The Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry is awarded annually as part of the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards for a book of collected poems or for a single poem of substantial length published in book form.New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Web page, accessed 5 November 2006 It is named after Kenneth Slessor (1901–1971).
The prize currently comes with a A$30,000 cash award.
Winners and shortlists
2026
Winner: Jill Jones – How to Emerge Kay L. Are – A Sonogrammar Andrew Brooks – Year of the Ox Debbie Lim – Bathypelagia Shey Marque – The Hum Hearers Kaya Ortiz – Past & Parallel Lives
2025
Winner: Hasib Hourani – rock flight Chris Andrews – The Oblong Plot Nam Le – 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem Jeanine Leane – Gawimarra: Gathering Kate Middleton – Television
2024
Winner: Tais Rose Wae – Riverbed Sky Songs Pooja Mittal Biswas – Hunger and Predation Willo Drummond – Moon Wrasse Libby Hart – Burn Caitlin Maling – Spore or Seed Omar Sakr – Non-Essential Work
2023
Winner: Kim Cheng Boey – The Singer and Other Poems Adam Aitken – Revenants Pam Brown – Stasis Shuffle Lisa Gorton – Miribilia Sarah Holland-Batt – The Jaguar Marjon Mossammaparast – And to Ecstacy
2022
Winner: Dan Disney – accelerations & inertias Eunice Andrada – Take Care Evelyn Araluen – Dropbear Eileen Chong – A Thousand Crimson Blooms John Kinsella – Supervivid Depastoralism Bella Li – Theory of Colours
2021
Winner: Ellen van Neerven – Throat Jordie Albiston – Element: The Atomic Weight & Radius of Love Rebecca Jessen – Ask Me About the Future Jill Jones – A History of What I’ll Become Jaya Savige – Change Machine
2020
Winner: Peter Boyle – Enfolded in the Wings of a Great Darkness Joanne Burns – apparently Zenobia Frost – After the Demolition Lisa Gorton – Empirical Natalie Harkin – Archival-Poetics David Malouf – An Open Book
2019
Winner: Judith Bishop – Interval Michael Farrell – I Love Poetry Penelope Layland – Things I’ve Thought To Tell You Since I Saw You Last Philip Neilsen – Wildlife of Berlin Mark Reid – Blindside Chris Wallace-Crabbe – Rondo
2018
Winner: Bella Li – Argosy Adam Aitken – Archipelago Jordie Albiston – Euclid's dog: 100 algorithmic poems Rico Craig – Bone Ink Nguyễn Tiên Hoàng – Captive and Temporal Omar Sakr – These Wild Houses
2017
Winner: Peter Boyle – Ghostspeaking Paul Hetherington – Burnt Umber Jill Jones – Breaking the Days Antigone Kefala – Fragments John Kinsella – Firebreaks: Poems Ellen van Neerven – Comfort Foot
2016
Winner: Joanne Burns – brush Lionel Fogarty – Eelahroo (Long Ago), Nyah (Looking), Möbö-Möbö (Future) Sarah Holland-Batt – The Hazards Meredith Wattison – terra bravura Chloe Wilson – Not Fox Nor Axe Ouyang Yu – Fainting
2015
Winner: David Malouf – Earth Hour Michael Aiken – A Vicious Example Judith Beveridge – Devadatta's Poems Anne Elvey – Kin Libby Hart – Wild John Mateer – Unbelievers, or The Moor
2014 Winner: Fiona Hile – Novelties, Hunter Justin Clemens – The Mundiad, Hunter Diane Fahey – The Stone Garden: poems from Clare, Clouds of Magellan Liam Ferney – Boom, Grand Parade Poets Kate Middleton – Ephemeral Waters, Giramondo Publishing Jessica Wilkinson – Marionette: A biography of Miss Marion Davies, Vagabond Press
2013 Winner: Ali Cobby Eckermann – Ruby Moonlight, Magabala Books Kate Fagan – First Light, Giramondo Publishing Michael Farrell – Open Sesame, Giramondo Publishing Anthony Lawrence – The Welfare of my Enemy, Puncher & Wattman Kate Lilley – Ladylike, UWA Publishing Vivian Smith – Here, There and Elsewhere, Giramondo Publishing
2012 Winner: Gig Ryan – New and Selected Poems, Giramondo Publishing Ken Bolton – Sly Mongoose, Puncher and Wattman Susan Hawthorne – Cow, Spinifex Press John Mateer – Southern Barbarians, Giramondo Publishing Claire Potter – Swallow, Five Islands Press Tracy Ryan – The Argument, Fremantle Press
2011 Winner: Jennifer Maiden – Pirate Rain, Giramondo Publishing Susan Bradley Smith – Supermodernprayerbook, Salt Publishing Andy Jackson – Among The Regulars, Papertiger Media Inc Jill Jones – Dark Bright Doors, Wakefield Press Pty Anna Kerdijk Nicholson – Possession, Five Island Press Andy Kissane – Out to Lunch, Puncher and Wattmann
2010 Winner: Jordie Albiston – The Sonnet According to "M" Emily Ballou – The Darwin Poems Judith Beveridge – Storm and Honey Emma Jones – The Striped World Morgan Yasbincek – White Camel
2009 Winner: LK Holt – Man Wolf Man, John Leonard Press. Michael Brennan – Unanimous Night, Salt Publishing David Brooks – The Balcony, University of Queensland Press Sarah Holland-Batt – Aria, University of Queensland Press Kerry Leves – A Shrine To Lata Mangeshkar, Puncher & Wattman Alan Wearne – The Australian Popular Songbook, Giramondo
