The prize recognises and supports the importance of poetry in Australian culture and the part it can play in the spiritual life of both those writing it and those reading it.

Frequently asked questions
ACU Prize for Poetry 2020 Competition
Entry days

Competition opens: Mon 6th April 2020

Competition closes: Mon 6th July 2020

An initiative of the Office of the Vice President and forming a critical part of ACU’s comprehensive Arts and Culture Strategy, the ACU Prize for Poetry receives hundreds of entries each year from across Australia.

Generosity

The theme for 2020 is Generosity.

“If truth doesn't set you free, generosity of spirit will.” - Katerina Stoykova Klemer

Winners will announced at the Awards Night which will be held on the ACU Melbourne Campus on Tuesday 22 September 2020.

Prize

First prize: $10,000

Second prize: $5,000

Third prize: $3,000

The prize is made possible through the sponsorship of the Office of the Vice President at ACU.

How to enter

Entries can be submitted online only through the ACU Prize for Poetry website. Postal entries will not be accepted for the 2020 competition  The entry fee is $25 per poem.

Poems must not exceed 80 lines and pages should be numbered. The text documents containing poems entered must not include the author's name anywhere in the text of the entry or anywhere else in the document, such as in headers or footers.

Entries should be submitted in Arial or Times New Roman font size 12 and in the following formats only:

  • .doc or .docx

Confirmation of receipt and payment for online entries will be sent by email.

Enter now

Judges

Final judge         

Professor Chris Wallace-Crabbe AM

Distinguished poet, academic and critic, and a generous contributor to literary culture, Emeritus Professor Chris Wallace-Crabbe is one of the leading figures in Australia’s literary community and enjoys a wider reputation in the international world of letters.

Professor Wallace-Crabbe began publishing poetry while an undergraduate, producing many volumes and winning awards and prizes, including the Grace Leven Poetry Prize in 1985 for The Amorous Cannibal, the Dublin Prize for the Arts and Sciences in 1987 and the Philip Hodgins Memorial Medal in 2002.

His Selected Poems: 1956 – 1994 won both the Dinny O’Hearn Poetry Prize and the Book of the Year Award in the 1995 Age Book of the Year Awards.

In 2011 he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia, and last year he was awarded the prestigious Melbourne Prize for Literature in “recognition of his outstanding contribution to Australian literature and cultural and intellectual life”.

Shortlist Judges

Professor Margot Hillel OAM – Chair of Academic Board, ACU

Dr Carolyn Masel – Lecturer (Literature), Faculty of Education and Arts, ACU

See previous years entries

Theme: Solace

solace

“The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God... I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles.”- Anne Frank

Judge: Professor Chris Wallace-Crabbe AM

Purchase a copy of the 2019 Chapbook

2019 ACU Prize for Poetry winner

Winner

“Revising Casuarinas” by John Foulcher

Download poem (PDF, 33KB)

2019 ACU Prize for Poetry 2nd prize

2nd prize

“Single Women in Their Later” by Geoff Page

Download poem (PDF, 151KB)

2019 ACU Prize for Poetry 3rd prize

3rd prize

“October Morning After Rain” by Mark Tredinnick

Download poem (PDF, 74KB)

Highly commended

“The Whale” by Frank Corso (PDF, 109KB)

“The Blackwood River’s Song” by Rose van Son (PDF, 153KB)

“Last Night on Mount Zion” by Anne Benjamin (PDF, 103KB)

ACU Student Chapbook Cover Design winner

ACU Student Chapbook Cover Design winner

Joanne Holmes

My family and I lived 'on the road' for 14 years, pursuing our dreams. We experienced a unique way of sharing life together. We travelled in a Bedford motor home and nature was our back yard in which to explore, learn, play and rest. Special moments included discovering the ochre pits in Burt Plain, NT; driving through the lunar landscape of the Painted Desert in SA; visiting the central desert town of Yuendumu for the community sports weekend; swimming at Esperance WA after crossing the Nullarbor and sweeping red dirt out of everything.

The Darling river was a favourite place to camp, and we returned there often. We would fish, catch yabbies and spend endless hours absorbing the country and the night sky. But we never made it to Lake Eyre, Kati Thanda. The Bedford couldn't take the corrugations! I heard it was filling up this year (2019) and poured over images in the newspapers, including satellite and aerial photographs. As we grieve the state of the Darling river system, the sight of Lake Eyre basin slowly filling, has become a very hopeful visual image for me. I drew on this inspiration when designing the cover of the ACU Poetry Prize book. 

