Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Arts Minister Simon Crean today announced $100,000 in prize money for a new poetry award to be included in the 2012 Prime Minister's Literary Awards.
Australians can now submit their entries for the 2012 Prime Minister's Literary Awards, including submissions for the new poetry category.
A total of $600,000 will be awarded in six award categories making the Prime Minister's Literary Awards prize pool the richest literary awards in Australia.
The Awards celebrate the contribution of Australian literature and history to the nation's cultural and intellectual life.
The new poetry category has been introduced to reflect the significant contribution poetry makes to Australia's literary landscape.
Whether it is verse, the bush-ballad or the story-teller, poetry is ingrained in Australia's identity.
Australia's best poets will now be recognised alongside our best authors and historians through the Prime Minister's Literary Awards.
The Prize for Australian History will also become part of the Prime Minister's Literary Awards from 2012.
Currently administered by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, the Prize for Australian History will be transferred to the Office for the Arts next year.
It is the nation's pre-eminent award for an outstanding publication or body of work that contributes significantly to an understanding of Australia's history.
By including poetry and history in the Prime Minister's Literary Awards, the Australian Government is honouring the enormous contribution these two genres make to our cultural wealth.
The Prime Minister and Minister Crean are encouraging all Australian authors, poets and historians to enter the 2012 Awards.
Eleven people will sit on three judging panels for the Awards. The multi award winning journalist and author Chris Masters will chair the non - fiction and history panel.
Literary giant Joel Becker will chair the fiction and poetry panel and Judith White will chair the children's and young adult fiction panel.
The winner of each category - adult fiction, non-fiction, Australian history, poetry, young adult fiction and children's fiction - will receive $80,000 tax free and shortlisted entries will each be awarded $5,000.
To be eligible for a prize, entrants must be living Australian citizens or permanent residents.
Entries in the fiction, non-fiction, young adult fiction, children's fiction and poetry categories must have been first published in English between 1 January and 31 December 2011 and offered for general sale in Australia between these dates.
For the Prime Minister's Literary Award for Poetry, collections of poems published in book form written by one or two poets are eligible for entry.
Entries for the Prize for Australian History can be film or radio documentaries, websites, DVDs, or other forms of multimedia. Producers of works that document Australian history in any format are encouraged to enter the Awards. To be eligible, history works must be first published, produced or broadcast between 1 January 2011 and 31 December 2011.
Entries close on 1 February 2012 and the shortlist will be announced in May.
For more information visit www.arts.gov.au/pmliteraryawards