The Wesley Michel Wright Prize is an Australian poetry prize named in honour of Wesley Michel Wright in recognition of his bequest to the University of Melbourne. It is awarded annually.
History Wesley Michel Wright graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1951. In his will he left a bequest to the university. Wright died in 1963 and the award was subsequently inaugurated. The first known recipient was Leon Slade in 1962. John Tranter, Judy Johnson and Sarah Day have won twice. In 2023, the prize is valued at A$4,300.
Entry conditions Entry is open to Australian citizens for a poem or poetry collection published in the previous twelve months. Poems to be from 50 to 500 lines long.
Winners This list is drawn from the AustLit database:
Year Winner(s) Notes 1982 Leon Slade 1983 Alex Skovron 1984 — (no award) 1985 John Scott Frank Kellaway 1986 Philip Hodgins 1987 Diane Fahey 1988 Laurie Duggan 1989 David Herkt John Tranter 1990 Ken Bolton 1991 Jordie Albiston Jan Owen 1992 Peter Boyle 1993 John Tranter 1994 Dimitris Tsaloumas 1995 Bruce Beaver 1996 Thomas Shapcott 1997 Judith Beveridge 1998 Jean Kent 1999 Margaret Bradstock 2000 Judy Johnson 2001 Bronwyn Lea 2002 Martin Harrison 2003 Chris Andrews 2004 Sarah Day 2005 — (no award) 2006 — (no award) 2007 — (no award) 2008 Caroline Caddy 2009 Emily Ballou 2010 — (no award) 2011 Rosanna Licari 2012 A. Frances Johnson 2013 Judy Johnson 2014 Sarah Day 2015 — (no award) 2016 — (no award) 2017 Susan Fealy 2018 John Kinsella 2019 Kevin Brophy 2020 Zenobia Frost 2021 Jill Jones 2022 Lisa Gorton 2023 Stuart Barnes 2024 Jarad Bruinstroop
References