Australian Poetry Announces the INAUGURAL Theresa Matheson Bequest Award 2025. This new award is for poets who have not had a poem published, outside self-publication or via their Social Media.
There is no entry fee but entrants do need to be current Australian Poetry Subscribers. Once you are subscribed, feel free to enter via the Wufoo link below, there is no extra link to enter this prize. We do all Subscriber checks manually once the competition closes.
https://www.australianpoetry.org/subscribe/
or check your status by emailing: associate@australianpoetry.org
There is no entry fee but entrants must be current Australian Poetry Subscribers and this will be checked. If any entrants have financial difficulties, and cannot Subscribe, please email Jennifer at associate@australianpoetry.org to discuss in confidence.
The Theresa Matheson Bequest Award, with a prize of $1,000 for the successful poet, has been established to honour the memory of Theresa Matheson (1972-2022) by her sister, Julie. Theresa was herself a prolific poet, but had not published a poem in her lifetime. This will be an annual award administrated by the national poetry body, Australian Poetry.
The judge for the 2025 Award is Claire Gaskin.
Claire Gaskin (she/her) lives and works on Bunurong country and pays her deep respects to the traditional owners and acknowledges that sovereignty was never ceded. Her first full length poetry collection, a bud, was published by John Leonard press in 2006. It was completed in the receipt of an Australia Council grant and shortlisted in the SA Literary Festival Awards. Her subsequent collections are Paperweight (Hunter Publishers, 2013), Eurydice Speaks (Hunter Publishers, 2021), Ismene’s Survivable Resistance (Puncher & Wattmann, 2021) and Weather Event (Gazebo Books, 2023). Material Witness: Prose Poems was completed in 2025 assisted by a Creative Australia Grant. Gaskin is a very experienced lecturer, mentor and facilitator of poetry courses across the tertiary and community sectors. She encourages poets to add their voices to public discourse to validate alternative, individual and resistant perspectives. She holds a doctorate in Writing and Literature at Deakin University.
Theresa Matheson – Bio
Theresa Matheson was born and raised in the Pilbara Town of Port Hedland. Theresa spent a lifetime weaving words into meaning. A passionate poet and observer of life, she found beauty in the ordinary and strength in vulnerability. After leaving her hometown of Port Hedland, she embarked on a journey that led her to achieve extraordinary success working in mineral resources and the oil and gas industry. Throughout her career, she tirelessly contributed her expertise as a Senior Business Analyst to groundbreaking projects that revolutionised the industry and left a lasting impact.
Tragically Theresa passed away on 25th of July 2022, age 49, leaving a void in the hearts of her family and those who knew and cherished her. Theresa left behind her unpublished poetry that reflected a deep love for language, shaped by personal growth and a quiet curiosity about the human experience.
Through poetry Theresa offered an invitation to readers to slow down, reflect and rediscover the world through fresh eyes.
KEY DATES FOR THE 2025 AWARD:
- Open call for entries – Monday, 19 May 2025 (SUBMIT HERE)
- Close of entries – Monday, 16 June 2025, 11:59pm (AEST).
- Winner announcement – 21 July 2025. (The announcement is now scheduled for end of July. Thanks so much for your patience. We can’t wait to share the winner with you soon!)
Information and enquiries
Jennifer Nguyen
Email: associate@australianpoetry.org
Submission Guidelines & Eligibility
- Entries close at Monday, 16 June, 2025,11:59PM (AEST).
- Open to Australian residents only
- Entrants must be 18 years of age or older at the time entries close. Entries from individuals under the age of 18 will not be accepted.
- Entries must be in English. Bilingual submissions are acceptable provided the poems are also written or translated into English by the entrant and provided alongside the original submission.
- Poets are to send up to three (maximum) poems in both word.doc and PDF versions. If more than three poems are sent, the extra poems will not be read by the judge.
- Entrants are eligible if they have never had a poem published in a literary journal, magazine, anthology, or book (including online or print), excluding self-published platforms (e.g. personal websites, blogs) or Social Media. Poems can have been performed or read at events, as long as they have not been published in written form. Entrants must complete the declaration form available in the Wufoo form confirming eligibility.
- Entrants who have previously published in another writing genre are eligible, as long as publication was not in poetry.
- Co-authored entries are not eligible for the award.
- First prize $1,000. The winner will also receive a single, one-hour mentoring session with Claire Gaskin to prepare a single poem for publication on the AP website. There is no extra fee for this publication.
- The judge reserves the right not to award a prize.
- The judge’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
- All entries must be the sole, original work of the entrant. Submissions that have been generated or substantively created using generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools are not eligible and will be disqualified. By entering, entrants confirm that their submission is entirely their own work and has not been created with the assistance of AI.
- Entrants retain copyright of their work. By entering, entrants grant Australian Poetry the non-exclusive right to publish the winning poem on its website. Personal information collected through the Wufoo entry form will be used solely for the purposes of administering this competition and will not be shared with third parties.
- There is no entry fee but entrants must be current Australian Poetry Subscribers. If any entrants have financial or any other difficulties, and cannot Subscribe, please email Jennifer at associate@australianpoetry.org to discuss in confidence.
To download a PDF version of the Submission Guidelines & Eligibility, please go here: Theresa Matheson Bequest Award 2025 Submission Guidelines and Eligibility.pdf
How to Enter
Submit via the Wufoo form. Go to this link to enter: https://apsubs.wufoo.com/forms/submit-to-the-theresa-matheson-bequest-award-2025/.
Entries will be accepted only via the Wufoo form. If you’re having issues accessing or submitting via Wufoo, or have any questions please contact Jennifer at associate@australianpoetry.org
File naming:
- In the Wufoo form submit no more than three poems, all in a single word document titled ‘last name_first name_TMBA2025’
- In the Wufoo form submit no more than three poems, all in a single PDF document titled ‘last name_first name_TMBA2025’
