https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/prizes/calibre-prizeCalibre Prize for an Outstanding Essay 2013
Australian Book Review seeks entries for the seventh Calibre Prize for an Outstanding Essay, the nations premier award for an original essay and one of the worlds most lucrative essay competitions.
The Calibre Prize is intended to generate brilliant new essays and to foster new insights into culture, society, and the human condition. We welcome essays from leading authors and commentators, but also from emerging writers. All non-fiction subjects are eligible.
First prize: $5000
Closing date: 10 December 2012
Click here to download the media release.
Click here to download the guidelines and entry form.
Click here to read about the 2012 Calibre Prize-winning essay by Matt Rubinstein.
Click here to read about past winners of the Calibre Prize.
What a wonderful thing is the essay! All honour to Australian Book Review for celebrating it with the Calibre Prize.
Robert Dessaix
Celebrating Calibre
How magnificent of Australian Book Review and CAL to provide a forum for writers to reflect, to stretch their powers, to surprise themselves. The greatest surprise of all is how quickly the Calibre has become part of the literary firmament of this country.
Ms Elisabeth Holdsworth, winner of the 2007 Calibre Prize
I have been amazed by the wide number of people who have seen the essay, commented to me about it, and as a result become aware of CAL. Prizes for this kind of writing are rare, and prizes with such a significant cash amount attached are even more rare. It is certainly the case that I would not have worked so hard on my essay at the time if it had not been for my awareness of the prize, and its prestige.
Dr Kevin Brophy, co-winner of the 2009 Calibre Prize
Every year the Calibre runs, much is learned about the craft of the essay by many people, simply through its practice. Its a craft that makes stringent demands, and tackling them does something to the language itself. A culture of essay-writing stretches language, finding new kinds of flexibility and resonance. The Calibre is a prize thats not just about winners. Its about that culture, as a continuing formative influence in literature and journalism.
Professor Jane Goodall, co-winner of the 2009 Calibre Prize
'This is a note to congratulate you on the quality of the latest Calibre Prize essays, by Jane Goodall and Kevin Brophy, in the April edition of ABR. The two pieces maintain the incredibly high standards of the Prize, of which I was honoured to be an inaugural judge.'
Dr Imre Salusinszky, former Chair, Australia Council Literature Board
'The Calibre Prize for Outstanding Essay is an exemplary literary award. There are many prizes for poetry and fiction, but the essay, which has become increasingly prominent in recent years, is given far less support ... I hope the Calibre Prize continues to thrive and be supported for many years to come.'
Dr David McCooey, Deakin University
No other publication for a wide readership provides a venue for writing of such length, style, sophistication and personal inflection. Indeed, the Calibre essay has grown into something of a subgenre of its own, bringing external biography or autobiography together with the life of the mind, so that intellectual engagement and speculation are experienced as integral to the existence and engaged citizenship of the author in today's world. I hope, as I'm sure do many others, that this fine tradition will continue, bringing kudos to both ABR and to CAL as its sponsor.
Professor Nicholas Jose
First Prize: $5000
Terms and conditions of entry:
1. An original single-authored non-fiction essay in English of between 3000 and 7000 words.
2. All non-fiction subjects are eligible: from life writing and literary studies, to history and politics,
biography to philosophy, natural history to popular science.
3. Entries must not be previously published or be on offer to any other publication or prize
for the duration of this competition.
4. We require two copies of each essay.
5. Entries by fax or email will not be accepted. Entries must be mailed to
ABR Calibre Prize, Studio 2, 207229 City Road, Southbank, Victoria 3006
6. Essays will be judged anonymously.
7. Entries must be non-defamatory and must not infringe peoples privacy or intellectual property.
8. The judges decision will be final. No correspondence will be entered into.
9. There is no age restriction.
10. Entrants must be Australian citizens or have permanent resident status in Australia.
11. ABR employees, board members, and editorial advisers are ineligible. ABR contributors and
volunteers may enter.
12. Multiple entries are permitted. Separate entry forms are required for each essay. Multiple entries
may be paid for with one cheque or credit card transaction.
13. Each entry must be accompanied by a fee of $35 (or $25 for current ABR subscribers). To qualify
for the discount fee, entrants must hold a subscription to ABR or ABR Online Edition for at least
one year (not thirty-day access). Cheques should be made payable to Australian Book Review.
14. The closing date is 10 December 2012. Late entries will not be accepted. Entries postmarked
10 December will be accepted.
15. ABR will announce the result in April 2013. ABR will publish the winning essay, which must
not be published elsewhere prior to publication in ABR.
16. ABR will have the first option to publish shortlisted essays.
17. All published essays, including the winner, may be edited.
18. Entrants will be notified by email (where available) of the final decision.
19. The winner may be required to take part in media activities connected with the announcement
of the Prize.
20. If entrants subsequently withdraw their entries, the entry fee will not be refunded.
21. The stated prize money also covers publication in ABR Online Edition and in eBook form.
22. Entrants must sign the declaration overleaf to be eligible.
23. Entries will not be returned.
Format:
1. Entries must be printed on single-sided white A4 paper.
2. The name of the essayist must not appear on the manuscript.
3. Illustrations and concise endnotes are acceptable.
EntriEs closE 10 DEcEmbEr 2012
Entry Form
please print details carefully
Name:
Email:
Address:
State:
Postcode:
.
.....
Phone:
......................
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Title of Essay:
..
.
Amount of entry fee paid:
.. ($25 for ABR subscribers; $35 for non-subscribers)
Cheque enclosed (made payable to Australian Book Review) VISA M/C
Credit Card Number: _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _
Expiry date: _ _ / _ _
I hereby declare that the non-fiction essay entered in the Calibre Prize is my own work, has not been
published, and will not be offered to another publication or prize for the duration of this competition.
I have read all the terms and conditions and agree to abide by them. I hereby declare that I am either
an Australian citizen or have permanent resident status in Australia.
Authors name:
.
Signature:
Date:
..
Send your entries (including this form and two copies of each essay) to:
ABR calibrE PrizE
stuDio 2, 207229 city roaD
southbank Vic. 3006
The Calibre Prize
The Australian Book Review
Annual Prize for an Outstanding Essay
A
Australian Competitions Club
