Poetry Competitions in Australia and New Zealand 2026
Quick answer: 11 Australian and New Zealand poetry competitions with fees in AU$ and NZ$, 5 taking entries right now (September 2026), followed by 13 worldwide prizes taking entries today that poets in Australia and New Zealand can also enter. Each is listed with its entry fee, prize, who can enter and a live open or closed status derived from the organiser's own dates. Every figure was read on the official site in September 2026; confirm there before paying.
Australia's poetry prizes are generous for their size: the Newcastle Poetry Prize pays AU$15,000 for one poem, the ACU Prize AU$10,000 and Australian Book Review's Peter Porter Prize AU$6,000, with the University of Southern Queensland's Bruce Dawe prize costing only AU$8 to enter. Several are for Australian citizens or residents only, so this calendar states each eligibility rule as the organiser writes it; Peter Porter, the New Zealand Poetry Society competition and the Caselberg Trust prize are open to the world.
Open now (5)
- Arts Queensland Val Vallis Award for an Unpublished Poem (Australia). Closing soon, September 8. Entry: AU$25 per entry, AU$20 for Queensland Writers Centre members and concession holders. Prize: AU$3,500 and publication in Westerly; runner up AU$500 and publication. Part of the Queensland Poetry Awards, for Australian citizens and residents; one unpublished poem or suite of up to 80 lines, up to five entries, results in December.
- Bruce Dawe National Poetry Prize (Australia). Open, closes September 22. Entry: AU$8 per poem. Prize: AU$3,000 to the winner and two highly commended awards of AU$500. Run by the University of Southern Queensland for Australian poets, new or established; one to five unpublished poems of up to 50 lines each, the 2026 round closing 22 September.
- Peter Porter Poetry Prize (Australia). Open, closes October 14. Entry: AU$30 per poem, AU$20 for ABR subscribers. Prize: 1st AU$6,000; four other shortlisted poets AU$1,000 each. Run by Australian Book Review and open to living poets anywhere in the world; one unpublished poem of up to 60 lines, the 2027 prize closing 14 October 2026.
- Newcastle Poetry Prize (Australia). Open, closes December 6. Entry: AU$35.20 per poem, AU$30.25 for Hunter Writers Centre members (2026 round). Prize: 1st AU$15,000, 2nd AU$3,000, 3rd AU$1,500, plus named prizes and AU$100 for each shortlisted poem. Australia's richest single poem prize, from the Hunter Writers Centre for Australian citizens and residents aged 18 or over; up to 200 lines, unpublished. The next round opens 23 September and closes 6 December 2026.
- Kathleen Grattan Poetry Award (New Zealand). Open, closes July 31. Entry: No entry fee is mentioned on the official page. Prize: NZ$10,000, a year's Landfall subscription and publication of the winning collection by Otago University Press. A book length manuscript award run every second year for New Zealand and South Pacific citizens and residents; entries are open now and close 31 July 2027, one entry per person, judged blind.
Closed at the moment, reopening on schedule (6)
- Judith Wright Poetry Prize for New and Emerging Poets (Australia). Opens October 1. Entry: AU$20 per poem, AU$12 for Overland subscribers. Prize: 1st AU$6,000, 2nd AU$2,000, 3rd AU$1,000, all three published in Overland. For Australian and New Zealand poets with no more than one solo collection; poems up to 80 lines. The page still showed the 2025 round (9 October to 5 December) when read, so the window is last year's.
- New Zealand Poetry Society International Poetry Competition (New Zealand). Opens March 1. Entry: Per poem fees are shown in Submittable while the competition is open, with a discount for members. Prize: Open: 1st NZ$600, 2nd NZ$250, 3rd NZ$200; haiku 1st NZ$250; junior and school prizes; placed poems published in the annual anthology. Open worldwide with adult, haiku and junior categories, running 15 March to 31 May every year with results in July; no AI.
