Blake Poetry Prize


The Blake Poetry Prize is an Australian poetry prize for a new work of 100 lines or less, focused on non-sectarian spiritual and religious topics, connected to the Blake Prize, an art prize. The prize, worth, is presented biennially by the Casula [Powerhouse Arts Centre] in conjunction with the bookshop Westwords.

History

The prize was established in 2008 by the Blake Society in conjunction with the New South Wales Writers' Centre, funded by Leichhardt Council in Sydney. The Blake Prize takes its name from visionary poet and artist William Blake.
After the Blake Society had lost sponsorship for its art prizes in 2015, CPAC and City of [Liverpool (New South Wales)|Liverpool City Council] announced that they would be funding and managing the prizes from 2016, with the exhibition and awards moving to Casula, [New South Wales|Casula] in Western Sydney.
From 2017, it was intended that Liverpool City Library in conjunction with CPAC, would deliver the Blake Poetry Prize as a biennial event. However, WestWords took over the partnership from the library.

Description

A prize is offered every two years for a new poem of 100 lines or less exploring a non-sectarian religious or spiritual theme.

Winners

  • 2008: Mark Tredinnick – "Have You Seen"
  • 2009: John Watson – "Four Ways to Approach the Numinous"
  • 2010: Tasha Sudan – "Rahula"
  • 2011: Robert Adamson – "Via Negativa, The Divine Dark"
  • 2012: Graham Kershaw – "Altar Rock"
  • 2013: Anthony Lawrence – "Appellations"
  • 2014: Dave Drayton – "Threnodials"
  • 2017: Julie Watts – "The Story of Julian who never knew that we loved him"
  • 2020: Judith Nangala Crispin – "On Finding Charlotte in the Anthropological Record"