Competitions, Awards & Opportunities
The Award encourages development of material (not necessarily religious) that conveys a message of faith, hope and love. A panel of judges are appointed annually by the Rodney Seaborn Playwright’s Trust. Preference is given to persons who have resided in Australia for at least one year.
Scarlet Stiletto Women’s Crime and Mystery Short Story Competition open to women residents of Australia. Young Writer’s Award open to women under 21. Short stories must contain an active woman protagonist and a crime or mystery theme and maximum 5,000 words. All entries original and unpublished works of the author. Maximum two stories per author.
Must be bush poetry (containing rhyme and rhythm). Must have an Australiana theme. No limit on length.
The Somerset National Novella Writing Competition is offered by Somerset College and is part of its Celebration of Literature Festival. Competition open to all Australian secondary students. Entrants must be under 19 years of age at close of entries. Required word length is 10,000 to 20,000 words. See website for further details.
Awarded annually to the best manuscript written for young readers, the $10,000 Text Prize for Young Adult and Children’s Writing aims to discover incredible new books by exciting authors. The prize has unearthed extraordinary, multi-award-winning books and launched international publishing careers.
Each year, early career writers of migrant background are invited to apply for the Deborah Cass prize. The prize is in the memory of Deborah Cass. The granddaughter of Jewish immigrants, Deborah Cass became a prize-winning professor of International Law at the London School of Economics. After diagnosis of cancer, Deborah left her academic career and focused on creative writing. She had a number of short fiction pieces published, but was unable to realise her aim to complete a novel. With generous support from family and friends, this prize aims to help…
The Stella Prize is a major literary award celebrating Australian women’s writing and an organisation that champions cultural change.
The Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature acknowledges the achievements of eminent literary writers who are 60 years of age and over who have made outstanding and lifelong contributions to Australian literature.
The Australian/Vogel’s Literary Award is one of Australia’s richest and the most prestigious award for an unpublished manuscript by a writer under the age of thirty-five. Offering prize money of $20,000 plus publication by Allen & Unwin with an advance against royalties, The Australian/Vogel’s Literary Award has launched the careers of some of Australia’s most successful writers, including Tim Winton, Kate Grenville, Gillian Mears, Brian Castro, Mandy Sayer and Andrew McGahan.
For humorous short stories (any theme) up to 2500 words. Multiple entries are accepted.
The annual CBCA Book of the Year Awards affirm the quality of some of Australia’s most creative people and provide a boost to their capacity to devote time to their craft. Established with the first awards in 1946, the annual CBCA Book of the Year Awards aim to: promote quality literature for young Australians, support and encourage a wide range of Australian writers and illustrators of children’s books, and celebrate contributions to Australian children’s literature.
The Lifted Brow & RMIT non/fiction Lab Prize for Experimental Non-Fiction is an annual writing prize that aims to unearth new, audacious, authentic and/or inauthentic voices from both Australia and the world. Submissions should convey meaning using unorthodox form, or style, or voice, or pointof-view, or approach/method, etc.
The Melbourne Prize for Literature and Awards recognise and reward excellence and talent in literature across all writing genres and career stages. The program includes the $60,000 Melbourne Prize for Literature 2021, the new $20,000 Professional Development Award 2021 and The $15,000 Writers Prize 2021.
The Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, poetry prize and the Prime Minister’s Prize for Australian History celebrate the contribution of Australian literature and history to the country’s cultural and intellectual life. Awards are presented in six categories; fiction, non-fiction, young adult literature, children’s literature, poetry, Australian history.
Aesthetica is looking for the best new writing talent. The international literary prize is open to poetry and short fiction submissions on any theme, celebrating innovation in content, form and technique.
The Mark & Evette Moran Nib Literary Award presented by Waverley Council with support from Principal Sponsors Mark and Evette Moran, celebrates excellence in research and writing in Australia. It is the only major national literary award of its kind presented by a local council.
The NSW Premier’s History Awards were first presented in 1997 to honour distinguished achievements in history by Australian citizens and permanent residents. Held annually, the awards assist in establishing values and standards in historical research and publication and encourage everyone to appreciate and learn from the work of our historians.
The Patrick White Literary Award was established to advance ‘Australian literature by encouraging the writing of novels, short stories, poetry and/or plays for publication or performance’ The award is presented each November following the consideration of nominations by a judging panel.
The Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards supports, develops and recognises excellence in Western Australian writing. These Awards are made available by the Western Australian Government and are managed by the State Library of Western Australia.
Bridport Creative Writing Competition is open for aspiring writers everywhere. It is committed to discovering new writers in poetry, short story, flash fiction and the novel.
Publishable gives up to 25 emerging writers the chance to take part in a tailored Manuscript Development Program. Each writer will be given a personalised timetable designed to strengthen, refine, and polish their completed manuscript. Over a period of two weeks, writers can expect to work with published authors, QWC mentors, and industry experts to improve their craft and take their manuscript closer to publication.
Awarded for an outstanding unpublished manuscript by an emerging Queensland writer. Authors who have previously self-published a full-length work with an ISBN are not eligible. Unpublished authors must not have an existing binding publishing contract or be in current contractual negotiations.
The Daisy Utemorrah Award is for an unpublished manuscript of junior or YA fiction. The Award is open to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples currently living in Australia.
A short story competition run by Hunter Writers Centre for all Australians living here or abroad.