2008 Winner: Kathryn Lomer – Two Kinds of Silence Joanne Burns – an illustrated history of dairies Brook Emery – Uncommon Light Peter Kirkpatrick – Westering David Malouf – Typewriter Music Phyllis Perlstone – The Edge of Everything
2007 Winner: John Tranter – Urban Myths, University of Queensland Press Robert Adamson – The Goldfinches of Baghdad, Flood Editions Laurie Duggan – The Passenger, University of Queensland Press Les Murray – The Biplane Houses, Black Inc. Simon West – First Names, Puncher and Wattmann Fay Zwicky – Picnic, Giramondo Publishing Company
2006 Winner: Jaya Savige – Latecomers, University of Queensland Press. Aidan Coleman – Avenues & Runways, Brandl & Schlesinger Susan Hampton – The Kindly Ones, Five Islands Press Jill Jones – Broken/Open, Salt Publishing Penelope Layland – Suburban Anatomy, Pandanus Books David McCooey – Blister Pack, Salt Publishing
2005 Winner: Samuel Wagan Watson – Smoke Encrypted Whispers, University of Queensland Press M. T. C. Cronin – < More or Less Than> 1–100, Shearsman Books Ltd Lidija Cvetkovic – War is Not the Season for Figs, University of Queensland Press John Kinsella – Doppler Effect, Salt Publishing Dipti Saravanamuttu – The Colosseum, Five Islands Press Alan Wearne – The Lovemakers Book Two: Money and Nothing, ABC Books
2004 Winner: Pam Brown – Dear Deliria: New & Selected Poems, Salt Publishing Jordie Albiston – The Fall, White Crane Press M. T. C. Cronin – beautiful, unfinished Salt Publishing Brook Emery – Misplaced Heart, Five Islands Press Philip Hammial – In the Year of Our Lord Slaughter's Children, Island Press John Tranter – Studio Moon, Salt Publishing
2003 Winner: Jill Jones – Screens Jets Heaven Alison Croggon – Attempts at Being Kate Lilley – Versary Emma Lew – Anything the Landlord Touches Sarah Day – New and Selected Poems Robert Gray – Afterimages
2002 Winner: Alan Wearne – The Lovemakers, Penguin Books Australia Robert Adamson – Mulberry Leaves: New & Selected Poems: 1970–2001, Paper Bark Press Martin Harrison – Summer, Paper Bark Press Dorothy Hewett – Halfway Up the Mountain, Fremantle Arts Centre Press Bronwyn Lea – Flight Animals, University of Queensland Press Gig Ryan – Heroic Money, Brandl & Schlesinger John Tranter – Ultra, Brandl & Schlesinger
2001 Winner: Ken Taylor – Africa, Five Islands Press Jennifer Compton – Blue, Ginninderra Press Brook Emery – and dug my fingers in the sand, Five Islands Press Philip Hammial – Bread, Black Pepper J. S. Harry – Sun Shadow, Moon Shadow, Vagabond Press Wendy Jenkins – Rogue Equations, Fremantle Arts Centre Press
2000 Winner: Jennifer Maiden – Mines, Paper Bark Press/Australian Humanities Research Foundation Richard James Allen – Thursday's Fictions, Five Islands Press M. T. C. Cronin – Everything Holy, Balcones International Press Jennifer Harrison – Dear B, Black Pepper Kevin Hart – Wicked Heat, Paper Bark Press John Millett – Iceman, Five Islands Press
1999 and before Award winners:New South Wales Ministry of Culture Web site, official list of past winners
+Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry winners (1980–1999)YearAuthorTitlePublisherResult 1999 Lee Cataldi Race Against Time Penguin Books Australia Winner 1998 no awards were presented 1997 Anthony Lawrence The Viewfinder University of Queensland Press Winner1996 Eric Beach Weeping for Lost Babylon Angus and RobertsonWinner J. S. Harry Selected Poems Penguin Books Australia 1995 Peter Boyle Coming Home From the World Five Islands Press Winner 1994 Barry Hill Ghosting William Buckley Heinemann Winner 1993 Les Murray Translations from the Natural World Isabella Press Winner 1992 Elizabeth Riddell Selected Poems Collins Angus & Robertson Winner 1991 Jennifer Maiden The Winter Baby Collins Angus & Robertson Winner 1990 Robert Adamson The Clean Dark Paper Bark Press Winner 1989 John Tranter Under Berlin University of Queensland Press Winner 1988 Judith Beveridge The Domesticity of Giraffes Black Lightning Press Winner 1987 Philip Hodgins Blood and Bone Angus & Robertson Winner 1986 Robert Gray Selected Poems 1963-1983 Angus & Robertson Winner 1985 Kevin Hart Your Shadow Angus & Robertson Winner 1984 Les Murray The People's Otherworld : Poems Angus & Robertson Winner 1983 Vivian Smith Tide Country Angus & Robertson Winner 1982 Fay Zwicky Kaddish and Other Poems University of Queensland Press Winner 1981 Alan Gould Astral Sea Angus & Robertson Winner 1980 David Campbell The Man in the Honeysuckle Angus & Robertson Winner
See also Australian literature List of poetry awards List of years in poetry List of years in literature
Notes