Competitions

Participating in writing competitions is a great challenge for any writer. It pushes you to be a bit more disciplined with your writing and promote your talent and skill to others. It also opens to networking with other like-minded people who have a love for writing. 

The Society of Women Writers Victoria (SWWV) encourages members to get your writing out by joining competitions and vie for awards and prizes. In this page we share the competitions for different genre of writing that may suit individual members’ styles. 

SWWV runs a number of competitions for writers at every stage of their career. Read on for further information.

The Alice Award

The Alice Literary Award is presented to an Australian woman who has made a distinguished, long-term contribution to Australian Literature. The award is in the form of a trophy and it is presented biennially. The winner is chosen after consultation with the state branches of the Society and each branch takes a turn at hosting the Alice Literary Award. The original bronze statuette is now too frail to be sent around the country so while the ...
Enter here

Nance Donkin Award for Children’s Literature

The recipient of the 2025 Nance Donkin award is Kaye Baillie. Congratulations to Kaye and all the nominees for 2025.   Christina Booth from Tasmania Susanne Gervay OAM from New South Wales. Kaye Baillie from Victoria This award was judged by Andrea Rowe.  You can read her report here. Andrea is an award-winning author of children’s picture books. She loves to write stories where ...
Enter here

The Kathryn Purnell Poetry Prize

The Kathryn Purnell Poetry Prize Results We are delighted to announce the winners, runners-up and the short-list and long-list of the Kathryn Purnell Poetry Prize. A huge thank you to all of the readers and to our judge Alice White! Read the judges report here. 1st prize: A Draft – Shoshanna Rockman 2nd prize: On Waking – Heather Cameron 3rd prize: Book Ghosts – Robyn Rowland Highly Commended: Soul Takeover – Margaret Owen Ruckert Highly Commended: Ticket ...
Enter here

The Margaret Hazzard Short Story Award

We are pleased to announce the winners the Margaret Hazzard Short Story Award 2024. With many thanks to judge Dr Rachel Matthews. Congratulations to all the authors. Please note we have two 3rd prize joint winners. 1st prize: Beneath the Wailing Street – Gayle Beveridge 2nd Prize: Glubbed – Nichola Thompson 3rd prize: Footy Boots – Fran Prem 3rd prize: Provenance – Alison Knight Short-list Baiting Crabs – Elaine Chennatt Mrs Bartram’s Neighbours – Gayle Beveridge Returns – Eva White Swiped Right – ...
Enter here

SIGN UP TO BE THE FIRST TO FIND OUT ABOUT OUR EVENTS

Copyright 2021 Society of Women Writers Victoria Inc. ABN 56912391043

All rights reserved.
linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram Skip to content