iww-writers@outlook.com
iww.co.nz
Media Release – 10 April 2025

Anna Jackson to judge $1000 Poetry Prize International Writers’ Workshop NZ Inc

IWW is delighted to announce that Te Whanganui-a-Tara / Wellington poet Anna Jackson has accepted our invitation to judge The Kathleen Grattan Prize for a Sequence of Poems in 2025.

The competition, with a first prize of $1000 for the winner, is for a sequence of completely unpublished poems with a common link or theme. Anna has written seven collections of poetry, most recently Pasture and Flock: New and Selected Poems, and a book about reading poetry, Actions and Travels: How Poetry Works. She was editor of the AUP New Poets series from 2019 – 2022 and teaches poetry courses at Te Herenga Waka / Victoria University of Wellington where she is an Associate Professor. A new book, Terrier, Worrier: A Poem in Five Parts, will be published by Auckland University Press in June 2025.

The Kathleen Grattan Prize for a Sequence of Poems is made possible by a bequest from the late Jocelyn Grattan in memory of her mother Kathleen, has been run by IWW since 2009 for its members.

The competition is free for IWW members to enter, and it is very easy for aspiring poets and writers to join IWW by the third Tuesday in June (17 June 2025) to be eligible to enter the competition. Anna will host a preparatory one-hour Workshop on Zoom on the morning of Tuesday 6 May, 2025. This Workshop is also free for IWW members, but non-members are welcome to attend the Workshop for $10. Email iww-writers@outlook.com to register.

The competition opens for entries on 1 September 2025 and closes on 7 October 2025. The winner will be announced on 18 November 2025 The rules for the Prize, past judges and winners, details of how to join IWW, meeting times and other activities of the Workshop, are available from the IWW website: iww.co.nz.