Image: Michael Butler, Are You Being Served?, 2007, collage, pen on board. 40(h) x 84.2(w) cm. Private Collection. Photograph Jennifer Leahy.
The SCWC 2026 Poetry Award
invites submissions responding to the theme states:
First Prize $1000
Second Prize $100
Ron Pretty SCWC Member Award $100
Wollongong Art Gallery Ekphrastic Award $100
Submissions open 7 December – 22 March
Judged by esteemed poet Julie Janson, co-recipient of the Oodgeroo Noonuccal Poetry Prize 2016 and winner of the Judith Wright Poetry Prize 2019, and Peter Frankis, Chair of the SCWC board.
All winning entries will be published in the South Coast Writers Centre’s 2027 Anthology.
The Award is run in association with the Wollongong Art Gallery exhibition Set States brings together a selection of video works by Kate Mitchell, known for her constructed sets and performative, often absurdist gestures. Spanning key works such as Fall Stack, I Am Not a Joke, Beyond Setting Suns, and Hypnotised into Being—recently acquired by Wollongong Art Gallery—the exhibition explores shifting psychological states and embodied experiences: states of mind, states of action, states of play, states of being.
Mitchell’s videos play with humour and endurance, capturing moments where physical and emotional limits are tested or transcended. Her practice examines the fragile space between control and collapse, seriousness and silliness, labour and levity.
Presented in dialogue with works from the Wollongong Art Gallery collection, Set States invites new connections between contemporary Australian video art and historical representations of human agency, ritual, and transformation. The exhibition considers themes of play, perception and performance—suggesting that to “set states” is to be actively engaged with the world, however unstable it may be.
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The winning poetry award entries will be published in the SCWC 2027 Anthology. Past editions are available for purchase from our shop.
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The SCWC Poetry Award 2024 responded to the theme ‘gentle’ in association with the Wollongong Art Gallery exhibitions of artist Ian Gentle.
Winner – Jen Saunders, ‘A Kiting of Spiders’, Runner-up – Greg McLaren, ‘Regent honeyeater’, Highly Commended – Eden (Ez) Knill, ‘girl & best friend.’, Highly Commended – Alisha Brown, ‘After my friend died, I took her to the aquarium’. Wollongong Art Gallery Prize Winner – Rosa O’Kane, ‘On Slack Water’, Highly Commended – Lili Pâquet, ‘At Rest’, Highly Commended – Eden Crain, ‘Fiddler Crab Sonnet’. Ron Pretty South Coast Writers Centre Members Prize, Winner – Julie Janson, ‘to cliffs we come’
Read judge Judith Beveridge’s comments about the winners here, and listen to some of the shortlisted poems in our brand-new Listening Lounge.
The SCWC Poetry Award 2023 responded to the theme ‘in colour’, in association with Wollongong Art Gallery’s exhibition Thinking Through Pink. Prize winners were Meredith Wattison, ‘And my pink ashes’; Scott Patrick-Mitchell, ‘Ouside the Cyanometer’; Kathleen Bleakley, ‘Crab Nest’; and Carolyn Leach-Paholski, ‘Pigment’.
Read the judges’ remarks by guest judge Peter Ramm here.
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By entering the South Coast Writers Centre Poetry Award 2026 you agree to the following terms and conditions:
1. Who Can Enter?
1.1. Entry is open to anyone living in Australia over the age of 18, with the exclusion of:
1.2. Committee of management members and staff of the South Coast Writers Centre.
2. How to Enter?
2.1. The competition commences on December 7th 2025 and close 22nd March 2026 11:59pm AEST.
2.2. Entries must be single poems of no more than 50 lines. Only one poem should be submitted per entry form.
2.3. For entries not primarily written in English, an English translation should be provided for the judges.
2.4. The text should be presented with 1.5 line spacing and in 12pt plain font. Pages should be numbered.
2.5. The author’s name must not appear in the document or in the name of the digital file. The file name should include only the title of the poem.
2.6 The name of the poem (entry) should match the name of the digital file.
2.6. Multiple entries are permitted, but each poem must be submitted individually.
2.7. Entries must be original works written by an individual author and must not include any input from A.I.
2.8. Entries should not be on offer to other publications or prizes for the duration of the competition.
2.9. Previously published, or prize-winning poems will not be accepted.
2.10 All entries must be submitted via the entry portal on the South Coast Writers Centre website.
2.11. Submission fee of $15 per poem. Reduced submission fee of $10 per poem for SCWC members.
3. Theme
3.1 The SCWC Poetry Award 2026 seeks poems responding to the theme ‘states’.
3.2 Set States at Wollongong Art Gallery brings together a selection of video works by Kate Mitchell, known for her constructed sets and performative, often absurdist gestures. Spanning key works such as Fall Stack, I Am Not a Joke, Beyond Setting Suns, and Hypnotised into Being—recently acquired by Wollongong Art Gallery—the exhibition explores shifting psychological states and embodied experiences: states of mind, states of action, states of play, states of being.
3.3 Submitted poems do not need to respond specifically to the exhibition. The Award invites creative interpretations to the theme ‘states’.
4. Prize and Publication Details
4.1. The first-place winning entry will receive a $1000 cash prize and the second-place entry will receive a $100 cash prize.
4.2 The Ron Pretty Award of $100 award will be given to the best poem submitted by an SCWC member.
4.2 The Wollongong Art Gallery Special Award will be a $100 awarded to the poem with the best specific ekphrastic response to the exhibition.
4.3. The South Coast Writers Centre will publish all the four winning entries in its 2027 anthology plus the poems listed in the shortlist. Poets will retain the copyright of these poems and agree to licence them to the SCWC for publication.
4.4 The South Coast Writers Centre reserves the right to not publish the winner or any runners up.
5. Judging Process
5.1. The winning entries will be chosen anonymously by a panel of judges.
5.2. The chief judges will be Julie Janson and Peter Frankis.
5.3 In the event of unforeseen circumstances, SCWC reserves the right to change the judging panel.
5.4. SCWC reserves the right not to award a prize if the judges so recommend.
5.5. Announcement dates are TBA.
5.6. The judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into about the judgements or the judging process.
5.7. SCWC reserves the right to select an alternative winner in the event a winner is unable to satisfy these terms and conditions, forfeits, or does not claim the prize.
6. Privacy
6.1. Personal Information provided to SCWC for the purpose of conducting the competition and notifying the winner will be kept strictly confidential and will not be sold, rented, loaned or otherwise disclosed to a third party otherwise than in accordance with these terms and conditions