In their citation the judges praised “Masters’ intimate and occasionally insinuating account” in which “Jones is a lonely megalomaniac pandering – with infuriating success – to the anxieties of [pre-eminently] older listeners and to the apprehensive ambition of politicians and corporate leaders”.

The judges said that there were three qualities which made Jonestown outstanding book, depth of research, fluency of narrative and professional engagement.

Masters said the judges’ words vindicated his insistence that Jonestown primarily examined whether Jones’s political power “is built on bluff and intimidation”.

The book has sold more than 60,000 copies – a bestseller that easily covered how much Allen & Unwin paid for it, the company’s Sue Hines told the Brisbane Times.