University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor’s International Poetry Prize

The Vice-Chancellor’s International Poetry Prize is running again in 2023.

The prize is now open until 30 June 2023, 23:59 GMT.

About the Prize

The University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor’s International Poetry Prize has been offered annually since 2014. On behalf of the University, this is administered by the Centre for Creative and Cultural Research in the Faculty of Arts and Design.

The prize celebrates the enduring significance of poetry to cultures everywhere in the world, and its ongoing and often seminal importance to world literatures. It marks the University of Canberra’s commitment to creativity and imagination in all that it does, and builds on the work of the International Poetry Studies Institute in identifying poetry as a highly resilient and sophisticated human activity. It also builds on the activities of the Centre for Creative and Cultural Research, which conducts wide-ranging research into human creativity and culture.

The 2023 prize winners will be announced by November 2023 and the prize winners and short-list will be notified prior to that.

Important details are:

  • The winner will receive AUD$15,000
  • The international winner will receive AUD$5,000
  • The runner-up (second-placed poem) will receive AUD$5,000
  • Four additional poems will be short-listed
  • An online prize anthology of up to 60 longlisted poems will be published

Entry fees

  • Entrants may submit up to six poems, and will pay a separate fee for each poem.
  • First Entry: $AUD25 or $15 concession
  • Additional Entry (up to five additional entries): $AUD20 or $10 concession
  • See How to Enter for details and Early Bird fee options

Outline of prize rules and conditions

  • All poems entered for the prize will be single poems that have a maximum length of 60 lines
  • All entries will be in English
  • No simultaneous submissions will be allowed
  • Entries must be unpublished and original works of the author
  • Translations will not be eligible unless they are English translations from another language produced by the original author
  • Judges (To be confirmed for 2023)
  • Full Conditions of Entry

Please direct all enquiries to: vcpoetryprize@canberra.edu.au
Do not call the University, unfortunately they cannot address queries over the phone.