Many Australian poetry competitions and prizes are available for you to enter. Check the entry requirements to ensure eligibility, and refer to the submission guidelines. Let me know if any additional awards, competitions, and prizes must be added to this list.
Australian poetry competitions and prizes
The Peter Porter Poetry Prize
The Gwen Harwood Poetry Prize
The Newcastle Poetry Prize
The ACU Prize for Poetry
The Val Vallis Award for Poetry
The Bruce Dawe National Poetry Prize
The Dorothy Porter Award for Poets
The Tom Collins Poetry Prize
The Judith Wright Calanthe Award
The W.B. Yeats Poetry Prize
The Henry Lawson Poetry Competition
The Ipswich Poetry Feast
The Red Room Poetry Object Competition
The Positive Words Poetry Competition
The Write-On: Fairfield Poetry Prize
The Melbourne Poets Union International Poetry Competition
The Toolangi C.J. Dennis Poetry Competition
The Marsden & Alecci Poetry Prize
The Yarra Plenty Regional Library Poetry Competition
The Ballarat Writers’ Inc. Southern Cross Literary Competition
The Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize
The Mary Gilmore Award
The Venie Holmgren Environmental Poetry Prize
The Cafe Writers Open Poetry Competition
The Elyne Mitchell Writing Awards
The Four Quarters Magazine Poetry Prize
The Marjorie Graber-McInnis Short Story Award
The Nillumbik Ekphrasis Poetry Award
The Lane Cove Literary Awards
The Charles Causley Poetry Competition
The Arts Queensland Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize
The Josephine Ulrick Poetry Prize
The Katharine Susannah Prichard Poetry Awards
The Rolf Boldrewood Literary Awards
The Scintillating Starts Writers’ Village International Short Fiction Award
The Veronica Shenstone Poetry Prize
The Glasshouse Country Writers Poetry Competition
The Bateau Bay PCYC Poetry Competition
The Penguin Random House Literary Prize
The Redgum Book Club Young Writers’ Prize
The Harold Goodwin Poetry Prize
The ACT Writers Centre Poetry Prize
The FAW Tasmania Poetry Prize
The Hawkeye Publishing Manuscript Development Prize
The Jean Stone Poetry Prize
The Queensland Poetry Festival Philip Bacon Ekphrasis Award
The Society of Women Writers NSW Poetry Prize
The Wagga Wagga Prose and Poetry Competition
The Central Coast Poets Inc. National Poetry Competition
The Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest
International poetry competitions and prizes that Australians can enter
In addition to local prizes, some international poetry competitions and prizes welcome entries from Australian and other international poets. Always double-check entry requirements and submission guidelines.
Griffin Poetry Prize (Canada)
Manchester Poetry Prize (UK)
The Moth Poetry Prize (Ireland)
Bridport Prize (UK)
Aesthetica Creative Writing Award (UK)
Ledbury Poetry Festival Competition (UK)
Magma Poetry Competition (UK)
National Poetry Competition (UK)
Caterpillar Poetry Prize (Ireland)
Troubadour International Poetry Prize (UK)
T.S. Eliot Prize (UK)
Newcastle Poetry Prize (Australia)
Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize (Australia)
The Montreal International Poetry Prize (Canada)
The Forward Prizes for Poetry (UK)
Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine (UK)
Live Canon International Poetry Competition (UK)
Fish Publishing Poetry Prize (Ireland)
Rhysling Award (US)
The Rattle Poetry Prize (US)
The Ballymaloe International Poetry Prize (Ireland)
Los Gatos-Listowel Writers’ Week Poetry Competition (US)
Omnidawn Poetry Contests (US)
The Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest (US)
The Yeats Poetry Prize (Australia)
The Philip Levine Prize for Poetry (US)
The Eileen Gray Poetry Prize (Ireland)
Edwin Morgan Poetry Award (Scotland)
The Blue Nib Chapbook Contest (Ireland)
The Val Vallis Award for an Unpublished Poem (Australia)
Cinnamon Press Poetry Pamphlet Prize (UK)
The Seamus Heaney Awards for New Writing (Northern Ireland)
The ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize (Australia)
The Sentinel Literary Quarterly Poetry Competition (UK)
The Nelligan Prize for Short Fiction (US)
Winchester Poetry Prize (UK)
Mslexia Women’s Poetry Competition (UK)
The Plough Prize (UK)
Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival Writing Competition (Canada)
The Emma Press Picks Pamphlet (UK)
The Caterpillar Story for Children Prize (Ireland)
The Bridgewater International Poetry Festival (US)
The Kent & Sussex Poetry Society Open Competition (UK)
The Ron Pretty Poetry Prize (Australia)
The Aesthetica Magazine Annual Creative Writing Award (UK)
The Rubery Book Award (UK)
The American Poetry Review Honickman First Book Prize (US)
The PEN New Voices Award (International)
The Pushcart Prize (US)
The Joseph Brodsky/Stephen Spender Prize (UK)
Poetry mentoring and prizes
If you want to refine your poetry to submit it to more competitions and prizes with more success, you may want to learn about my poetry mentoring service, where I provide feedback on your work. While there are no guarantees of getting a prize, and I don’t claim to be a prize-winning poet myself, outside feedback can give you an unbiased view of your writing and help your development as a poet.
