This year I again had the pleasure of judging the Anne Elder Award through Australian Poetry. Fellow Judges Marcella Polain, Toby Fitch and I chose our winner Ella Jeffery for Dead Bolt (Puncher & Wattmann 2020), as well as awarding Highly Commended to Cadaver Dog by Luke Best (UQP 2020) and Commended to Ask Me About the Future by Rebecca Jessen (UQP 2020). Congratulations to all!

The award is named after Australian poet Anne Elder, 1918-1976. The Anne Elder Award is sponsored by Anne’s daughter, Cathie, and is for a sole-authored first book of poetry of 20-minimum pages in length, published in Australia.

Read our judge’s comments about the award winning books and more information about the award on the Australian Poetry website.