Judy Higgs: 'The Secret Sex Lives of Older Women' is 30 April 2026MORE
May Meeting (online) is 15 May 2026MORE
The Margaret Hazzard Short Story Award closes 3 May 2026MORE
Judy Higgs: 'The Secret Sex Lives of Older Women' is 30 April 2026MORE
May Meeting (online) is 15 May 2026MORE
The Margaret Hazzard Short Story Award closes 3 May 2026MORE
Judy Higgs: 'The Secret Sex Lives of Older Women' is 30 April 2026MORE
May Meeting (online) is 15 May 2026MORE
The Margaret Hazzard Short Story Award closes 3 May 2026MORE
Judy Higgs: 'The Secret Sex Lives of Older Women' is 30 April 2026MORE
May Meeting (online) is 15 May 2026MORE
The Margaret Hazzard Short Story Award closes 3 May 2026MORE

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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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The Margaret Hazzard Short Story Award

The Margaret Hazzard Short Story Competition 2026.

Short stories of up to 2,000 words on an open theme. Closes: 3rd May 2026

Judge: Melanie Cheng

Prizes: 1st $350.00. 2nd $200.00. 3rd $100.00.

Fees: For SWW Victoria members: 1 story $10.00 or 3 stories $20.00

For non-members: 1 story $15.00 or 3 stories $30.00

Winning stories will be published in the Society’s anthology, Sparx.

Copyright remains ...

Opening Date: Wednesday 7 January 2026
Closing Date: Sunday 3 May 2026
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