(First volume of poetry with ISBN)
Poets or their publishers are invited to submit entries for the Ingrid Jonker Prize for English poetry in 2026.
Please complete the entry form (click here to download) and return it, together with three copies of the first volume of poetry published in 2024 or 2025, which qualify for submission (according to the set of rules of the prize) to:
Only poets who have South African citizenship, or poets who are based in South Africa and have either permanent residency or refugee status, will be eligible for the Ingrid Jonker Prize.
A poet who has already published a volume of poetry in Afrikaans may not then submit a collection in English, and vice versa. Translations will not be eligible for the prize either.
If, however, a writer has already published in other genres (prose or drama), and then publishes a first English or Afrikaans volume of poetry, he/she will be eligible for the Ingrid Jonker Prize.
The Ingrid Jonker Prize Committee, c/o Prof Marius Crous, Department of Languages and Literature, Nelson Mandela University, South Campus Office 4-401, University Way, Gqeberha,6031
Please courier the books – not via ordinary mail. Remember to include the completed entry forms as well.
The closing date for submissions is 20 June 2026 – no late submission will be accepted. The shortlist will be announced in July. The prizewinner will be announced at the end of July. Information regarding the awarding of the prize will be available at a later stage, most probably on 12 September in Wellington.