The Victorian Premier's Prize for Poetry, formerly known as the C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry, is a prize category in the annual

Victorian Premier's Literary Award The Victorian Premier's Literary Awards were created by the Victorian Government with the aim of raising the profile of contemporary creative writing and Australia's publishing industry. As of 2013, it is reportedly Australia's richest literary p ...

. As of 2011 it has an enumeration of 25,000. The winner of this category prize vies with 4 other category winners for overall Victorian Prize for Literature valued at an additional 100,000. The prize was formerly known as the C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry from inception until 2010, when the awards were re-established under the stewardship of the

Wheeler Centre The Wheeler Centre, originally Centre of Books, Writing and Ideas, is a literary and publishing centre founded as part of Melbourne's bid to be a Unesco Creative City of Literature, which designation it earned in 2008. It is named after its pat ...

and restarted with new prize amounts and a new name. It was named after the early twentieth century

vernacular A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...

poet

C. J. Dennis Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis (7 September 1876 – 22 June 1938), better known as C. J. Dennis, was an Australian poet and journalist known for his best-selling verse novel ''The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke'' (1915). Alongside ...

Victorian Premier's Prize for Poetry

Blue ribbon () = winner.

2011

Cate Kennedy Cate Kennedy (born 1963) is an Australian author based in Victoria. Life and career Kennedy graduated from the University of Canberra and has also taught at several colleges, including The University of Melbourne. She is the author of the hi ...

, ''The Taste of River Water'' ** Claire Potter, ''Swallow'' ** Libby Hart, ''This Floating World''

2012

* John Kinsella, ''Armour'' **

John Mateer John Mateer (born 1971) is a South African-born Australian poet and author. Early life and education He was born in Roodepoort, South Africa in 1971, and grew up on the outskirts of Johannesburg. He spent some of his childhood in Canada, before ...

, ''Southern Barbarians'' ** Michelle Cahill, ''Vishvarupa''

2013

Presented in January 2014 (see 2014 entry) for books published in 2013.

2014

Jennifer Maiden Jennifer Maiden (born 1949) is an Australian poet. She was born in Penrith, New South Wales, and has had 36 books published: 28 poetry collections, 6 novels and 2 nonfiction works. Her current publishers are Quemar Press in Australia and Bloo ...

, ''Liquid Nitrogen'' ** Michael Brennan, ''Autoethnographic'' ** Brendan Ryan, ''Travelling Through the Family''

2015

Jill Jones Jill Jones (born July 11, 1962) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress, who performed as a backing vocalist for Teena Marie and Prince in the 1980s. Overview Jones was born in Lebanon, Ohio on July 11, 1962. Her mother, a fashion model ...

, ''The Beautiful Anxiety'' ** Susan Bradley Smith, ''Bed For All Who Come'' ** Andy Kissane, ''Radiance''

2016

* Alan Loney, ''Crankhandle'' ** Lucy Dougan, ''The Guardians'' ** Peter Rose, ''The Subject of Feeling''

2017

Maxine Beneba Clarke Maxine Beneba Clarke is an Australian writer of Afro-Caribbean descent, whose work includes fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Her collection of short stories ''Foreign Soil'' won the 2013 Victorian Premier's Unpublished Manuscript Award, the 2015 ...

, ''Carrying the World'' ** Eileen Chong, ''Painting Red Orchids'' ** Tina Giannoukos, ''Bull Days''

2018

* Bella Li, ''Argosy'' **

, ''The Metronome'' ** Eddie Paterson, ''redactor''

2019

* Kate Lilley, ''Tilt'' **Eunice Andrada, ''Flood Damages'' ** Rae White, ''Milk Teeth''

2020

* Charmaine Papertalk Green, ''Nganajungu Yagu'' ** Louise Crisp, ''Yuiquimbiang'' ** L. K. Holt, ''Birth Plan''

2021

* David Stavanger, ''Case Notes'' **Rebecca Jessen, ''Ask Me About the Future'' **

Ellen van Neerven Ellen van Neerven (born 1990) is an Aboriginal Australian author, educator and editor. They are queer and non-binary. Their first work of fiction, ''Heat and Light'' (2013), won several awards, and in 2019 Van Neerven won the Queensland Premier ...

, ''Throat''

2022

* Maria Takolander, ''Trigger Warning'' **

, ''How Decent Folk Behave'' ** Andy Jackson, ''Human Looking''

2023

* Gavin Yuan Gao, ''At the Altar of Touch'' ** Scott-Patrick Mitchell, ''Clean'' **

Simon Tedeschi Simon Tedeschi (born 1 May 1981) is an Australian classical pianist and writer. Early life Tedeschi was born in Gosford to Mark Tedeschi QC, Senior Crown Prosecutor for New South Wales, and doctor Vivienne Tedeschi, the daughter of a Polis ...

, ''Fugitive''

C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry (inactive)

This award is no longer active. It was renamed in 2011 to Victorian Premier's Prize for Poetry (see above).

2010

* Winner: Anna Kerdijk Nicholson - ''Possession'' (Five Islands Press) * Peter Bakowski - ''Beneath Our Armour'' (Hunter Publishers) *

Ian McBryde Ian McBryde is an Australian poet. He was born in 1953 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada but has been a long time Australian resident. He has published ten books of poems and three audio CDs of spoken word poetry and original music A widely admired ...

