Details

Entry fee: $12 for subscribers and $20 for non-subscribers. Free for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander entrants. 

**Another option is to take out one of our special prize subscriptions: for $56, you get discounted entry to the competition and a one-year discounted subscription to Overland (includes four print issues and the daily online magazine, invitations to subscriber events, and other opportunities and giveaways).

The judges

Jeanine Leane is a Wiradjuri writer, poet and academic from south-west New South Wales. In 2017, Jeanine was the winner of the University of Canberra Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Poetry Prize, and she has twice been the winner of the Oodgeroo Noonuccal Poetry Prize (2017, 2019). Jeanine’s second volume of poetry, Walk Back Over, was released in 2018 by Cordite Books.  https://redroomcompany.org/poet/jeanine-leane/

Justin Clemens teaches at the University of Melbourne. His most recent book is Limericks, Philosophical and Literary (Surpllus 2019).

Guidelines

First place: $5000. Two runner-up prizes of $1000 each. The winning story will be published in Overland 242, autumn 2021.

1. This is a prize for original pieces of Australian literature written in English. For the purposes of this prize, ‘Australian’ is constituted as a submission authored by a person of Australian residence, nationality, birth, or cultural relation. It includes entrants who are seeking asylum to Australia.
2. Acceptable forms include fiction (up to 3000 words in length), poetry (up to 88 lines in length), essay or memoir (up to 3000 words in length), creative non-fiction (up to 3000 words in length), cartoon, graphic story (up to 180 mm wide by 255 mm high), digital or audio storytelling (up to 5 minutes). If you wish to enter digital or audio recordings please contact overland@overland.org.au to arrange submission.
3. One winner and two runner-up pieces will be selected. There are no individual prizes for different literary categories.
4. Submissions must be unpublished (including online) and not under consideration by other publishers, including Overland.
5. Stories that have won or are under consideration in other competitions are not eligible.
6. Submissions will be processed electronically. Text should be formatted at 1.5 line spacing and a minimum of 12 point font size (unless formally experimental).
7. The competition will be judged anonymously. The author’s name must not appear on the manuscript or else the piece will be disqualified.
8. Multiple entries are acceptable, although each must be entered into the submission system separately and accompanied by the relevant fee.
9. In recognition of Aunty Kerry Reed-Gilbert’s work and values, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander entrants can submit without fee. Otherwise, each entry must be accompanied by a fee of $20 or $12 for Overland subscribers.
10. The winning entries will be published in Overland. Other entries may be considered for publication.
11. The closing date is 11.59 pm, Monday 18 January 2021. Late entries will not be accepted.
12. The judges’ decision is final. No correspondence will be entered into.
13. Overland staff and board members, and their families, are prohibited from entering. All previous, current and ongoing contributors and volunteer readers are eligible to enter.
14. Winners will be announced late February 2021. Subscribe to the Overland email bulletin to receive announcements as to the results.

A final note on our guidelines: 

The Overland editorial team are embarking on a process to improve the structure of blind-judging. You can read more about our process here. 

Entrants to this prize will be asked to answer the following question: 

If your entry takes up the voice or experience of a marginalised or vulnerable identity, do you identify yourself as being a part of that community or experience? For instance, if your piece is written in the voice of an Aboriginal person, are you Aboriginal? etc. 

Your response to this question is not mandatory, and your response will only be visible to internal editors, unless our judges request to know your response after the consideration of a piece. There is no right or wrong answer to this question, and writing outside of your experience will not disqualify your submission. This question merely functions to provide an additional measure of support for judges if any questions might arise about a piece. 

Enter the Kuracca Prize for Australian Literature as a:

new subscriber – $56

(Includes $12 entry fee and $44 subscription)
Writers can subscribe to Overland for one year (four issues) at a discounted rate, and enter the competition at the special subscriber rate. Take out a new subscription and enter the Kuracca Prize for Australian Literature.

current subscriber – $12

Current Overland subscribers enter the competition at the special subscriber rate of $12. Current subscribers enter the competition here.

non-subscriber – $20

Entry to the competition for non-subscribers is $20. Non-subscribers enter the competition here.