January
February
The 2024 Western Australian Premier's Book Awards are for books published or self-published in 2023. The awards support, develop and recognise excellence in Western Australian writing. The State Library of Western Australia manages the Premier's Book Awards on behalf of the Government of Western Australia. Entries closed on 26 February 2024. Winners will be announced at the State Library in June 2024.
March
The Prime Minister's Literary Awards are the richest literary prize in the nation, with a tax-free prize pool of $600,000 in recognition of the outstanding literary talents of established and emerging Australian writers, illustrators, poets, and historians. The 2024 awards closed on 19th March 2024, with shortlisted works announced in July 2024 and winners announced in September 2024.
The 2024 Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year closed on Sunday 24 March 2024. The award aims to promote children’s books as literacy tools, as well as to raise awareness of the role speech pathologists play in helping children develop language and literacy skills.
The Daisy Utemorrah Award is for an unpublished manuscript of junior or YA fiction by a First Nations author. The 2024 Daisy Utemorrah Award is open to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people currently living in Australia. The winner of the award receives $15,000 and a publishing contract with Magabala Books. The Daisy Utemorrah Award for Unpublished Indigenous Junior and YA Fiction is administered and presented by Magabala Books and closed on 25 March 2024.
The Calanthe Collective Prize for Unpublished Poetry was initiated in 2022. In 2024 it is sponsored by Jena Woodhouse (U18 category), along with anonymous supporters, and in association with Calanthe Poetry. This competition is designed to encourage aspiring and current poets in two categories: Under 18, restricted to high school aged people; and the Open category, which is restricted to poets who are yet to have a book or chapbook published, either commercially or by self-publication, by March 31, 2024. Calanthe Poetry is looking for exceptional poems on any theme in both categories. The winning poem in the Under 18 category will receive $350, with two $100 prizes for Highly Commended entries, and in the Open category $1000, with three Highly Commended prizes of $250. All amounts are in Australian Dollars. The winners in each category, together with Highly Commended entrants, will have their poems published on the Calanthe Press website, www.calanthepress.com.au. Entrants may submit up to a maximum of three individual poems. There will be an ENTRY FEE of AUD $10 for each individual Open entry. U18 entries are free.
The Anne Elder Award, (a national, annual award) is for a sole-authored first book of poetry of 20-minimum pages in length, published in Australia. The 2023 award, for books published during 2023, opened 15th January 2024, and closed 19th March 2024. Winners will be announced in May 2024.
The Tom Collins Poetry Prize opened 8th January 2024, and closed 31st March 2024. First prize: $1,000, second: $300, and third: $100. Entry cost: $1.
April
May
The 2024 Kyogle Readers and Writers Poetry Comnpetition closes 1st May 2024. Write a poem on the theme: reading. Any style of poem, up to a maximum of 35 lines, not including the title. Entries $5. 1st prize: $250, 2nd prize: $100, 3rd prize: $50. Commended: 5 awards of $20. Winners to be announced 18th May 2024.
The 2024 Cloncurry Prize Poetry Comnpetition opened 21st March 2024 and closes 3rd May 2024. First prize is $10,000, 2nd $1,000. Entries must be a single poem of no more than two pages written in English. Pages must be numbered. Entries must be typed in Calibri or Times New Roman font, no smaller than size 11. All stanza breaks must be clearly spaced. Entries cost $30.
The 2024 Newcastle Poetry Prize embraces the long form poem, allowing
poets to explore their craft up to 200 lines. This distinctive aspect presents a challenge for poets to skillfully sustain
their work, carefully balancing tone, pace, and rhythm to captivate readers throughout the journey. Poems up to 200 lines can
be entered. (This includes titles and sub-headings. There is no minimum line limit). The prize is open to
Australian citizens or residents over the age of 18 years or older. Entries opened 21st March 2023, and
close 31st May 2024. Shortlist announcement: July 2024, Newcastle Poetry Prize Ceremony: Saturday 21 September, 2024. Entry per poem
costs $35.20.
First Prize: $15,000
Second prize: $5,000
Third Prize: $1,000
Harri Jones Memorial Prize: $500
Highly Commended Awards (x2): $250 each
Hunter Writers’ Centre Member Award: $1,000
June
July
The Tasmanian Literary Awards (formerly known as the Premier's Literary Prizes), recognise and promote excellence in Tasmania’s literary sector, and is offered biennually. Timelines for the most recent awards (2022) were: Opened 02 June 2022 | Closed 13 July 2022 | Longlists announced 14 October 2022 | Shortlists announced 09 Nov 2022 | Winners announced 15 Dec 2022.
August
September
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards are expected to open and close around August/September (if the previous year's dates are anything to go by), with shortlists being announced in December and winners announced in February the following year. Entries can be entered in more than one category, but with separate entry fees, for books published between 1st October 2023 and 30th September 2024. Entries to the Kenneth Slessor Prize, Nick Enright Prize and Betty Roland Prize may be submitted as electronic versions or hard copies. Electronic versions are preferred for the Nick Enright Prize and Betty Roland Prize.
October
NSW Premier's Literary Awards Entries for the 2025 awards are expected to open and close around September/October 2024 (if the previous year's dates are anything to go by), with shortlists announced in April 2025, and winners announced in May. Book entries cannot be entered in more than one category, with the exception of works entered in the Prize for Indigenous Writing. Postal address 2025 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, NAME OF CATEGORY(S) ENTERED, State Library of NSW, 1 Shakespeare Place, SYDNEY NSW 2000
The Mary Gilmore Award is for a poet’s first book which contains 32 or more pages of poetry. Until 2016, the Mary Gilmore Award was for the best first book of poetry in the previous two calendar years. Until 1999 it was awarded to the best first book of poetry published in the previous calendar year. The current terms and conditions arise from a ruling at the 2018 ASAL Annual General Meeting. The deadline for submissions to the 2024 Mary Gilmore Award was 27th October 2023, with winners announced in July 2024.
November
December
Entries for the 2024 South Australian Literary Awards closed on 15th December, 2023. Shortlisted authors will be published on the South Australian State Library website in July 2024 and winners announced at a ceremony at the State Library, to be held in November 2024.
The Blake Poetry Prize challenges Australian poets to explore the spiritual and religious in a new work of 100 lines or less. From 2017 Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre in partnership with WestWords has delivered The Blake Poetry Prize as a biennial event. It continues to engage contemporary poets, both national and international, in conversations concerning faith, spirituality, religion and/or belief. It runs alongside the Blake Art Prize and the major prize is $5000. The Blake Poetry Prize is an aesthetic means of exploring the wider experience of spirituality with the visionary imagining of contemporary poets. The Blake Prize takes its name from William Blake, a poet and artist of undoubted genius, who integrated religious and artistic content in his work. The Blake Poetry Prize is strictly non-sectarian. The entries are not restricted to works related to any faith or any artistic style, but all poems entered must have a recognisable religious or spiritual integrity and demonstrate high degrees of artistic and conceptual proficiency. Entries opened for the 68th Blake Poetry Prize on 11th August 2023, and closed 18th December 2023. The shortlist was announced 22nd march 2024. Launch and winners' announcement, 18th May 2024.