The South Coast Writers Centre announces SCWC’s second River of Art writing prize.

The River of Art is a vibrant annual arts festival located in Eurobodalla on the NSW far South Coast happening from 26 September – 6 October 2025. It showcases creative exhibitions, performances and events from Durras to Bermagui and Cobargo. This year, to work in conjunction with the River of Art’s exhibitions, the writing prize’s theme is ekphrastic, which means writing that draws inspiration from and responds to art. This writing prize invites submissions of poetry or short fiction that responds to art, particularly the art showcased in the River of Art Festival & Art Trail.

Local writer Adrian Caesar has joined the judging panel with South Coast Writers Centre Director, Dr Sarah Nicholson. Adrian Caesar was formerly Associate Professor in the School of English at the University of New South Wales at Canberra and taught Creative Writing at the Australian National University. He is also the award-winning author of fourteen books including fiction, non-fiction and poetry. 

Adrian Caesar says, ‘This new initiative between the River of Art Festival and the South Coast Writers Centre presents an exciting opportunity for writers in the South Coast Region and beyond.’ Along with the main prize there is a special local writers prize category to encourage locals to get an entry in!

Interested writers are encouraged to attend one of the ekphrastic writing workshops led by veteran writing teacher Linda Godfrey. The workshops will be held in Moruya on Saturday 27 September and Cobargo on Sunday 28 September and will include a tour of locally exhibited artwork for inspiration. Bookings here

Shortlisted & Winning Entries: 

• The prize winner will receive $250

• Locals award for best submission from a writer living in the Eurobodalla region of $100

• Shortlisted will be published in the SCWC Anthology of writing published in 2026. 

Terms of Entry: 

• An entry fee of $10 must be paid with each submitted piece of writing. 

• Each submission should either be a work of Flash Fiction, one short piece of fiction under  500  words, or a work of poetry.

• Writing should respond to the theme ‘ekphrastic’ (inspired by art)

• Entries close Friday 10th October 2025 11:59pm.

• Shortlisted entries  will be named on the SCWC website by 30th November 2025

• All writers will retain the copyright over their work while assigning to the SCWC a limited license to publish the work. 

• Judging panel includes author Adrian Caesar and Dr Sarah Nicholson

• Submission will only be accepted via the SCWC website.