Published in Overland Issue The 2018 Oodgeroo Noonuccal Poetry Prize · Uncategorized About the prize Editorial team Established in 2016, Queensland Poetry Festival’s Oodgeroo Noonuccal Indigenous Poetry Prize is Australia’s only open-age Indigenous poetry prize for an unpublished poem. Named in honour of Oodgeroo Noonuccal, the first Aboriginal Australian to publish a book of verse, after receiving permission from Oodgeroo’s family and in close consultation with Quandamooka Festival. The winner of the 2018 prize was announced at the opening night of the Queensland Poetry Festival. The prize is open to Aboriginal poets, emerging and established, throughout Australia. The prize for a single poem (or suite of poems) of 80 lines or under is $2,000, plus a series of mentoring sessions with an established Indigenous poet. The highest-placed Quandamooka entry receives $500 plus a membership to Queensland Writers Centre. QPF would like to thank Copyright Agency for funding this prize, as well as the support of Queensland Writers Centre, Overland and Quandamooka Festival. QPF also thanks the Walker family for their support in the naming this prize. The 2018 judges Jeanine Leane and Graham Akhurst Winner Brenda Saunders – ‘Quandongs’ Judges’ comments The imagery, symbolism, and language are powerful and underplayed in a poem that highlights the importance of intergenerational transference of knowledge and tradition. Highly Commended Claire G Coleman – ‘I am the road’ Yvette Henry Holt – ‘Mother(s) Native Tongue’ Julie Jedda Janson – ‘Waiali Possum Cloak’ Jilian Boyd Bowie – ‘Descendant, MABO and Woman’ (suite of three poems) Image: Sunrise and silence / flickr Editorial team More by Editorial team › Overland is a not-for-profit magazine with a proud history of supporting writers, and publishing ideas and voices often excluded from other places. If you like this piece, or support Overland’s work in general, please subscribe or donate. Related articles & Essays 15 May 2026 · Friday Fiction The structure Dominic Carew We made it to the park by eight. The winter sun was filtering through the far trees in a wan, lemon trickle, the thin clouds sheets of white. The cool sky a rubbed-at blue. The grass squelched beneath our feet and elsewhere, thinned from wear, the earth stretched grassless and muddy and, in some parts, released a thick mist. 8 May 202611 May 2026 · Nakata Brophy Prize The 2026 Nakata Brophy Prize for Young Indigenous Writers (Poetry) Editorial Team Please follow this link to enter the prize. Sponsored by Trinity College at the University of Melbourne and supporters, the Nakata Brophy Prize for Young Indigenous Writers, established in 2014 […]