I was drawn to use chalk pastels because of their capacity to create a luxurious dusty texture and represent the salinity and the beautiful sand dunes that form around the lake.  A sans-serif font appealed against the soft swirling artwork to add contrast and modernity.  Solace is often experienced after enduring hardship. Observing Lake Eyre filling after devastating drought in many areas of the country, we can draw solace from this rare and life-giving occurrence.

Theme: Empathy

2018 ACU Prize for Poetry Empathy

“Empathy is about finding echoes of another person in yourself. ”- Mohsin Hamid

Judge: Professor Chris Wallace-Crabbe AM

Purchase a copy of the 2018 Chapbook

2018 ACU Prize for Poetry winner

Winner

“Athene Noctua” by Annie Hunter

Download poem (PDF, 134KB)

2018 ACU Prize for Poetry 2nd prize

2nd prize

“Sound Bridge” by Felicity Plunkett

Download poem (PDF, 94KB)

2018 ACU Prize for Poetry 3rd prize

3rd prize

“3 Points of Recognition” by Jane Williams

Download poem (PDF, 104KB)

Highly commended

“Photograph: Sunrise, Syria, August 2017” by Roberta Lowing (PDF, 10KB)

“Deep Sea Callings” by Paul Scully (PDF, 127KB)

“Recalling Sarah” by Denise O’Hagan (PDF, 57KB)

ACU Student Chapbook Cover Design winner

Sarah Wood

Shape and Line

It is quite easy to think this barren dry land is unsympathetic, however it is the line and shape working in unison to create the feeling of empathy. The fragmented pieces of earth are connected by the jarring lines, crackling across the cover. Like the act of empathy, two people may be connected by a shared understanding and feel emotion for each other.

Balance, colour, grid

With such a busy image as the background, balance has to be maintained through simplified colour and grid. The main imagery has been relegated to the top left corner of the front cover, the text is aligned to the right. The only other content on the page is the authors' names and the ACU logos. The colours are quite muted and calming. The simplicity of the design allows for openness, for the viewer to bring their own understanding to it. The design maintains its integrity whilst also being able to hold many forms of empathy within its covers.

Texture

The dry heat, heavy dust and scorched earth is known well in Australia. We all feel the heat and dryness. The leached grey earth really contrasts the feeling of empathy, hence the splash of pale pink and white. This colour palette serves to sooth over the roughness. The typeface lends sincerity to the design because the feeling of it being hand written. It feels candid, like the word empathy was written personally for the viewer.

Theme: Joy

2017 ACU Prize for Poetry Joy

“Joy is not in things; it is in us.”- Richard Wagner

Judge: Professor Chris Wallace-Crabbe AM

Purchase a copy of the 2017 Chapbook

2017 ACU Prize for Poetry winner

Winner

“Charles S. Ryan to Alice E. Sumner” by Geoff Page  

Download poem (PDF, 75KB)

2017 ACU Prize for Poetry 2nd prize

2nd prize

“Lichen: 13 points” by Lesley Lebkowicz 

Download poem (PDF, 59KB)

2017 ACU Prize for Poetry 3rd prize

3rd prize

“On Botox, bibles and baguettes” by Judy Keighran

Download poem (PDF, 62KB)

Highly commended

“What ear sees, eyes can’t say” by Jenny Pollak (PDF, 62KB)

“An Argument for the Bee” by Susan Fealy (PDF, 65KB)

“Sydney North Head” by Alastair Spate (PDF, 55KB)

ACU Student Chapbook Cover Design winner

Ada Onyeka

ACU Student Chapbook Cover Design winner

Rationale

Joy is both an emotion and a state of being. We can feel joy in our everyday lives, or when we achieve a personal goal. I chose blue and green as background colours to represent the joy that nature brings to humanity. Many artists and poets have been inspired by nature, because of its beauty and spiritual qualities. The flower on the cover was inspired by the Aussie Rambler. This plant is native to Australia, so it can withstand tough weather and extreme conditions. I found this inspiring because although the Aussie Rambler grows in less than ideal circumstances, it still produces a beautiful, bright pink flower that brings joy to those who see it.

I drew inspiration from English 19th century book designers such as Talwin Morris, who often used a minimalistic colour scheme with large shapes and curved lines. The styles of this century often had a feeling of movement and expression to them, which is something that I wanted the flower to encapsulate. The freehand, slightly abstracted flower bursts from the serene background, creating a dynamic and exciting mood, which is how joy feels. I chose Plantagenet Cherokee as a font, because it is both classical and modern. Joy is something that all humans, past and present, have felt at some time in their life, so I felt that this transitional font encapsulated this notion well.

