Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry
The Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry is awarded annually as part of the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards for a book of collected poems or for a single poem of substantial length published in book form. It is named after Kenneth Slessor.
The prize currently comes with a A$30,000 cash award.
Winners and shortlists
2025">2025 in Australian literature">2025
Winner: Hasib Hourani – rock flight- Chris Andrews – The Oblong Plot
- Nam Le – 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem
- Jeanine Leane – Gawimarra: Gathering
- Kate Middleton – ''Television''
2024">2024 in Australian literature">2024
Winner: Tais Rose Wae – Riverbed Sky Songs- Pooja Mittal Biswas – Hunger and Predation
- Willo Drummond – Moon Wrasse
- Libby Hart – Burn
- Caitlin Maling – Spore or Seed
- Omar Sakr – ''Non-Essential Work''
2023">2023 in Australian literature">2023
Winner: Kim Cheng Boey – The Singer and Other Poems- Adam Aitken – Revenants
- Pam Brown – Stasis Shuffle
- Lisa Gorton – Miribilia
- Sarah Holland-Batt – The Jaguar
- Marjon Mossammaparast – ''And to Ecstacy''
2022">2022 in Australian literature">2022
Winner: Dan Disney – accelerations & inertias- Eunice Andrada – Take Care
- Evelyn Araluen – Dropbear
- Eileen Chong – A Thousand Crimson Blooms
- John Kinsella – Supervivid Depastoralism
- Bella Li – ''Theory of Colours''
2021">2021 in Australian literature">2021
Winner: Ellen van Neerven – Throat- Jordie Albiston – Element: The Atomic Weight & Radius of Love
- Rebecca Jessen – Ask Me About the Future
- Jill Jones – A History of What I’ll Become
- Jaya Savige – ''Change Machine ''
2020">2020 in Australian literature">2020
Winner: Peter Boyle – Enfolded in the Wings of a Great Darkness- Joanne Burns – apparently
- Zenobia Frost – After the Demolition
- Lisa Gorton – Empirical
- Natalie Harkin – Archival-Poetics
- David Malouf – ''An Open Book''
2019">2019 in Australian literature">2019
Winner: Judith Bishop – Interval- Michael Farrell – I Love Poetry
- Penelope Layland – Things I’ve Thought To Tell You Since I Saw You Last
- Philip Neilsen – Wildlife of Berlin
- Mark Reid – Blindside
- Chris Wallace-Crabbe – ''Rondo''
2018">2018 in Australian literature">2018
Winner: Bella Li – Argosy- Adam Aitken – Archipelago
- Jordie Albiston – Euclid's dog: 100 algorithmic poems
- Rico Craig – Bone Ink
- Nguyễn Tiên Hoàng – Captive and Temporal
- Omar Sakr – ''These Wild Houses''
2017">2017 in Australian literature">2017
Winner: Peter Boyle – Ghostspeaking- Paul Hetherington – Burnt Umber
- Jill Jones – Breaking the Days
- Antigone Kefala – Fragments
- John Kinsella – Firebreaks: Poems
- Ellen van Neerven – ''Comfort Foot''
2016">2016 in Australian literature">2016
Winner: Joanne Burns – brush- Lionel Fogarty – Eelahroo, Nyah, Möbö-Möbö
- Sarah Holland-Batt – The Hazards
- Meredith Wattison – terra bravura
- Chloe Wilson – Not Fox Nor Axe
- Ouyang Yu – ''Fainting''
2015">2015 in Australian literature">2015
Winner: David Malouf – Earth Hour- Michael Aiken – A Vicious Example
- Judith Beveridge – Devadatta's Poems
- Anne Elvey – Kin
- Libby Hart – Wild
- John Mateer – ''Unbelievers, or The Moor''
2014">2014 in Australian literature">2014
- Winner: Fiona Hile – Novelties, Hunter
- Justin Clemens – The Mundiad, Hunter
- Diane Fahey – The Stone Garden: poems from Clare, Clouds of Magellan
- Liam Ferney – Boom, Grand Parade Poets
- Kate Middleton – Ephemeral Waters, Giramondo Publishing
- Jessica Wilkinson – Marionette: A biography of Miss Marion Davies, Vagabond Press
2013">2013 in Australian literature">2013
- Winner: Ali Cobby Eckermann – Ruby Moonlight, Magabala Books
- Kate Fagan – First Light, Giramondo Publishing
- Michael Farrell – Open Sesame, Giramondo Publishing
- Anthony Lawrence – The Welfare of my Enemy, Puncher & Wattman
- Kate Lilley – Ladylike, UWA Publishing
- Vivian Smith – Here, There and Elsewhere, Giramondo Publishing
2012">2012 in Australian literature">2012
- Winner: Gig Ryan – New and Selected Poems, Giramondo Publishing
- Ken Bolton – Sly Mongoose, Puncher and Wattman
- Susan Hawthorne – Cow, Spinifex Press
- John Mateer – Southern Barbarians, Giramondo Publishing
- Claire Potter – Swallow, Five Islands Press
- Tracy Ryan – The Argument, Fremantle Press
2011">2011 in Australian literature">2011
- Winner: Jennifer Maiden – Pirate Rain, Giramondo Publishing
- Susan Bradley Smith – Supermodernprayerbook, Salt Publishing
- Andy Jackson – Among The Regulars, Papertiger Media Inc
- Jill Jones – Dark Bright Doors, Wakefield Press Pty
- Anna Kerdijk Nicholson – Possession, Five Island Press
- Andy Kissane – Out to Lunch, Puncher and Wattmann
2010">2010 in Australian literature">2010
- Winner: Jordie Albiston – The Sonnet According to "M"
- Emily Ballou – The Darwin Poems
- Judith Beveridge – Storm and Honey
- Emma Jones – The Striped World
- Morgan Yasbincek – ''White Camel''
2009">2009 in Australian literature">2009
- Winner: LK Holt – Man Wolf Man, John Leonard Press.
