Writers Victoria members can find a list of current local, state and national writing competitions, prizes and fellowships on our Opportunities and Competitions calendar.
Members are notified about writing competitions and publishing opportunities in our twice-monthly member newsletter; as well as The Victorian Writer magazine, which members receive four times a year. You can become a Writers Victoria member to start enjoying these and many more member benefits today!
Writers Victoria’s Competitions, Prizes and Fellowships
Neilma Sidney Literary Travel Fund
First opening for applications in July 2017, the Neilma Sidney Literary Travel Fund provides inspiration and practical support to emerging, midcareer and established writers, editors, agents, publishers, librarians, booksellers and other literary professionals.
Emerging Writers Competition
Since 2008, the Grace Marion Wilson Emerging Writers Competition has aimed to support and profile emerging Victorian writers.
Writeability Fellowships
Since 2013, five writers with disability have received free mentoring with authors, assessors and industry experts each year.
Regional Small Grants
Regional Small Grants invite regional writing groups, literary organisations and arts organisations that are Writers Victoria members to apply for grants of $880 to subsidise literary activities in their area. The program supports skills building, professional development, and community building outcomes for writers in regional Victoria.
Partnered Competitions, Prizes and Fellowships
Writers Victoria is proud to be a partner of the following prizes and fellowships:
Nillumbik Prize For Contemporary Writing 2024
The Nillumbik Prize for Contemporary Writing offers contemporary Australian writers an opportunity to win cash prizes and to profile their work.
The Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship
The Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship was established to encourage Australian authors to attain a high standard of biography writing and to commemorate the life, ideas and writing of Hazel Rowley (1951–2011).
The LIMINAL & Pantera Press Nonfiction Prize
For First Nations writers, and Australian writers of colour who seek to challenge singular narratives about the past, and who wish to offer testimony and prophecy alike. The Prize offers $10,000 to the winner and publication in an anthology.
Previous opportunities offered or partnered with Writers Victoria:
- The Deborah Cass Prize for Writing
- Flash Fiction
- Grace Marion Wilson Glenfern Fellowships
- Templeberg Residential Writing Fellowship
- Playwrights’ Fellowships
- CALD Mentorships
- WRAP Synopsis Prize
- Regional Members’ Writing Competition
- RMIT Crime Writing Competition
- Doris Leadbetter Poetry Cup
- Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript
- Lord Mayor’s Creative Writing Awards
- Offset Magazine’s short story competition
- Rachel Funari Prize for Fiction