2025 Poetry Prize – and the winners are …

Highly Commended – Kim Kenyon for
‘The view under the bridge south of Kingscliff, at 5am’

Second prize winner – Annie Hunter for ‘Aerial’

First prize winner – Victoria McGrath for ‘The Crow’

Comments from the judges…

In each of these poems the poets have used a combination of content and craft to convey something powerful to the reader – an emotion, an image, a concept that carries us to a different place.

Kim Kenyon’s Highly Commended poem ‘The view under the bridge south of Kingscliff, at 5am’ offers a quiet and gentle lyric of observation and insight as we stand, with the poet, ‘Still as a curlew.’

Annie Hunter’s beautiful second prize winning poem ‘Aerial’ explores similar territory but here in relation to the very personal loss of a father to be ‘carried’ by those who loved him until he is ‘launched into the effervescing air.’

First prize winner Victoria McGrath’s hypnotic prose poem ‘The Crow,’ uses irony and insight to play with the quasi-gothic image of the ‘dark raven of despair’ as a way of exploring death, our responses to it and the stories of rationalisation we tell ourselves about it.

These poems express deep – and soaring – elements of our complex, often messy, human experience.

Congratulations

The 2025 Liquid Amber Poetry Prize asked poets to respond to the theme of ‘flight’.

We have already celebrated our Longlist poets – our seven Shortlist poets – and our two Emerging Poet winners.

And now …. drum roll… huge congratulations to our highly commended and winning poets…..

Highly Commended –Kim Kenyon for ‘The view under the bridge south of Kingscliff, at 5am’
Second prize – Annie Hunter for ‘Aerial’
First prize – Victoria McGrath for ‘The Crow’

A big shout out to everyone who participated – fantastic effort.

And a massive thank-you to our judges Rose Lucas, Ali Whitelock and Willo Drummond.

See the 2025 Longlist

First prize – $1,20
Second prize – $650

Best Poem by an Emerging Poet – Mentoring & Editing Pack with Rose Lucas and Ali Whitelock

Poetry of Flight: The Liquid Amber Prize Anthology

All the poems in the Longlist will be published in this year’s anthology Poetry of Flight: The Liquid Amber Prize Anthology, to be launched by Rae White at our Zoom Poetry Reading, 27 November 2025.

Buy 'Poetry of Flight' - pre-pub offer

Come to the launch - Zoom 27 Nov