The Blake Poetry Prize is an Australian poetry prize for a new work of 100 lines or less, focused on non-sectarian spiritual and religious topics, connected to the

Blake Prize The Blake Prize, formerly the Blake Prize for Religious Art, is an List of Australian art awards, Australian art prize awarded for art that explores spirituality. Since the inaugural prize in 1951, the prize was awarded annually from 1951 to 2 ...

, an art prize. The prize, worth , is presented biennially by the

Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre (CPAC), commonly referred to as Casula Powerhouse, is a multi-disciplinary arts centre in Casula, New South Wales, Casula, a south-western outer suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Before being renovated a ...

(CPAC) in conjunction with the bookshop Westwords.

History

The prize was established in 2008 by the Blake Society in conjunction with the New South Wales Writers' Centre (now Writing NSW), funded by Leichhardt Council in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. The Blake Prize takes its name from visionary poet and artist

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake has become a seminal figure in the history of the Romantic poetry, poetry and visual art of the Roma ...

. After the Blake Society had lost sponsorship for its art prizes in 2015, CPAC and

Liverpool City Council Liverpool City Council is the Local government in England, local authority for the City status in the United Kingdom, city of Liverpool in Merseyside, England. Liverpool has had a local authority since 1207, which has been reformed on numerous ...

announced that they would be funding and managing the prizes from 2016, with the exhibition and awards moving to

Casula Casula () is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 34 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Liverpool. Casula is the first suburb immediately ...

Western Sydney Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US * Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia * Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that ...

. From 2017, it was intended that Liverpool City Library in conjunction with CPAC, would deliver the Blake Poetry Prize as a biennial event. However, WestWords (Western Sydney's Literature Development Organisation) took over the partnership from the library.

Description

A prize is offered every two years for a new poem of 100 lines or less exploring a non-sectarian religious or spiritual theme.

Winners

* 2008: Mark Tredinnick – "Have You Seen" * 2009: John Watson – "Four Ways to Approach the Numinous" * 2010: Tasha Sudan – "Rahula" * 2011: Robert Adamson – "Via Negativa, The Divine Dark" * 2012: Graham Kershaw – "Altar Rock" * 2013: Anthony Lawrence – "Appellations" * 2014: Dave Drayton – "Threnodials" * 2017:

Julie Watts Julie Watts (born 1950) is an Australian author and publisher. She won the Dromkeen Medal in 2001. Early life Watts was born in Guildford, Surrey, England. Her mother worked in a second-hand bookshop after Julie was born. Career Watts' first ...

– "The Story of Julian who never knew that we loved him" * 2020: Judith Nangala Crispin – "On Finding Charlotte in the Anthropological Record"

References

External links

* *{{official, https://www.westwords.com.au/projects/blake-poetry-prize-2021/, Westwords official page Australian poetry awards Awards established in 2008