I used repetitive wavy lines on both the outer and inner book covers to show persistence through challenging times can have great benefit, and make us feel joy. A different type of joy, that is a daily choice regardless of circumstances is better represented through calmer colours such as cool blue and green. These colours are calming and serene, so they represent joy as a state of being. Orange was chosen for the wavy lines because it gives a feeling of warmth. I chose a faint shade of this colour to demonstrate the hard and often invisible work that goes on behind every great achievement.

My ideas on what joys is, along with the design principles and elements, have shaped the cover for this project. I hope these ideas are appropriate for ACU’s 2017 Prize for Poetry competition.

Theme: Loving Kindness

2016 ACU Prize for Poetry Loving Kindness

“Kindness, I’ve discovered, is everything in life.”- Isaac Bashevis Singer

Judge: Professor Chris Wallace-Crabbe AM

Purchase a copy of the 2016 Chapbook

2016 ACU Prize for Poetry winner

Winner

“The Horse” by Mark Tredinnick 

Download poem (PDF, 94KB)

2016 ACU Prize for Poetry 2nd prize

2nd prize

“Kenneth” by Lesley Lebkowicz  

Download poem (PDF, 53KB)

2016 ACU Prize for Poetry 3rd prize

3rd prize

“Visitation” by Charlotte Clutterbuck

Download poem (PDF, 55KB)

Highly commended

“A Train to the Country” by Barry Breen (PDF, 52KB)

ACU Student Chapbook Cover Design winner

Renae Burton

ACU Student Chapbook Cover Design winner

 

Theme: Peace, Tolerance and Understanding

2015 ACU Prize for Poetry Peace, Tolerance and Understanding

"It is crucial for all of us to give new meaning to the word ‘tolerance’ and understand that our ability to value each and every person is the ethical basis for peace, security and intercultural dialogue.

A peaceful future depends on our everyday acts and gestures. Let us educate for tolerance in our schools and communities, in our homes and workplaces and, most of all, in our hearts and minds.” - Federico Mayor, Director General of UNESCO from his address at the dedication of the Museum of Tolerance, Feb. 8, 1993

Judge: Professor Kevin Hart

Purchase a copy of the 2015 Chapbook

2015 ACU Prize for Poetry winner

Winner

“Glass” by Kristen Lang

Download poem (PDF, 7KB)

2015 ACU Prize for Poetry 2nd prize

2nd prize

“Orans” by Josephine Wilson

Download poem (PDF, 36KB)

2015 ACU Prize for Poetry 3rd prize

3rd prize

“Route 9” by Penelope Cottier

Download poem (PDF, 12KB)

ACU Student Chapbook Cover Design winner

Chandler Brooks-Smith

ACU Student Chapbook Cover Design winner

 

Theme: The Language of Compassion

2014 ACU Prize for Poetry The Language of Compassion

“Poetry, as the language of compassion, contrasts with objective and impersonal description and unfeeling reactions to tragedy. It can express empathy for what is too sad for words.” - Anthony Kelly

Judge: Professor Kevin Hart

2014 Chapbook is out of print.

2014 ACU Prize for Poetry winner

Winner

“Surgeon Mother” by Helen Thurloe

Download poem (PDF, 55KB)

2014 ACU Prize for Poetry 2nd prize

2nd prize

“Keepers of the Dead I Know” by Lucy Williams

Download poem (PDF, 75KB)

2014 ACU Prize for Poetry 3rd prize

3rd prize

“Its Fur so Shining Smooth” by Jenny Blackboard

Download poem (PDF, 14KB)

ACU Student Chapbook Cover Design winner

Alexandra Janssens

 

Theme: Everyday Immanence

2013 ACU Prize for Poetry Everyday Immanence

The poetic imagination seeks to draw out the “sacramental in the sensible,” to retrieve “the divine at the very heart of the least of things” (Richard Kearney). In this spirit the theme for 2012 is ‘everyday immanence’.

‘…what is usually unseen, and unspoken too – that, when it occurs, is what binds us all, since it speaks out of the centre of each one of us giving shape to what we too have experienced and did not till then have words for, though as soon as they are spoken we know them as our own.’ - David Malouf on poetry

Judge: Professor Kevin Hart

Purchase a copy of the 2013 Chapbook

2013 ACU Prize for Poetry winner

Winner

“The Dancer” by Stephen Edgar

Download poem (PDF, 74KB)

2013 ACU Prize for Poetry 2nd prize

2nd prize

“Light Years” by Mark Tredinnick

Download poem (PDF, 40KB)

2013 ACU Prize for Poetry 3rd prize

3rd prize

“White Rabbits” by Jenny Pollak

Download poem (PDF, 104KB)

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