The Vision Australia Library host a wide range of writing workshops throughout the year. Our library members have demonstrated they are not merely avid readers - many of our members are passionate and talented writers!
We have facilitated courses across a range of genres; Memoir Writing, Children’s Picture Books, Writing for Wellbeing, Creative Fiction, Publishing Workshops, Poetry, Family History, Crime Fiction, Beginners courses and Advanced Writing Groups. If you’re nodding fondly, recalling a wonderful course you attended through the library, perhaps it’s time to take the next step? It’s time to take your writing beyond our online courses and share your talents with a wider audience.
We have compiled a collection of upcoming competitions and opportunities for our writing community. This is only a brief sample of the competitions and opportunities available to motivated writers, but it is a great starting point!
Furphy Open Short Story Competition
Submissions close Wednesday, 30 April, 2025. Entry is free.
In the spirit of Archibald and honouring the author of Such is Life, the Furphy Literary Award has been established to promote and extend the tradition of storytelling, both factual and fictional, that is so much part of Australian life.
Theme: Australian Life in all its diversity. Length: Not more than 5,000 words.
For more information, please visit the Furphy website.
2025 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize
Entries close Monday, 5 May, 2025. Entry is $20 - $30.
This is the 16th time the Jolley Prize has run, and it is one of the world’s leading prizes for short fiction.
For more information, please visit the Australian Book Review website.
2025 Boroondara Literary Awards
Entries close Sunday, 11 May, 2025. Entry is free.
With categories for young writers and an open short story category, award winners will share a prize pool of more than $8,000 and have their work published in the 2025 Boroondara Literary Awards Anthology.
For more information, please visit the Boroondara website.
Cordite Poetry Review
Submissions close Sunday, 18 May, 2025. Entry is free.
Submissions to Cordite 117: no theme, with poetry guest-edited by Alex Creece.
For more information, please visit Cordite's website.
Rabbit Poetry – first ‘annual’ of nonfiction poetry
Submissions close Friday, 20 June, 2025. Entry is free.
Across its 40-issue history, Rabbit: A Journal for Nonfiction Poetry has gathered and disseminated poems from across the globe. Rabbit Poetry is now showcasing ‘nonfiction poetry’ via the Rabbit Annual.
Rabbit is currently accepting submissions reflecting real-world experience, recollection and interpretation.
For more information, please visit Rabbit's website.
Westerly Magazine Life Writing Prize
Submissions close Monday, 30 June, 2025. Entry is $20.
The Australasian Association of Writing Programs (AAWP) and Westerly Magazine are offering a prize for writers at all stages of their journey - both emerging and established writers. They welcome submissions of autobiography, biography, memoir and essay. They celebrate Life Writing as a rumination upon memory and experience, and encourage creative and hybrid approaches.
For more information, and to submit your entry, please visit AAWP’s literary journal website.
Bundyi Writing Prize
Submissions close 11:59 AEST on Monday, 30 June, 2025. Entry is free.
The Bundyi Writing Prize on the lookout for creative, compelling and original works of adult fiction that celebrate First Nations voices.
For more information, please visit the Bundyi Prize website.