- Michael Brennan – Unanimous Night, Salt Publishing
- David Brooks – The Balcony, University of Queensland Press
- Sarah Holland-Batt – Aria, University of Queensland Press
- Kerry Leves – A Shrine To Lata Mangeshkar, Puncher & Wattman
- Alan Wearne – The Australian Popular Songbook, Giramondo
2008">2008 in Australian literature">2008
- Winner: Kathryn Lomer – Two Kinds of Silence
- Joanne Burns – an illustrated history of dairies
- Brook Emery – Uncommon Light
- Peter Kirkpatrick – Westering
- David Malouf – Typewriter Music
- Phyllis Perlstone – ''The Edge of Everything''
2007">2007 in Australian literature">2007
- Winner: John Tranter – Urban Myths, University of Queensland Press
- Robert Adamson – The Goldfinches of Baghdad, Flood Editions
- Laurie Duggan – The Passenger, University of Queensland Press
- Les Murray – The Biplane Houses, Black Inc.
- Simon West – First Names, Puncher and Wattmann
- Fay Zwicky – Picnic, Giramondo Publishing Company
2006">2006 in Australian literature">2006
- Winner: Jaya Savige – Latecomers, University of Queensland Press.
- Aidan Coleman – Avenues & Runways, Brandl & Schlesinger
- Susan Hampton – The Kindly Ones, Five Islands Press
- Jill Jones – Broken/Open, Salt Publishing
- Penelope Layland – Suburban Anatomy, Pandanus Books
- David McCooey – Blister Pack, Salt Publishing
2005">2005 in Australian literature">2005
Winner: Samuel Wagan Watson – Smoke Encrypted Whispers, University of Queensland Press- M. T. C. Cronin – < More or Less Than> 1–100, Shearsman Books Ltd
- Lidija Cvetkovic – War is Not the Season for Figs, University of Queensland Press
- John Kinsella – Doppler Effect, Salt Publishing
- Dipti Saravanamuttu – The Colosseum, Five Islands Press
- Alan Wearne – The Lovemakers Book Two: Money and Nothing, ABC Books
2004">2004 in Australian literature">2004
Winner: Pam Brown – Dear Deliria: New & Selected Poems, Salt Publishing- Jordie Albiston – The Fall, White Crane Press
- M. T. C. Cronin – beautiful, unfinished Salt Publishing
- Brook Emery – Misplaced Heart, Five Islands Press
- Philip Hammial – In the Year of Our Lord Slaughter's Children, Island Press
- John Tranter – Studio Moon, Salt Publishing
2003">2003 in Australian literature">2003
Winner: Jill Jones – Screens Jets Heaven- Alison Croggon – Attempts at Being
- Kate Lilley – Versary
- Emma Lew – Anything the Landlord Touches
- Sarah Day – New and Selected Poems
- Robert Gray – ''Afterimages''
2002">2002 in Australian literature">2002
Winner: Alan Wearne – The Lovemakers, Penguin Books Australia- Robert Adamson – Mulberry Leaves: New & Selected Poems: 1970–2001, Paper Bark Press
- Martin Harrison – Summer, Paper Bark Press
- Dorothy Hewett – Halfway Up the Mountain, Fremantle Arts Centre Press
- Bronwyn Lea – Flight Animals, University of Queensland Press
- Gig Ryan – Heroic Money, Brandl & Schlesinger
- John Tranter – Ultra, Brandl & Schlesinger
2001">2001 in Australian literature">2001
Winner: Ken Taylor – Africa, Five Islands Press- Jennifer Compton – Blue, Ginninderra Press
- Brook Emery – and dug my fingers in the sand, Five Islands Press
- Philip Hammial – Bread, Black Pepper
- J. S. Harry – Sun Shadow, Moon Shadow, Vagabond Press
- Wendy Jenkins – Rogue Equations, Fremantle Arts Centre Press
2000">2000 in Australian literature">2000
Winner: Jennifer Maiden – Mines, Paper Bark Press/Australian Humanities Research Foundation- Richard James Allen – Thursday's Fictions, Five Islands Press
- M. T. C. Cronin – Everything Holy, Balcones International Press
- Jennifer Harrison – Dear B, Black Pepper
- Kevin Hart – Wicked Heat, Paper Bark Press
- John Millett – Iceman, Five Islands Press