ACU Prize for Poetry - ACU Arts and Culture Hub

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
.pdf or.rtf

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

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

2019

Theme: 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

Winner

“Revising Casuarinas” by John Foulcher

Download poem (PDF, 33KB)

2nd prize

“Single Women in Their Later” by Geoff Page

Download poem (PDF, 151KB)

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

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.

2018