- Caselberg Trust International Poetry Prize (New Zealand). Opens June 1. Entry: NZ$20 for up to two poems. Prize: 1st NZ$600 and a week's stay at the Caselberg house, 2nd NZ$300, up to five highly commended; winners published in Landfall. Dunedin trust prize open to anyone anywhere, poems up to 40 lines, judged blind, no AI; runs through June each year with results in November.
- ACU Prize for Poetry (Australia). Opens April 1. Entry: AU$25 per poem. Prize: 1st AU$10,000, 2nd AU$5,000, 3rd AU$3,000, highly commended AU$750. Australian Catholic University prize on a set theme each year, for Australian residents including enrolled international students; poems up to 60 lines, running 1 April to 1 July with results in November.
- Woollahra Digital Literary Award (Poetry) (Australia). Opens April 1. Entry: No entry fee is mentioned in the conditions of entry. Prize: AU$1,000 for poetry; fiction and nonfiction AU$2,500 each, digital innovation AU$1,500. A council award for work already published online, entered as a URL or PDF, for Australian residents over 16; the 2026 round ran 17 April to 19 July with the shortlist in October.
- Blake Poetry Prize (Australia). Opens periodic windows. Entry: AU$30 per entry. Prize: AU$5,000. Run every second year by Liverpool Powerhouse and WestWords for poems of up to 100 lines on spirituality, religion or belief, open nationally and internationally; the 69th prize closed in December 2025, so the next is expected to open around September 2027.
Worldwide prizes open right now to poets in Australia and New Zealand (13)
- Writory International Poetry Contest (International). Open now. Entry: Shown in your local currency (a free entry option is available each month). Prize: Cash prizes, a certificate for every poet, and a five criteria score. Opens on the 1st, closes on the 25th, results on the 30th, every single month. Every poem is scored on creativity, emotion, structure, language and impact and resonance.
- Frontier Poetry Myths and Fables Prize (United States). Closing soon, September 13. Entry: $20 per submission. Prize: 1st $3,000, 2nd $300, 3rd $200, plus publication. A themed annual prize from Frontier, which runs several through the year; a limited free entry window exists for historically marginalized poets.
- Tom Howard / Margaret Reid Poetry Contest (United States). Open, closes October 1. Entry: $25 per submission of up to 3 poems. Prize: $12,000 total across the Tom Howard and Margaret Reid prizes. From Winning Writers, with one category for any style and one for traditional rhyme and meter.
- Reuben Rose Memorial Poetry Competition (International). Open, closes October 1. Entry: $6 for one poem, $14 for three. Prize: 1st $500, 2nd $200, 3rd $100, plus honourable mentions. Run by Voices Israel for English language poetry from anywhere in the world; confirm the opening month on their site.
- Missouri Review Jeffrey E. Smith Editors' Prize (Poetry) (United States). Open, closes October 1. Entry: US$25, which includes a one year digital subscription and a digital TMR Books title. Prize: US$5,000 and publication in the spring issue; every entry considered for publication. Six to twelve pages of unpublished poems, judged by the magazine's editors; no residency rule, though University of Missouri students and staff cannot enter.
- National Poetry Competition (United Kingdom). Open, closes October 31. Entry: £9 first poem, £6 each subsequent. Prize: 1st £5,000, 2nd £3,000, 3rd £2,000, plus commendations. Run by the Poetry Society and open worldwide; one of the best known single poem prizes in English.
- The Bedford Competition (Poetry) (United Kingdom). Open, closes October 31. Entry: £8.50 per poem, £17 for three. Prize: 1st £2,000, 2nd £400, 3rd £300. An annual open competition with parallel poetry and short story strands; confirm the opening month on their site.
- PRISM international Pacific Spirit Poetry Prize (Canada). Open, closes October 31. Entry: CA$35 per entry from any country, CA$5 each further entry; free entries for Black and Indigenous writers and some low income writers on request. Prize: CA$1,500, CA$600 and CA$400. From UBC Creative Writing and open to all writers, one to three poems of up to 100 lines; the current deadline is published only on Submittable, and the window shown is the magazine's usual one.
