Caselberg Trust International Poetry Prize 2026
Entries for the Caselberg Trust International Poetry Competition 2026 are now open and close 5pm Tuesday 30 June.
Now in its 16th year, the competition attracts entries from across Aotearoa New Zealand and from all over the world. This year we are delighted to announce that Ōtepoti Dunedin City of Literature has joined with our long term sponsor the University Book Shop (Otago) to co-sponsor the competition.
City of Literature Director Nicky Page says “Ōtepoti City of Literature is proud to join original sponsor University Book Shop (Otago) to support this remarkable International Poetry Prize, pivotal to the ecosystem in Aotearoa and beyond – congratulations Caselberg Trust!”
We’re also delighted to announce that this year’s judge will be Dunedin writer Emma Neale. Emma’s latest book Maybe Baby (Bateman Books) has just hit the bookstores this month. A former editor of Landfall, Emma works as a freelance editor for publishers in Aotearoa and Australia. She has had 14 books published. In 2020 she received the Lauris Edmond Memorial Award for a Distinguished Contribution to New Zealand Poetry. Her seventh poetry collection Liar, Liar, Lick, Spit (Dunedin: Otago University Press, 2024) won the Mary and Peter Biggs Prize for Poetry at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards in 2025. In 2025 she also received the Janet Frame Prize.
The winning poem and judge’s report will appear in Landfall Tauraka 252.
Caselberg Trust Chairperson Dr Janet Downs says “A big thank you once again to our sponsors – UBS and the Ōtepoti City of Literature, to our judge Emma Neale, Landfall Tauraka, and to all the wonderful poets that entrust us with their poems. We couldn’t do it without you.”
Entries are judged blind. First Prize is $600 (plus one-week stay at the Caselberg house at Broad Bay, Dunedin). Second Prize is $300 and up to 5 Highly Commended awards (no monetary prizes).
The first- and second-placed poems and highly commended entries will appear on the Caselberg Trust website (copyright remaining with the authors) after the publication of Landfall Tauraka 252 in November 2026.
Entry information
Submissions open on Monday 1 June and close on Tuesday 30 June 5pm 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Poems must be the original work of the entrant, previously unpublished, and not submitted elsewhere. Any use of AI is strictly prohibited.
Poems must be no more than 40 lines in length.
Entries must be typewritten, and each poem should be laid out in 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.
Submission and entry fee
Entries can only be accepted via this online form.
Entry fee: $20NZD for up to two poems.
Entry fees should be paid when you submit your entry, using the unique code generated by the online form as a reference. Pay entry fees to Anna and John Caselberg Charitable Trust, ANZ National Bank, Account No. 06-0901-0353698-00. If paying from overseas – ANZ’s SWIFT code is ANZBNZ22 or ANZBNZ22XXX if you require 11 digits.
Where payments are not received by 5pm 30 June, poems will not be submitted for judging.
Submit your entry via this online form: Caselberg Trust International Poetry Competition 2026 Entry Form
Correspondence
No entries received after 5pm on Friday 30 June 2026 will be considered and due to the volume of entries we cannot accept amendments or enter correspondence about entries.
The Judge’s decisions will be final, and no correspondence will be entered into. A copy of the Judge’s report will be published in Landfall Tuaraka 252 and posted on our website later in November 2026.
