Competition
Adaptable seeks material for film or television adaptation. Open to writers across Australia and New Zealand, the contest accepts any genre, fiction or non-fiction, published or unpublished. Queensland Writers Centre also identifes several early career unpublished/emerging writers to pitch their work to screen creatives, with these writers receiving mentorship and advice prior to the pitching sessions.
The Australian/Vogel’s Literary Award is one of Australia’s richest and the most prestigious award for an unpublished manuscript by a writer under the age of thirty-five.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.
Open to all Australian writers of commercial fiction, offering the chance to win a publishing contract with HarperCollins, with an advance of $15,000. Two runners-up will each receive a written assessment of their manuscript from HarperCollins.
The Blake Poetry Prize challenges Australian poets to explore the spiritual and religious in a new work of 100 lines or less. It runs alongside the Blake Art Prize and the major prize is $5000.
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.
The award honours Bruce Dawe and is for an original unpublished poem of not more than 50 lines. No theme.
The Daisy Utemorrah Award is for an unpublished manuscript of junior or YA fiction.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.
An initiative of the Heraldry and Genealogy Society of Canberra (HAGSOC), the competition is an opportunity for family history enthusiasts to share their writing, and is a forum to foster the preservation of family history research through stories.
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 Lane Cove Literary Awards is a prestigious national writing competition organised by Lane Cove Council that recognises writing excellence and fosters Australian writing talent.
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.
This award is for an emerging ACT region writer. Entries must be between 1,500–3,000 words. First prize is $600. The winning short story and up to three highly commended stories may be published in an issue of the ACT Writers Centre magazine.
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.
A short story competition run by Hunter Writers Centre for all Australians living here or abroad.
Make your work a published bestseller by building your author brand, marketing and business strategy. In this program, get your book ahead in the literary market by building your author brand, digital marketing and business strategy. Walk away with marketing content, a concept website and all the publishing resources needed to make your book a published bestseller. This intensive course is an absolute must for any author with an unpublished manuscript.
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.
Right Left Write is run in conjunction with Queensland Writers Centre’s weekly newsletter, Pen & Pixel. Each month we announce a prompt word or theme in Pen & Pixel, then it’s over to you to create a short story of up to 500 words and right, left, write. Members can enter for free and non-members can enter for a $5 fee. One entry per person per month.
Scriptable is Queensland Writers Centre’s program for emerging script or screen writers, whether just out of university/film school, still completing a degree, or just looking to enter the industry. Giving writers the opportunity to submit their manuscript, be assessed, participate in a workshop, and potentially be matched with an industry mentor, the idea is to form longer standing relationships with these industry mentors that reach far into the future.
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 2021 StoryLinks Short Story competition is open to all writers of children’s stories aged 18 and above.
American competition, open to anyone writing in English. Submit full length manuscripts of original poetry in English, between 60-85 typewritten pages. Winner receives a publishing contract and $2500 cash reward.
Awarded to the best novel written by an Australian author that depicts women and girls in a positive way or otherwise empowers the status of women and girls in society. In 2014, the prize pool is $55,000, including $50,000 for the winning title.
The CHASS Australia Prizes honour distinguished achievements by Australians working, studying, or training in the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS) sectors, including academics, practitioners, philanthropists, policy makers, and students. Nominations have now opened for four prizes. Two prizes are sponsored by Routledge (cash prize of $3,500 each): one for a non-fiction book/e-book that enriches Australian cultural and intellectual life, the second for ‘Distinctive Work’- an exceptional artistic performance, exhibition, film, television show, p…
Short Story (max 3000 words), Memoir (Max 1500 words), Poetry (free and traditional combined)(Max 80 lines), Short Story (Max 800 words), Boree Log Bush Verse (max 80 lines).
National competition on theme ‘faraway’ seeks short stories, poetry, and illustrations from writers aged 7-18. Prizes include vouchers up to $250 towards Creative Write-it courses, including online mentorships for young people who are ‘faraway’, fantastic for rural and remote young people. Each category is divided into three age groups: 7-9, 10-13, and 14-18.