Competitions, Awards & Opportunities
Imagine 2200 draws inspiration from Afrofuturism, as well as Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, disabled, feminist, and queer futures, and the genres of hopepunk and solarpunk. They are seeking short stories that centre on climate solutions from the most impacted communities and bring into focus what a just, regenerative future could look like.
The 2021 StoryLinks Short Story competition is open to all writers of children’s stories aged 18 and above.
Awarded for a poem of no more than 50 lines, this biennial award is named in honour of a much-loved member of the Society of Women Writers Victoria. Kathryn conducted poetry workshops in her home for members, who greatly benefited from her expertise and mentoring. After her death, the Society set up the Kathryn Purnell Poetry Prize in her honour. It is open to SWW members in all branches and female non-members. Entries must be written by women, and unpublished, original work, not concurrently entered in another competition, and not previously in receipt…
Time to challenge yourself, dust off your writing skills, put pen to paper or fingers to keypads. The Society of Women Writers’ biennial National Writing Competition is open to female writers who are Australian citizens or permanent residents, aged 18 years or over, members and non-members. Prizes awarded for categories of Short Story (Fiction), Short Story (Non-Fiction), and Poetry. Winning entries will also be considered for inclusion in The Society’s centenary anthology to be published in 2025.
The Young Writers Award is an annual short story competition for Queensland residents aged 18 to 25 for stories up to 2,500 words, to encourages and support promising Queensland writers. The Young Writers Award is supported by Griffith Review and Queensland Writers Centre.
The Queensland Memory Awards are dedicated to supporting researchers of all kinds to interpret the collections of the John Oxley Library. Through deep engagement and interaction with the collections, these interpretations provide new insights into the collection and contribute new knowledge about Queensland’s history.
A competition for secondary students in years 10 to 12 in NSW and ACT. Students submit an original short story of 1,000 words.
The Calibre Essay Prize is one of the world’s leading prizes for a new essay and it is now worth a total of $7,500. The Calibre Essay Prize, then known as the Calibre Prize for an Outstanding Essay, was first presented in 2007 as part of a joint initiative between ABR and Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund.
The $500 Tasmanian Writers’ Prize is open to residents of Australia and New Zealand. Entries should be a maximum of 3,000 words, and should be on an island or island-resonant theme. The Tasmanian Writers’ Prize began in 2009. Each year the winning entry is published in Forty South magazine, and the best entries are published in Forty South’s annual anthology.
The Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards were inaugurated by the Victorian Government in 1985 to honour literary achievement by Australian writers. The winners of the seven award categories go on to contest the overall Victorian Prize for Literature, the single most valuable literary award in the country.
The Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism are presented annually in Australia to recognise and reward the best in the craft. Finalists are selected by eminent journalists and photographers and overall winners judged by the Walkley Judging Board.
Write a Book in a Day is a fun, creative and collaborative competition for students in years 5 to 12 and adult writing groups. Teams of up to ten have just twelve hours to write and illustrate a book from start to finish. To make it even more fun, unique parameters must be included in the story. Digital editions of the completed stories are made available on the Online Library and shared with hospitals across Australia.
The State Library of South Australia, together with the South Australian Government, is pleased to host the 2022 Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature. The awards offer a total prize pool of $167,500 across six national and five South Australian categories, including the coveted Premier’s Award worth $25,000 for the overall winner.
The National Biography Award, supported by the Nelson Meers Foundation, celebrates excellence in biography, autobiography and memoir writing. With a prize pool of $42,000 it is the nation’s richest prize for Australian biographical writing and memoir.
Launched in 2002, the Queensland Premier’s Drama Award is an initiative of Queensland Theatre with the support of the Queensland Government, which is open to all Australian citizens and permanent residents who have an unproduced live-performance text requiring further development towards its production debut. The Award intends to develop new works that are an artistic response to, or reflection of, ‘Australian Society’ and expose audiences to this work.
The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) Emerging Writers’ Mentorship Program provides winners with the opportunity to develop their early draft manuscript to a publishable standard with professional mentors. Applications are assessed on literary and artistic merit and developmental potential.
Celebrating the very best in Australian stage and screen writing the AWGIE Awards recognise and reward the outstanding achievements of Australian storytellers and their contribution to Australia’s cultural landscape. These prestigious awards are the only industry awards given by writers to writers judged exclusively on the basis of the writer’s own vision, the script.
The award honours Bruce Dawe and is for an original unpublished poem of not more than 50 lines. No theme.
The Children’s Peace Literature Award is a biennial award to one or more Australian authors and/or illustrators of books for children that encourage the peaceful resolution of conflict or promote peace at the global, local or inter-personal level. Nominations can be made by publishers and by authors or illustrators.
The KSP Writers’ Centre is proud to support the development of literary work by hosting a number of annual residencies and fellowships. Offers placements in the categories of Established; Upcoming; Emerging; Scholarship; Established; and Fellowships.
The Australian Shadows are the annual literary awards presented by the AHWA and judged on the overall effect – the skill, delivery, and lasting resonance – of horror fiction written or edited by an Australian.
The Barrow Street Press Book Contest award will be given for the best previously unpublished manuscript of poetry in English. See website for full details.
The British Australian Community, an incorporated association, was established in 1967 to represent the interests of Australian residents of British Isles descent. The award is for an essay of up to 800 words on the theme of the positive heritage of British culture in Australia.
The Bronze Swagman Award is Australia’s most prestigious award for written bush verse, running annually since 1972. Poems to be traditional Australian bush verse form with an Australian theme. Poems must not have previously won a first, second or third prize in any written competition prior to the announcemant of the winner.
The Scholarships are awarded annually to candidates who show great promise in the arts and literature, with nine scholarship categories available, offered over alternate years: Acting, Architecture, Ballet, Instrumental Music, Painting, Poetry, Prose, Sculpture and Singing. Scholarship funds can be used to assist with study programs, professional training courses and/or mentor programs.