The Southerly Poetry Prize – closed
Submissions to the 2026 Southerly Poetry Prize are now closed.
A shortlist will be released in July, and the winner will be announced in October 2026, coinciding with the launch of Southerly 81.1 “Ireland and Other Islands”.
Southerly is excited to announce Australia’s newest literary prize. The winner will receive a cash prize of $2000 AUD, with their winning entry published in Southerly 81.1 in October 2026. Along with all shortlisted entries, the winner will also be published in Southerly online.
Submissions opened on 1st March 2026 and closed 15th April 2026. All Australian poets were eligible to enter.
If you submitted poetry for consideration but encountered technical issues or have any other questions about the Prize, please write to us at admin@southerlylitmag.com.au.
The judges for this year’s inaugural prize are Paul Dawson (Southerly‘s poetry editor), along with esteemed poets Kate Fagan and Bronwyn Lea.
Paul Dawson’s latest collection of poetry is Lines of Desire (Puncher & Watmann, 2025). His first book, Imagining Winter (IP, 2006), won the national IP Picks Best Poetry Award. Paul has been anthologised in Contemporary Asian Australian Poets (Puncher & Wattmann, 2013) and Harbour City Poems: Sydney in Verse 1788-2008 (Puncher & Wattmann, 2009), and his poetry has appeared in top Australian literary journals such as Meanjin, Island, Southerly, Westerly, Cordite Poetry Review, Australian Poetry Journal, and Mascara Literary Review. He is a Professor in the School of the Arts and Media at the University of New South Wales.
Kate Fagan is Director of the Writing and Society Research Centre at WSU, where she also chairs the Sydney Review of Books Advisory Board. Her most recent poetry collection is Song in the Grass (Giramondo 2024), and her third book First Light was shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Literary Award and the Age Book of the Year Award. She is a former Editor of How2 magazine (US) and her album ‘Diamond Wheel’ won the National Film and Sound Archive Award for Folk Recording. Kate also directs The Writing Zone, a mentoring program for emerging writers and arts-workers from Western Sydney.
Bronwyn Lea is the author of four collections of poetry, including The Deep North: A Selection of Poems (George Braziller, 2013). She has won multiple prizes, including the South Australian Premier’s Literary Award and the Western Australian Premier’s Book Award for The Other Way Out, as well as the Anne Elder Award and the Wesley Michael Wright prize for Flight Animals. Bronwyn has extensive experience as poetry editor for UQP Press, the inaugural poetry editor for Australian Poetry Journal and, most recently, as poetry editor of Meanjin. Bronwyn is a Professor in the School of Communication and Arts at the University of Queensland.