ACU Prize for Poetry

ACU Prize for Poetry: supporting the arts, culture and community

Fostering the arts is part of the traditional artistic endeavours of the Catholic Church as a patron of the arts, and of ACU’s undertaking as a university to promote art and culture.

It is in keeping with this tradition that we established the ACU Prize for Poetry in 2013. The prize has grown in popularity since it was first established and is now one of Australia’s most coveted poetry prizes.

Entries are now open for the 2020 competition, which will be awarded for outstanding poetry with the theme ‘generosity’, reflecting on Katerina Stoykova Klemer’s supposition, “If truth doesn’t set you free, generosity of spirit will.”

Entries close on 6 July and winners will be announced in September.  ACU staff and students are welcome to enter.

Regarded as one of Australia’s most prolific and finest poets, Professor Chris Wallace-Crabbe AM will again judge the prize. Professor Wallace-Crabbe has published works spanning more than 60 years, dating back to 1955’s No Glass Houses.

His talents would see him earn award recognition across seven decades, including the 1992 Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Poetry Award, The Age 1995 Book of the Year, and ultimately becoming a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2011.

Professor Wallace-Crabbe helped shape the face of poetry and Australian culture, founding the Australia Centre at the University of Melbourne, where he serves as an emeritus professor, along with his time as the chair of Australian Poetry.

ACU’s annual Prize for Poetry is sponsored by Office of the Vice-President led by Father Anthony Casamento csma, who said the competition aimed to continue the tradition of the Catholic Church as a key patron of the arts.

“ACU is delighted once again to be sponsoring the now renowned ACU Prize for Poetry in 2020. As a university, and a Catholic university, it is fitting that we support this critical prize for the creative arts community in Australia.”

1st Prize:   $10,000
2nd Prize:  $5000
3rd Prize:   $3000

For more information on how to enter visit the ACU Arts and Culture website.