ESU Formal Verse Contest

First prize: $5,000

Runners-up (2): $1,000 each

President’s Choice: $1,000

Closing date: 15 August 2024

Final Judge: Stephen Edgar

The English-Speaking Union (Victoria Branch) (the “ESU”) was established in Melbourne in 1919. It is a non-government body, reliant on members, volunteers, supporters and donors to undertake and fund activities. Its mission is to shape the future by promoting the heritage, culture, identity and fellowship of the English-speaking peoples.

The ESU shares the outlook of Winston Churchill, former Chairman of the English-Speaking Union of the British Empire, in his A History of the English-Speaking Peoples (1956-58) in defining the English-speaking peoples as the people of the British Isles and their descendants who settled in countries such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States of America.

As a registered Australian charity, the ESU engages in and supports educational and cultural projects that relate to its mission.

The ESU invites entries for the ESU Formal Verse Contest 2024. The total prize money for the contest is $8,000. The author of the winning poem will receive $5,000 and two runners-up will each receive $1,000. An additional award of $1,000 will be chosen by the ESU President. In the event that a winning and runner-up poem or President’s Choice poem are by the same author the author will receive both prizes. The final judge of the contest, excluding the President's Choice, is poet Stephen Edgar, Australia’s most well-known and enduring practitioner of formal and metrical verse, winner of numerous awards, most notably the 2021 Prime Minister’s Literary Award. Learn more about Stephen here.

The contest is designed to highlight the rhythmic and musical potential of the English language. We define formal verse as metrical, rhymed or unrhymed, in a traditional or invented form, without restriction in regards to subject, idiom or inventiveness. Form in poetry is like the twelve-tone scale in music, infinitely variable in its limitations. There are no restrictions in regards to idiom or subject matter.

1. Entry is free.
2. Entries must be in English.
3. The entry form (below) must be completed in full.
4. The ESU may use relevant material provided with the entry form for media and promotion.
5. By entering the contest, the entrant agrees to participate in media publicity and promotion associated with the contest, including the use of photos submitted or taken at any Awards presentation ceremony.
6. Entries close on 15 August 2024. Entrants will be notified of the results in early October.
7. The winner and runners-up and President’s Choice recipient will be requested to acknowledge the ESU’s support in any future publication (print or online) of work submitted to the contest.
8. The decisions of the judging panel, and the final judge, Stephen Edgar, are final and no correspondence will be entered into.
9. Any questions about the Contest should be emailed to projects@esuvic.org.au

Entries should follow these guidelines:

1. The contest is for poems of any subject demonstrating mastery of poetic form, music, rhythm and metre. They may be rhymed or unrhymed, in traditional or unique forms. Poems must be written in English.
2. No more than two (2) poems per entrant.
3. Poems must be unpublished and not under consideration elsewhere until winners are announced.
4. Poems must be typed in a standard font in 12 point size.
5. Poems must not exceed 70 lines, not including stanza breaks.
6. Submit each poem(s) in word (.doc, .docx) or PDF (.pdf) file types.
7. The author’s name must NOT appear anywhere in the document or the document file name.

To facilitate blind judging and the de-identification of poems the entry form must be completed in full.

Poems will be judged blind. The ESU will create a shortlist of poems to be sent to the final judge, Stephen Edgar, who will choose the Winner and the two Runners-up. The President’s Choice award will be chosen by ESU President Robert Furlan.

Receipt of all entries will be automatically acknowledged upon submission.

All entrants will be notified of the outcome of the selection process with the winner/s featured on the ESU website.

Winners and all entrants will be invited to attend a presentation ceremony in Melbourne in November.

It is acknowledged that in administering the Contest, the English-Speaking Union (Victoria Branch) will need to collect personal information from the applicant. The ESU is committed to protecting the privacy and confidentiality of individuals. Click HERE to read the ESU Privacy Policy.

Please note that our preferred method of correspondence is by email to projects@esuvic.org.au