The Grace Leven Prize for Poetry was an annual poetry award in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, given in the name of Grace Leven who died in 1922. It was established by

William Baylebridge William Baylebridge (12 December 1883 – 7 May 1942), born Charles William Blocksidge, was an Australian writer, poet, and political theorist. Baylebridge was born in Brisbane, Queensland, the son of George Henry Blocksidge. He studied at B ...

who "made a provision for an annual poetry prize in memory of 'my benefactress Grace Leven' and for the publication of his own work". 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. It was first awarded in 1947, with the recipient being Nan McDonald's ''Pacific Sea''. In 2012 the prize was awarded for the final time.

Award winners

2010s

* 2012: Joint winners ::: ''Rawshock'' by Toby Fitch ::: ''Autoethnographic'' by Michael Brennan ::: ''The Collected Blue Hills'' by

Laurie Duggan Laurence James Duggan (born 1949), known as Laurie Duggan, is an Australian poet, editor, and translator. Life Laurie Duggan was born in Melbourne and attended Monash University, where his friends included the poets Alan Wearne and John A. Sc ...

::: ''Jaguar's Dream'' by John Kinsella ::: ''Another Fine Morning in Paradise'' by

Michael Sharkey Michael Sharkey (born 1 August 1946 in Canterbury, New South Wales) is an Australian poet, resident in Castlemaine in the goldfields region of Victoria. He studied at the University of Sydney, where he was awarded a BA degree in 1972, and then ...

* 2010: Joint winners ::: ''Phantom Limb'' by David Musgrave ::: ''Patience, Mutiny'' by LK Holt ::: ''The Simplified World'' by Petra White

2000s

* 2008: ''The Australian Popular Songbook'' by

Alan Wearne Alan Wearne (born 23 July 1948) is an Australian poet. Early life and education Alan Wearne was born on 23 July 1948 and grew up in Melbourne. He studied history at Monash University, where he met the poets Laurie Duggan and John A. Scott. H ...

* 2007: ''The Goldfinches of Baghdad'' by Robert AdamsonRobert Adamson on the Austlit database
/ref> * 2006: ''The Past Completes Me: Selected Poems 1973–2003'' by

Alan Gould Alan Gould (born 22 March 1949) is a contemporary Australian novelist, essayist and poet. Life and career Gould was born in London to an English father and an Icelandic mother. His family lived in Northern Ireland, Germany and Singapore before ...

* 2005: ''Next to Nothing'' by Noel Rowe * 2004: ''Totem'' by

Luke Davies Luke Davies (born 1962) is an Australian writer of poetry, novels and screenplays. His best known works are '' Candy: A Novel of Love and Addiction'' (which was adapted for the screen in 2006) and the screenplay for the film '' Lion'', which e ...

* 2003: ''Lost in the Foreground'' by Stephen Edgar * 2002: ''Versary'' by

Kate Lilley Kate Lilley (born 1960) is a contemporary Australian poet and academic. Early life Kate Lilley was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1960 and moved to Sydney with her family. She is the daughter of writers Dorothy Hewett and Merv Lilley, an ...

* 2001: ''Darker and Lighter'' by

Geoff Page Geoffrey Donald Page (born 7 July 1940) is an Australian poet, translator, teacher and jazz enthusiast. He has published 22 collections of poetry, as well as prose and verse novels. Poetry and jazz are his driving interests, and he has also writ ...

1990s

* 1997: ''The Undertow: New and Selected Poems'' by John Kinsella * 1995: Joint winners :::''New and Selected Poems'' by

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 ...

Kevin Hart on AustLit database
/ref> :::''Flying the Coop : New and Selected Poems 1972–1994'' by

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 ...

:::''Path of Ghosts: poems 1986–93'' by Jemal SharahJemal Sharah on Austlit database
/ref> * 1993: ''The End of the Season'' by

Philip Hodgins Philip Ian Hodgins (28 January 1959 – 18 August 1995) was an Australian poet, whose work appeared in such major publications as ''The New Yorker''. The Philip Hodgins Memorial Medal for Literary Excellence is awarded annually at the Mildu ...

* 1992: Joint winners ::: ''Empire of Grass'' by

Gary Catalano Gary Catalano (30 October 1947 – 8 December 2002) was an Australian poet and art critic. Life Calatano was born on 30 October 1947 in Brisbane. He married writer Helen Hewitt in 1990. He died on 8 December 2002 in Melbourne. Awards * 1992 Gra ...

::: ''Peniel'' by

* 1991: ''Dog Fox Field'' by Les Murray

1980s

* 1989: ''A Tremendous World in Her Head'' by

Dorothy Hewett Dorothy Coade Hewett (21 May 1923 – 25 August 2002) was an Australian playwright, poet and author, and a romantic feminist icon. In writing and in her life, Hewett was an experimenter. As her circumstances and beliefs changed, she progressed ...

