The Caselberg Trust is calling for entries for the 2021 Caselberg Trust International Poetry Competition. Now in its 10th year, the Trust is delighted to announce that Dunedin’s finest book shop – the University Book Shop is supporting the poetry prize again this year, and will also host our awards night to coincide with the publication of Landfall 242 Spring 2021.

Thank you to everyone at the University Book Shop for your ongoing support.

The competition opens Tuesday 1 June and closes on Saturday 31 July 2021. Entries are judged blind. First Prize is $500 (plus one-week stay at the Caselberg house at Broad Bay, Dunedin). Second Prize is $250; and there are up to 5 Highly-Commended awards (no monetary prizes).

The first- and second-placed poems will be published in the Spring issue of Landfall, and all winning and highly-commended entries will appear on the Caselberg Trust website (copyright remaining with the authors).

Majella Cullinane writes poetry, fiction and essays. Her 2018 debut novel The Life of De’Ath was shortlisted for the NZSA Heritage Book Awards and longlisted for the 2019 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards for Fiction. She has published two poetry collections Guarding the Flame, Salmon Poetry, Ireland 2011 and Whisper of a Crow’s Wing, Salmon Poetry and Otago University Press, 2018. The latter was chosen as The NZ Listener’s Top Ten Poetry Books of 2018.

Majella was the 2014 Robert Burns Fellow at the University of Otago. In 2020 she was awarded a Copyright Licencing New Zealand Grant for a non-fiction project. She has a PhD in Creative Practice from the University of Otago and lives in Port Chalmers with her partner Andrew and their son, Robbie.

entry information

• Submissions open on 1 July and close on 31 July 2021 NZT.

• Up to two poems from any one entrant will be accepted.

• Poems must be the original work of the entrant, previously unpublished, and not submitted elsewhere.

• Poems must be no more than 40 lines in length.

• Entries must be typewritten, and each poem should be laid out on a word document and submitted using the online submission form. Any style or subject will be considered.

  

• The poet’s name must not appear on the typescript.

• Entries can only be accepted via the online form.

• Entry fee:  $20NZD for up to two poems.

• Entry fees should be paid at the time of submission of your entry, using the unique code generated by the online form as a reference.

• Where payments are not received by 5pm 31 July, poems will not be submitted for judging.

• correspondence

No entries received after Friday 31 July 2021 will be considered and due to the volume of entries we can not accept amendments or enter into correspondence about submissions.

Winners only will be notified of their success.

A copy of the Judge’s report will be posted on our website, and as always, the Judge’s decisions will be final, and no correspondence will be entered into.