Here at Mountain Ash Chapter we’re seeing a lot of exceptional writing this year! It’s a great time to whip out your calendar, dust off your editing skills and throw your hat in the ring for some competitions. They’re wonderful practice, great feedback and sometimes (cough) you might even have a shot at winning some filthy lucre. And hey, even writers have to eat.
So here’s a handful of competitions that for our writers to consider:
Vice Chancellor’s International Poetry Prize, University of Canberra
https://www.canberra.edu.au/research/vcpoetryprize
Anyone 18 years and over can enter with a single poem (up to 6o lines) for each entry. The first prize is $15,000, which is a lot of eating, even for poets.
E. M. Fletcher Writing Competition
https://www.familyhistoryact.org.au/writingcompetition
Open to Australian residents 18 and over, this is for a short story (1500 – 200 words) on family history or genealogy. First prize is $1000.
Local Word Poetry Prize
https://www.grlc.vic.gov.au/local-word-poetry-prize-2023
For poets over 16 and living in Australia, this competition accepts poems up to 75 lines and offers $2000 as the first prize.
The Peter Blazey Fellowship
https://scholarships.unimelb.edu.au/awards/peter-blazey-fellowship
For biography, autobiography and life writing authors! This one’s a bit tricky – you need a great CV, one-page synopsis and a 5,000 word extract of your current WIP – but for $15,000 and amazing support from University of Melbourne, it would be worth it.
Best of luck to your pens!