2026 Calanthe Collective Prize for Unpublished Poetry
Calanthe Poetry is proud to announce
The Calanthe Collective Prize for Unpublished Poetry 2026
Initiated in 2022, this is the fifth year the prize has been running, attracting entries from across Australia and around the globe.
Designed to encourage aspiring and current poets and looking for exceptional poems on any theme, the competition has two categories:
Open Category
Open to poets of any age who have not yet had a book or chapbook published, either commercially or by self-publication, by March 31, 2026
Under 18 Category
Restricted to high school aged people
The Prizes
Open Category Winner: AUD$1000.00
2 x Highly Commended: AUD$250.00 each
Under 18 Category Winner: AUD$400.00
2 x Highly Commended: AUD$100.00 each
Calanthe Poetry especially thanks Jena Woodhouse and anonymous donors for their sponsorship of the under 18 Category for 2026.
Entrants may submit up to a maximum of five individual poems
All poems are reviewed blind, the reviewers having no knowledge of personal details
IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER
Submissions are open from January 1 to March 31, 2026
No entries will be accepted after March 31, 2026
Short-listed poets will be advised by May 25, 2026
Winners will be advised by June 8, 2026
Unsuccessful entrants will not be contacted
The Winner in each category and the Highly Commended poems will be announced and celebrated at the
Calanthe Poetry Spring Garden Party
on Tamborine Mountain, Qld, on Sunday September 20, 2026, with the poets presenting their winning poems.
The Winning and Highly Commended entries will be published on the Calanthe Press website: www.calanthepress.com.au and may be used on social media, and in any future prize anthologies.
ENTRY FEES:
Open Category: AUD $10.00 for each individual entry
U18 Category: FREE
Payment may be made by Bank Transfer to:
Calanthe Press: Suncorp Bank
BSB: 484799
Account No: 120925373
Please use your NAME as a reference on the bank transfer. If submitting more than one poem, fees may be deposited together, eg, three entries can be deposited as AUD $30.00
For International payments for the Open Category, please contact calanthepoets@gmail.com
ALL ENTRANTS SHOULD READ THE FOLLOWING CONDITIONS CAREFULLY BEFORE SUBMITTING ENTRIES:
THE CONDITIONS
1. Poems must be unpublished in either print or electronic format. This includes social media sites and personal blogs. Poems should not be offered for publication elsewhere prior to results being announced by Calanthe Collective. For under 18 entrants, poems printed in school newsletters and school magazines are exempt and may be submitted.
2. The poem must be your own original work.
3. The use of AI tools is prohibited. Longlisted and shortlisted entries will be checked with AI-detection software. Poems found to have been generated by AI input will result in the entrant, and all their submitted poems, being disqualified. Entry fees will not be refunded.
4. Any direct references or quotes to the works of others should be duly acknowledged.
5. Each poem must not exceed 50 lines, excluding title and blank lines.
6. No additional edits will be allowed to the poems once they have been submitted.
PROCESS
7. Entrants may submit up to a maximum of 5 individual poems in separate Word Document or Googledocs format. Please use 12-point single-spaced Times New Roman or Arial font and number every page. If submitting in Googledocs, entrants must enable the file to be copied.
8. The category must be clearly nominated (Under 18 or Open). Multiple entries in one document will not be accepted.
9. Entry fee is $10 per poem for Open Category. Under 18 category is free entry.
10. The author’s name should not appear anywhere in the poem or on any page within your submitted document/s. (That is, the document you write your poem on.) We read all work blind and failure to follow this rule will result in a rejected and unread submission.
11. Copyright of each poem remains with the author, but Calanthe Collective reserves the right to publish the winning and highly commended entries on their website, social media pages, and in any future prize anthologies.
12. The judges’ decision will be final. No contact must be made with judges.
13. Submissions should be sent to calanthepoets@gmail.com
14. Receipts will be sent to each entrant for payment.
DISCLAIMER: Please note that we will never accept content that would be considered offensive to marginalised groups.
HOW YOU CAN HELP US
Calanthe Poetry is keen to learn the reach of the competition and where entrants heard about it so, in a covering email with your entry, it would be very helpful if you would tell us the following:
1. The state (if living in Australia) or the country where you live
2. Where you heard about the Calanthe Collective Prize for Unpublished Poetry 2026. For instance:
· Website
· Social Media (please state)
· Queensland Writers Centre
· Word of Mouth
· School
· Other (please state)