Peter Porter Poetry Prize
Subcategory of Awards Australian Awards
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History

This prize is awarded annually by Australian Book Review. The prize was formerly known as the ABR Poetry Prize. It was established under that name in 2005, and was renamed in honour of the poet Peter Porter in 2010. The prize is given for a single poem of no more than 100 lines. All poems are judged anonymously.

The prize comes with a cash reward, and the winning poem is published in Australian Book Review. Winners are not inevitably Australian poets: in 2018, the prize was won by Hong Kong-based Nicholas Wong.

Notes

  • The ABR Poetry Prize was first awarded in 2005 with winner receiving $2,000. The prize is limited to a single poem of no more than 100 lines.

    In 2010, following the death of Peter Porter and with the permission of his family, this prize was re-named the Peter Porter Poetry Prize.

Latest Winners / Recipients

Year: 2024

winner Workarounds i "We completed tasks while your computer", Dan Hogan , 2024 single work poetry
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , January - February no. 461 2024; (p. 33)

Year: 2023

winner Periferal, Fantasmal i "Angus McMillan is lost (again), bushwhacked", Dan Disney , 2023 single work poetry
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , January - February no. 450 2023; (p. 43)

Year: 2022

winner In the Shadows of Our Heads i "I’d called the Humane Society to report the neglect", Anthony Lawrence , 2022 single work poetry
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , January–February no. 439 2022; (p. 28)
Anthony Lawrence

Year: 2021

winner Sara Saleh for A Poetics of Fo(u)rgetting

Year: 2020

winner My Father’s Thesaurus i "You drove faultlessly until sundown.", A. Frances Johnson , 2020 single work poetry
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , January / February no. 418 2020; (p. 53)

Works About this Award

y separately published work icon Peter Porter Poetry Prize 2024 Shortlist Peter Rose (presenter), 2024 27436147 2024 single work podcast

'Welcome back to the ABR Podcast. We begin 2024 with the Peter Porter Poetry Prize. First presented in 2005, the Porter Prize is one of the world’s leading competitions for a new poem in English. It is worth a total of $10,000, of which the overall winner will receive $6,000. This episode of the ABR Podcast features the five shortlisted poets reading from their work, with introductions from ABR Editor Peter Rose. The winning poem will be announced at an online ceremony on 23 January 2024.' (Production summary)

y separately published work icon The Porter Prize Poems 2022 23657314 2022 single work podcast

'In today’s episode, listen to the shortlisted poets for the 2022 Peter Porter Poetry Prize – Chris Arnold, Dan Disney, Michael Farrell, Anthony Lawrence, and Debbie Lim – read their poems. This year, our judges Sarah Holland-Batt, Jaya Savige, and Anders Villani had 1,330 poems to assess. In their comments, they write: ‘The five accomplished shortlisted poems each share a narrative bent, a focus on form (four out of five are stanzaic), and a capacity to startle and surprise with vivid imagery, linguistic torque, humour, and juxtaposition.’' (Production summary)

y separately published work icon The Porter Prize Shortlist : Listen to the Poets Read and Introduce Their Poems Peter Rose (presenter), 2021 23440230 2021 single work podcast 'The Peter Porter Poetry Prize, now in its seventeenth year and worth a total of $10,000, this year attracted more than 1300 entries from 33 different countries. It’s our pleasure now to present the five shortlisted poets, who introduce and read their shortlisted poems.' 

(Production summary)

y separately published work icon The Peter Porter Poetry Prize : Shortlisted Poets Read Their Poems The ABR Podcast : Episode 2 Peter Rose (presenter), 2020 18599117 2020 single work podcast The shortlisted poets for the 2020 Peter Porter Poetry Prize – Lachlan Brown, Claire G. Coleman, Ross Gillett, A. Frances Johnson, and Julie Manning – read their shortlisted poems.
News from the Editor's Desk - September 2017 Peter Rose , 2017 single work essay
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , September no. 394 2017; (p. 1)

'At a lively ceremony at Potts Point Bookshop on August 10, David Malouf named Eliza Robertson as the winner of the 2017 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize for her story ‘Pheidippides’. Robertson’s story ‘explores the changing relationships between a marathon runner, a journalist and his wife in the wake of tragedies. It is a powerfully observed, beautiful, and unflinching story that shows the different paths that people take to cope with grief and trauma,’ said Jolley Prize judge Amy Baillieu at the ceremony.' (Introduction)

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