- ''The Adoption Order'' (Five Islands Press)

2009

* Winner: Robert Adamson - ''The Golden Bird'' (Black Inc) * Carol Jenkins - ''Fishing in the Devonian'' (Puncher and Wattman) * Bronwyn Lea - ''The Other Way Out'' (Giramondo Publishing)

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

* Winner:

Lisa Gorton Lisa Gorton (born 1972) is an Australian poet, novelist, literary editor and essayist. She is the author of three award-winning poetry collections: ''Press Release'', ''Hotel Hyperion'' '','' and ''Empirical''. Her novel ''The Life of Houses,'' ...

- ''Press Release'' (Giramondo Publishing) * Judith Bishop - ''Event'' (Salt Publishing) * Barry Hill - ''As We Draw Ourselves'' (Five Island Press)

2007

* Winner:

Judy Johnson William Julius "Judy" Johnson (October 26, 1899 – June 15, 1989) was an American professional third baseman and manager whose career in Negro league baseball spanned 17 seasons, from 1921 to 1937. Slight of build, Johnson never developed as ...

- ''Jack'' (Pandanus Press),CJ Dennis Prize 2007
/ref> * Robert Adamson - ''The Goldfinches of Babylon'' (Flood Editions) * John Watson - ''Montale: A Biographical Anthology'' (Puncher & Wattman)

2006

* Winner: John Tranter - ''Urban Myths: 210 Poems'' (UQP) * B. R. Dionysius - ''Universal Andalusia'' (Soi 3/Papertiger Media) * Susan Hampton - ''The Kindly Ones'' (Five Islands Press)

2005

* Winner: M. T. C. Cronin - ''1-100'' (Shearsman Books) * John Kinsella - ''Doppler Effect'' * Morgan Yasbincek - ''Firelick''

2004

* Winner:

Judith Beveridge Judith Beveridge (born 1956) is a contemporary Australian poet, editor and academic. She is a recipient of the Christopher Brennan Award. Biography Judith Beveridge was born in London, England, arriving in Australia with her parents in 1960. She ...

- ''Wolf Notes'' * Michael Brennan - ''The Imageless World'' * Anthony Lawrence - ''The Sleep of a Learning Man''

2003

* Winner: Emma Lew - ''Anything the Landlord Touches'' *

Jordie Albiston Jordie Albiston (30 September 1961 – 28 February 2022) was an Australian poet. Early life Jordie Albiston grew up in Melbourne, the second of four children. She studied music at the Victorian College of the Arts before completing a doct ...

- ''The Fall'' * S. K. Kelen - ''Goddess of Mercy''

Before 2003

* 2002: Robert Gray - ''Afterimages''......syp * 2001:

- ''Barefoot Speech'' *

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

: John Millett - ''Iceman'' *

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

Gig Ryan Gig Ryan, born Elizabeth Anne Martina Ryan November 5, 1956, is an Australian poet. She is a recipient of the Christopher Brennan Award. Biography Ryan was born in Leicester, England in 1956. Her father is the Australian surgeon Peter Joh ...

- ''Pure and Applied'' *

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

Coral Hull Coral Hull (born 1965) is an author, poet, artist and photographer living in Darwin, Australia. She has authored many books, including poetry, fiction, non-fiction, artwork and digital photography. Her areas of special interest have been in eth ...

- ''Broken Land'' *

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

: Les Murray - ''Subhuman Redneck Poems'' * 1996: Peter Bakowski - ''In the Human Night'' *

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

: Bruce Beaver - ''Anima and Other Poems'' *

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

: Robert Gray - ''Certain Things'' *

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

: Les Murray - ''Translations from the Natural World'' * 1992: Robert Harris - ''Jane, Interlinear and Other Poems'' *

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

- ''The Winter Baby'' *

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

: Robert Adamson - ''The Clean Dark'' *

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...

Gwen Harwood Gwen Harwood (née Gwendoline Nessie Foster, 8 June 19205 December 1995) was an Australian poet and librettist. Harwood is regarded as one of Australia's finest poets, publishing over 420 works, including 386 poems and 13 librettos. She won nu ...

- ''Bone Scan'' *

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

- ''The Domesticity of Giraffes'' *

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

Lily Brett Lily Brett (born Lilijahne Brajtsztajn 5 September 1946, Feldafing displaced persons camp, Bavaria, Germany) is an Australian novelist, essayist and poet. She lived in North Carlton and then Elwood/Caulfield (suburbs of Melbourne) from 1948 to ...

- ''The Auschwitz Poems'' *

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

Rhyll McMaster Rhyll McMaster (born 1947 in Brisbane) is a contemporary Australian poet and novelist. She has worked as a secretary, a nurse and a sheep farmer. She now lives in Sydney and has written full-time since 2000. She is a recipient of the Barbara Je ...

- ''Washing the Money'' *

: John A. Scott - ''St. Clair'' *

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

Kevin Hart Kevin Darnell Hart (born July 6, 1979) is an American comedian and actor. Originally known as a stand-up comedian, he has since starred in Hollywood films and on TV. He has also released several well-received comedy albums. After winning se ...

- ''Your Shadow'' *

: Rosemary Dobson - ''The Three Fates''

External links

Official site

References

{{reflist Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Australian poetry awards