- The Malahat Review Open Season Awards (Poetry) (Canada). Open, closes November 1. Entry: CA$35 from Canada or CA$45 from elsewhere, CA$20 or CA$30 early bird until 30 September; CA$10 each further entry; first entry includes a one year print subscription. Prize: CA$2,000 and publication in each of poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction. University of Victoria magazine, open internationally; up to three poems of 100 lines or fewer per entry, not published or submitted elsewhere, closing 1 November.
- Prairie Fire Poetry Contest (Bliss Carman Poetry Award) (Canada). Open, closes November 30. Entry: CA$34 per entry, with a subscription for the first entry in each category. Prize: CA$1,250 and an honourable mention in each of poetry, short fiction and creative nonfiction. Winnipeg magazine with McNally Robinson Booksellers, open internationally; up to three unpublished poems totalling 150 lines, entries taken any time before 30 November.
- The Fiddlehead Ralph Gustafson Prize for Best Poem (Canada). Open, closes December 1. Entry: CA$35 from Canadian addresses or CA$50 from elsewhere, CA$10 each further entry, with a one year subscription. Prize: CA$2,000, publication and CA$65 a page. University of New Brunswick magazine, open internationally; up to three poems of 100 lines or fewer, closing 1 December.
- Mslexia Women's Poetry Competition (United Kingdom). Open, closes December 7. Entry: £12 for up to three poems. Prize: 1st £2,000, 2nd £500, 3rd £250, an Unpublished Poet Prize of £250; winners and 16 finalists published in Mslexia. For women of any nationality in any country; unpublished poems of any length, no AI, closing 7 December 2026 with winners announced 1 March 2027.
- Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest (United States). Open, closes April 1. Entry: free. Prize: $5,100 in total prizes, 1st $2,000. A genuinely free contest from Winning Writers for humorous poetry; closes on April 1.
Questions poets ask
Which Australia & NZ poetry competitions are free to enter?
None of the Australian and New Zealand prizes listed here is free this year, though several give free entries to members, students or writers on low incomes and the fee column says so. Writory gives a free entry to each month's winners and to poets who enter three months in a row.
What poetry competitions in Australia and New Zealand close next?
The next Australian and New Zealand deadlines are Arts Queensland Val Vallis Award for an Unpublished Poem on 8 September, Bruce Dawe National Poetry Prize on 22 September, Peter Porter Poetry Prize on 14 October. The list sorts itself by the nearest deadline and marks anything closing within ten days, so the urgent ones are always at the top.
Are Australian poetry competitions open to overseas poets?
It varies more than in the UK or the US. The Newcastle Poetry Prize, the ACU Prize, Bruce Dawe and the Val Vallis Award are for Australian citizens or residents; the Peter Porter Poetry Prize, the Blake Poetry Prize, New Zealand's Caselberg Trust prize and Poetry Society competition, and Writory's monthly contest are open worldwide. Each row's notes give the organiser's own rule, so read them before paying an entry fee.
What do Australian poetry competitions cost to enter?
Between AU$8 and AU$35 a poem, usually less for members or subscribers. The prize money is high relative to the fee: Newcastle pays AU$15,000 for one poem, ACU AU$10,000 and Peter Porter AU$6,000. Writory's entry from Australia is US$5 for one poem.
How is Writory different from the Australian and New Zealand competitions here?
Writory runs every month rather than once a year, from the 1st to the 25th with results on the 30th, and every entrant gets a score out of 100, a certificate and a written reading of the poem rather than a rejection. Poets from Australia and New Zealand compete in one worldwide field; the entry is US$5 for one poem.
Other countries
By the Writory editorial team. Statuses computed September 2026. Writory's contest for poets in Australia, Writory's contest for poets in New Zealand, enter Writory's monthly contest, how to enter a poetry contest.