Robert Gray Prize 2026: Shortlist Announced

Congratulations to the authors of the shortlisted poems for the Robert Gray Prize for Poetry 2026, selected from well over 400 high-quality entries. All of these poems will appear in our forthcoming anthology, Oystercatcher Three.

Native Call	Andre Liyanage-Denney
On First Hearing Westlake's "Wooden Ships"	Barbara Baker
Where Song Began	Brett R Dionysius
Em-dash	Brigitte Ross
Destination	Carmel Macdonald Grahame
Seeing Ahead	Carmel Macdonald Grahame
Autumn Fall	Craig Billingham
For Life	David Grant Lloyd
After Sheba	Denise O'Hagan
Joseph Banks' Florilegium	Duc Dau
No Map but the Tide	Emma Crook
An Instant	Genevieve Osborne
Presences and Absences	Glen Hunting
The Honeyeaters	Hannah McCann
Ottobratica	Helen Jarvis
Passerine	Isi Unikowski
On Her Way Home	Jane Elizabeth Vaughan
After a Dry Spell	Jo Gardiner
Winter Song Cycle	Jo Gardiner
Seeing the Music	Joanne Ruppin
Shaving the Day	Joanne Ruppin
Egret in the Shallows	Judith Beveridge
Harbour Front	Judith Beveridge
Livewire	Kate Lumley
The Autumn Coat	KA Rees
When I Am a Ghost	Kirwan Henry
Coup de Main	Linda McQuarrie-Bowerman
Mountain Twilight	Libby Sommer
A Bleak Choice	Lorraine Gibson
The Last Time	Louise Nicholas
The Instrument Maker	Luke Fischer
Poem of the Sea	Martha  Landman
Drawdown	Nigeen  Dara
Fox Weather	Nigeen  Dara
Winter Spring	Peter Frankis
The Hardstand	Rebecca Hodges
A Visit to Newcastle	Richard Perin
Song for a Geologist	Rico Craig
The Room and the River	Ross Gillett
Underburn	Russell Buzby
Other People's Footsteps	Sarah Temporal
Eagle Owl	Stephen Edgar
Preservation	Stephen Edgar
Understor(e)y	Stephen Edgar
Leaving the Peninsula	Sue Lockwood
Wind, Bells, Water	Susan McCreery
Turtle Coast	Susanne Kennedy
Romeu e Julieta	Vuong Pham
She Remembered	Wes Lee

The winner of the prize will be announced at an online event in October. The date for this event has yet to be fixed. Please keep an eye on our web page and social media for further information.