AustLit logo

AustLit

Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize for an Unpublished Manuscript
or The Arts Queensland Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize
Subcategory of Queensland Poetry Festival
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

History

'Named in honour of a distinguished Queensland poet, the Arts Queensland Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize for an Unpublished Manuscript is committed to encouraging emerging Queensland poets.  Now in its 17th year, this prestigious prize for an unpublished poetry manuscript comes with total prize money of $2,000 and a publishing contract. This prize is funded by Arts Queensland and supported by (University of Queensland Press) UQP.' (https://queenslandpoetryfestival.com/awards/thomas-shapcott-poetry-prize/)

Notes

  • Administered by The Queensland Poetry Festival this prize is for an unpublished manuscript by an emerging Queensland poet. The winner receives $3000, plus a publishing contract with the University of Queensland Press.

Latest Winners / Recipients

Year: 2021

winner Janaka Malwatta for 'blackbirds don’t mate with starlings'.

Year: 2020

winner Gavin Yuan Gao for 'At the Altar of Touch'.

Year: 2019

winner y separately published work icon Cadaver Dog Luke Best , St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 2020 19702860 2020 single work novel

'When an inland tsunami floods the foothills of a mountain city, a woman survives the inundation of her home, alone. This edgy, potent verse novel circles the scene like the cadaver dog whose work it is to search for those who are missing. Reimagining traditions of bush gothic and outback horror, Luke Best crafts a terrifying and acute psychological portrait of grief and guilt. Loss, cowardice and trauma pulse through this singular and uncompromising narrative of ecological and personal disaster.' (Publication summary)

Year: 2018

Year: 2017

winner y separately published work icon Milk Teeth Rae White , St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 2018 14069138 2018 selected work poetry

'In the bright mirror morning, I scratch
at flaked skin & peel lengths
of stringy flesh to expose
crackle quartz jutting from my neck
.

'In this highly original debut collection, Rae White’s edgy and playful poems challenge notions of category, identity, form and gender. Bodies transform, nature morphs and words dart and shift. White’s wise and provocative poems define new ways, new languages.' (Publication summary)

Works About this Award

For Better or Verse Phil Brown , 2014 single work column
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 22 May 2014; (p. 45)
'They say there's no money in poetry, which is true - unless you have to win two of Queensland major poetry prizes...'
Bribie's Bright Muse Rosemary Sorensen , 2004 single work column
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 11 October 2004; (p. 15)
X