Dorothy Hewett on the Austlit database
/ref> * 1988: ''Under Berlin'' by John Tranter * 1987: ''Occasions of Birds and Other Poems'' by

Elizabeth Riddell Elizabeth Riddell (21 March 1910 – 3 July 1998) was an Australian poet and journalist. Life Born in Napier, New Zealand, Elizabeth Richmond Riddell came to Australia in 1928 where she worked at ''Smith's Weekly'' and won a Walkley Award. She ...

Elizabeth Riddell on the Austlit database
/ref> * 1986: ''Washing the Money : Poems with Photographs'' by

Rhyll McMaster on the Austlit database
/ref> * 1985: Joint winners ::: ''Selected Poems 1963–1983'' by Robert Gray ::: ''The Amorous Cannibal'' by

Chris Wallace-Crabbe Christopher Keith Wallace-Crabbe (born 6 May 1934) is an Australian poet and emeritus professor in the Australian Centre, University of Melbourne. Life and career Wallace-Crabbe was born in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond. His father was Ken ...

* 1984: ''The Three Fates and Other Poems'' by Rosemary Dobson * 1983: ''Collected Poems'' by Peter PorterPeter Porter on the Austlit database
/ref> * 1982: ''Tide Country'' by Vivian Smith * 1981: ''Nero's Poems: Translations of the Public and Private Poems of the Emperor Nero'' by Geoffrey Lehmann * 1980: ''The Boys Who Stole the Funeral'' by Les Murray

1970s

* 1979: ''The Man in the Honeysuckle'' by David Campbell * 1978: ''Sometimes Gladness: Collected Poems 1954–1978'' by

Bruce Dawe Donald Bruce Dawe (15 February 1930 – 1 April 2020) was an Australian poet and academic. Some critics consider him one of the most influential Australian poets of all time.

* 1977: ''Selected Poems'' by Robert Adamson * 1976: ''Selected Poems 1939–1975'' by

John Blight Frederick John Blight (30 July 1913 – 12 May 1995) was an Australian poet of Cornish origin, his ancestors having arrived in South Australia on the ''Lisander'', in 1851. In the 1987 recording ''John Blight'', he describes his Cornish backgro ...

* 1975: ''Selected Poems (1975)'' by

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 ...

* 1974: '' Neighbours in a Thicket: Poems'' by

David Malouf David George Joseph Malouf AO (; born 20 March 1934) is an Australian poet, novelist, short story writer, playwright and librettist. Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2008, Malouf has lectured at both the University of Quee ...

* 1973: ''A Soapbox Omnibus'' by Rodney Hall * 1972: ''Head-Waters'' by

Peter Skrzynecki Peter Michael Skrzynecki OAM (, Australian pronunciation: ; born 6 April 1945) is an Australian poet of Polish and Ukrainian origin. Biography Born in the German hamlet of , now part of Hemer, Skrzynecki came to Australia in 1949 with his parent ...

* 1971: Joint winners ::: ''Collected Poems, 1942–1970'' by

Judith Wright Judith Arundell Wright (31 May 191525 June 2000) was an Australian poet, environmentalist and campaigner for Aboriginal land rights. She was a recipient of the Christopher Brennan Award. Biography Judith Wright was born in Armidale, New Sou ...

::: ''Collected Poems 1936–1970'' by

James McAuley James Phillip McAuley (12 October 1917 – 15 October 1976) was an Australian academic, poet, journalist, Australian literature, literary critic and a prominent convert to Roman Catholicism. He was involved in the Ern Malley poetry hoax. Life ...

Austlit – ''Collected Poems 1936–1970'' by James McAuley
/ref> * 1970: '' Letters to Live Poets'' by Bruce Beaver

1960s

* 1969: '' A Counterfeit Silence: Selected Poems'' by

Randolph Stow Julian Randolph Stow (28 November 1935 – 29 May 2010) was an Australian-born writer, novelist and poet. Early life Born in Geraldton, Western Australia, Randolph Stow was the son of Mary Campbell Stow née Sewell and Cedric Ernest Stow, a ...

* 1968: ''Selected Poems 1942–1968'' by David Campbell * 1967: ''Collected Poems 1936–1967'' by

Douglas Stewart Douglas Stewart may refer to: *Douglas Stewart (poet) (1913–1985), Australian poet *Edward Askew Sothern (1826–1881), English actor who was sometimes known as Douglas Stewart * Douglas Stewart (equestrian) (1913–1991), British Olympic equestri ...

* 1966: '' The Talking Clothes: Poems'' by

William Hart-Smith William Hart-Smith (23 November 1911 – 15 April 1990) was a New Zealand/ Australian poet who was born in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England. His family moved to New Zealand in 1924. He had about "seven years of formal schooling" in England, Scot ...

* 1965: ''The Ilex Tree'' by Les Murray and Geoffrey Lehmann * 1964: '' All the Room'' by

David Rowbotham David Harold Rowbotham (27 August 1924 – 6 October 2010) was an Australian poet and journalist. Early life Rowbotham was born in the Darling Downs of Queensland, in the city of Toowoomba. He attended Toowoomba Grammar School and studied at ...

