The Grace Leven Prize for Poetry was an annual poetry award in Australia, given in the name of Grace Leven who died in 1922. It was established by William Baylebridge who "made a provision for an annual poetry prize in memory of 'my benefactress Grace Leven' and for the publication of his own work".Bonnin (1979) Grace was his mother's half-sister.Wilde et al (1994) p. 325
The award is made to "the best volume of poetry published in the preceding twelve months by a writer either Australian-born, or naturalised in Australia and resident in Australia for not less than ten years". It offers only a small monetary prize, but is highly regarded by poets.AusLit News April–May 2007 It was first awarded in 1947,Munro & Sheahan-Bright (2006) p. 142 with the recipient being Nan McDonald's Pacific Sea. In 2012 the prize was awarded for the final time.
Award winners 2010s Year Author Title Publisher Ref.2012 Michael Brennan Autoethnographic Giramondo Publishing Laurie Duggan The Collected Blue Hills Puncher and Wattmann Toby Fitch Rawshock Puncher and Wattmann John Kinsella Jaguar's Dream Alma Books Michael Sharkey Another Fine Morning in Paradise Five Islands Press 2011 Not awarded 2010 LK Holt Patience, Mutiny John Leonard Press David Musgrave Phantom Limb John Leonard Press Petra White The Simplified World John Leonard Press
2000s Year Author Title Publisher Ref. 2009 Not awarded 2008 Alan Wearne The Australian Popular Songbook Giramondo Publishing 2007 Robert Adamson The Goldfinches of Baghdad Flood Editions 2006 Alan Gould The Past Completes Me: Selected Poems 1973–2003 University of Queensland Press 2005 Noel Rowe Next to Nothing Vagabond Press 2004 Luke Davies Totem Allen and Unwin 2003 Stephen Edgar Lost in the Foreground Duffy and Snellgrove 2002 Kate Lilley Versary Salt Publishing 2001 Geoff Page Darker and Lighter Five Islands Press 2000 Not awarded
1990s Year Author Title Publisher Ref. 1999 Not awarded 1998 Not awarded 1997 Geoffrey Lehmann Collected Poems Heinemann 1996 John Kinsella The Undertow: New and Selected Poems Arc Publications 1995 Kevin Hart New and Selected Poems Angus and Robertson Kevin Hart on AustLit database Rhyll McMaster Flying the Coop : New and Selected Poems 1972–1994 Heinemann Jemal Sharah Path of Ghosts: poems 1986–93 HeinemannJemal Sharah on Austlit database 1994 Not awarded 1993 Philip Hodgins The End of the Season Brindabella Press 1992 Gary Catalano Empire of Grass University of Queensland Press Kevin Hart Peniel Golvan arts 1991 Les Murray Dog Fox Field Angus and Robertson 1990 Not awarded
1980s
Year Author Title Publisher Ref. 1989 Dorothy Hewett A Tremendous World in Her Head Dangaroo Press 1988 John Tranter Under Berlin University of Queensland Press 1987 Elizabeth Riddell Occasions of Birds and Other Poems Brindabella Press 1986 Rhyll McMaster Washing the Money : Poems with Photographs Angus and Robertson 1985 Robert Gray Selected Poems 1963-1983 Angus and Robertson Chris Wallace-Crabbe The Amorous Cannibal Oxford University Press Rosemary Dobson The Three Fates & Other Poems Hale and Iremonger 1983 Peter Porter Collected Poems Oxford University Press Vivian Smith Tide Country Angus and Robertson 1981 Geoffrey Lehmann Nero's Poems: Translations of the Public and Private Poems of the Emperor Nero Angus and Robertson 1980 Les Murray The Boys Who Stole the Funeral Angus and Robertson
1970s
Year Author Title Publisher Ref. 1979 David Campbell The Man in the Honeysuckle Angus and Robertson 1978 Bruce Dawe Sometimes Gladness: Collected Poems 1954–1978 Longman Cheshire 1977 Robert Adamson Selected Poems Angus and Robertson 1976 John Blight Selected Poems 1939–1975 Nelson 1975 Gwen Harwood Selected Poems Angus and Robertson 1974 David Malouf Neighbours in a Thicket University of Queensland Press 1973 Rodney Hall A Soapbox Omnibus University of Queensland Press 1972 Peter Skrzynecki Headwaters Lyre Bird Writers 1971 Judith Wright Collected Poems, 1942–1970 Angus and Robertson James McAuley Collected Poems 1936–1970 Angus and Robertson 1970 Bruce Beaver Letters to Live Poets South Head Press
1960s
Year Author Title Publisher Ref. 1969 Randolph Stow A Counterfeit Silence: Selected Poems Angus and Robertson 1968 David Campbell Selected Poems 1942–1968 Angus and Robertson 1967 Douglas Stewart Collected Poems 1936–1967 Angus and Robertson 1966 William Hart-Smith The Talking Clothes: Poems Angus and Robertson 1965 Les Murray and Geoffrey Lehmann The Ilex Tree ANU Press 1964 David Rowbotham All the Room Jacaranda Press 1963 Ian Mudie The North-Bound Rider Rigby 1962 R. D. Fitzgerald Southmost Twelve Angus and Robertson 1961 Thomas Shapcott Time on Fire Jacaranda Press 1960 Colin Thiele Man in a Landscape Rigby
1950s Year Author Title Publisher Ref. 1959 R. D. Fitzgerald The Wind at Your Door Talkarra Press 1958 Geoffrey Dutton Antipodes in Shoes Edwards and Shaw 1957 Leonard Mann Elegiac and Other Poems Cheshire 1956 James McAuley A Vision of Ceremony Angus & Robertson 1955 A. D. Hope The Wandering Islands Edwards and Shaw 1954 John Thompson Thirty Poems Edwards and Shaw 1953 Roland Robinson Tumult of the Swans Edwards and Shaw 1952 R. D. Fitzgerald Between Two Tides Halstead Press 1951 Rex Ingamells The Great South Land: An Epic Poem Georgian House 1950 No award
1940s
Year Author Title Publisher Ref. 1949 Judith Wright Woman to Man Angus & Robertson 1948 Francis Webb A Drum for Ben Boyd Angus & Robertson 1947 Nan McDonald Pacific Sea Angus & Robertson
Notes
References AusLit News April–May 2007. Retrieved 17 July 2007 Bonnin, Nancy (1979) "Baylebridge, William (1883–1942)", Australian Dictionary of Biography
Munro, Craig & Sheahan-Bright, Robyn (2006). Paper Empires: A History of the Book in Australia 1946–2005. St Lucia, University of Queensland Press
Wilde, W., Hooton, J. & Andrews, B (1994) The Oxford Companion of Australian Literature 2nd ed. South Melbourne, Oxford University Press