* 1963: ''

The North-Bound Rider ''The North-Bound Rider'' (1963) is the seventh poetry collection by Australian author and poet Ian Mudie. It won the Grace Leven Prize for Poetry in 1963. The collection consists of 34 poems, with the bulk of them having been previously publis ...

'' by

Ian Mudie Ian Mayelston Mudie (1 March 1911 – 23 October 1976) was an Australian poet and author. Early life and education Mudie was born in 1911 in Hawthorn, South Australia, son of Henry Mayelston Mudie, an accountant, and his second wife Gertrude ...

* 1962: '' Southmost Twelve'' by

R. D. Fitzgerald Robert David FitzGerald III AM OBE (22 February 1902 – 24 May 1987) was an Australian poet. Biography FitzGerald was born in Hunters Hill, New South Wales, a third-generation Australian of Irish extraction, and studied science at the Univer ...

* 1961: '' Time on Fire'' by

Thomas Shapcott Thomas William Shapcott (born 21 March 1935) is an Australian poet, novelist, playwright, editor, librettist, short story writer and teacher. Biography Thomas William Shapcott was born in Ipswich, Queensland, and attended the Ipswich Grammar ...

* 1960: '' Man in a Landscape'' by

Colin Thiele Colin Milton Thiele AC (; 16 November 1920 – 4 September 2006) was an Australian author and educator. He was renowned for his award-winning children's fiction, most notably the novels '' Storm Boy'', ''Blue Fin'', the ''Sun on the Stubble'' s ...

1950s

* 1959: ''

The Wind at Your Door ''The Wind at Your Door'' (1959) is a one-poem volume by Australian poet R. D. Fitzgerald. The poem was originally published in '' The Bulletin'' on 17 December 1958, and later in this 275 copy Talkarra Press limited edition, signed by the autho ...

'' by

* 1958: ''

Antipodes in Shoes ''Antipodes in Shoes'' (1958) is a poetry collection by Australian poet Geoffrey Dutton. It won the Grace Leven Prize for Poetry in 1958. The collection consists of 51 poems, most of which were previously published in various Australian poetr ...

'' by

Geoffrey Dutton Geoffrey 'Geppie' Piers Henry Dutton AO (2 August 192217 September 1998) was an Australian author and historian. Biography Dutton was born into a prominent pastoralist family of Anlaby Station near Kapunda, South Australia in 1922. His grandfa ...

* 1957: ''Elegiac and Other Poems'' by

Leonard Mann Leonard Mann (15 November 1895 – 29 April 1981) was an Australian poet, and novelist. Life He served in the Australian Imperial Force during World War I, and with the Department of Aircraft Production in World War II. He was, in Septembe ...

* 1955: '' The Wandering Islands'' by

A. D. Hope Alec Derwent Hope (21 July 190713 July 2000) was an Australian poet and essayist known for his satirical slant. He was also a critic, teacher and academic. He was referred to in an American journal as "the 20th century's greatest 18th-centur ...

* 1954: ''Thirty Poems'' by John Thompson * 1953: '' Tumult of the Swans'' by Roland Robinson * 1952: ''

Between Two Tides ''Between Two Tides'' (1952) is a long narrative poem by Australian poet R. D. Fitzgerald, which included illustrations by Norman Lindsay. It won the Grace Leven Prize for Poetry in 1952. Outline The poem is "drawn from ''An Account of the Nat ...

'' by

R.D. Fitzgerald on Austlit database
/ref> * 1951: '' The Great South Land: An Epic Poem'' by

Rex Ingamells Reginald Charles (Rex) Ingamells (19 January 191330 December 1955) was an Australian poet, generally credited with being the leading light of the Jindyworobak Movement.Woman to Man'' by

* 1948: '' A Drum for Ben Boyd'' by Francis Webb * 1947: ''

Pacific Sea ''Pacific Sea'' (1947) is a collection of poems by Australian author Nan McDonald. It won the inaugural Grace Leven Prize for Poetry in 1947. The collection consists of 32 poems by the author with the bulk of these having been previously publi ...

'' by Nan McDonald"Strength and Sunshine" ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', 14 February 1948, p6
/ref>

Notes

References

AusLit News April–May 2007
Retrieved 17 July 2007

* *Munro, Craig & Sheahan-Bright, Robyn (2006). ''Paper Empires: A History of the Book in Australia 1946–2005''. St Lucia,

University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = B ...

Press * * Wilde, W., Hooton, J. & Andrews, B (1994) ''The Oxford Companion of Australian Literature'' 2nd ed. South Melbourne, Oxford University Press * {{cite news , author = Wyndham, Susan , title= 'Poetic Grace' 30 March 2007 , work=The Sydney Morning Herald , url= http://blogs.smh.com.au/entertainment/archives/undercover/010625.html , access-date= 16 July 2007 , date=30 March 2007 Australian poetry awards Awards established in 1947 1947 establishments in Australia