Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry

The Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry is awarded annually as part of the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards for a book of collected poems or for a single poem of substantial length published in book form. It is named after Kenneth Slessor (1901–1971).

The prize currently comes with a A$15,000 cash award.

2008

 * Winner: LK Holt – Man Wolf Man, John Leonard Press.
 * Michael Brennan – Unanimous Night, Salt Publishing
 * David Brooks – The Balcony, University of Queensland Press
 * Sarah Holland-Batt – Aria, University of Queensland Press
 * Kerry Leves – A Shrine To Lata Mangeshkar, Puncher & Wattman
 * Alan Wearne – The Australian Popular Songbook, Giramondo

2006

 * Winner: Jaya Savige – Latecomers, University of Queensland Press.
 * Aidan Coleman – Avenues & Runways, Brandl & Schlesinger
 * Susan Hampton – The Kindly Ones, Five Islands Press
 * Jill Jones – Broken/Open, Salt Publishing
 * Penelope Layland – Suburban Anatomy, Pandanus Books
 * David McCooey – Blister Pack, Salt Publishing

2005

 * Winner: Samuel Wagan Watson – Smoke Encrypted Whispers, University of Queensland Press
 * M. T. C. Cronin – < More or Less Than> 1–100, Shearsman Books Ltd
 * Lidija Cvetkovic – War is Not the Season for Figs, University of Queensland Press
 * John Kinsella – Doppler Effect, Salt Publishing
 * Dipti Saravanamuttu – The Colosseum, Five Islands Press
 * Alan Wearne – The Lovemakers Book Two: Money and Nothing, ABC Books

2004

 * Winner: Pam Brown – Dear Deliria: New & Selected Poems, Salt Publishing
 * Jordie Albiston – The Fall, White Crane Press
 * M. T. C. Cronin – beautiful, unfinished Salt Publishing
 * Brook Emery – Misplaced Heart, Five Islands Press
 * Philip Hammial – In the Year of Our Lord Slaughter's Children, Island Press
 * John Tranter – Studio Moon, Salt Publishing

2003

 * Winner: Jill Jones – Screens Jets Heaven
 * Alison Croggon – Attempts at Being
 * Kate Lilley – Versary
 * Emma Lew – Anything the Landlord Touches
 * Sarah Day – New and Selected Poems
 * Robert Gray – Afterimages

2002

 * Winner: Alan Wearne – The Lovemakers, Penguin Books Australia
 * Robert Adamson – Mulberry Leaves: New & Selected Poems: 1970–2001, Paper Bark Press
 * Martin Harrison – Summer, Paper Bark Press
 * Dorothy Hewett – Halfway Up the Mountain, Fremantle Arts Centre Press
 * Bronwyn Lea – Flight Animals, University of Queensland Press
 * Gig Ryan – Heroic Money, Brandl & Schlesinger
 * John Tranter – Ultra, Brandl & Schlesinger

2001

 * Winner: Ken Taylor – Africa, Five Islands Press
 * Jennifer Compton – Blue, Ginninderra Press
 * Brook Emery – and dug my fingers in the sand, Five Islands Press
 * Philip Hammial – Bread, Black Pepper
 * J. S. Harry – Sun Shadow, Moon Shadow, Vagabond Press
 * Wendy Jenkins – Rogue Equations, Fremantle Arts Centre Press

2000

 * Winner: Jennifer Maiden – Mines, Paper Bark Press/Australian Humanities Research Foundation
 * Richard James Allen – Thursday's Fictions, Five Islands Press
 * M. T. C. Cronin – Everything Holy, Balcones International Press
 * Jennifer Harrison – Dear B, Black Pepper
 * Kevin Hart – Wicked Heat, Paper Bark Press
 * John Millett – Iceman, Five Islands Press

1999 and before
Award winners:
 * 1999: Lee Cataldi – ''Race Against Time, Penguin Books Australia
 * 1998: no awards were presented
 * 1997: Anthony Lawrence – ''The Viewfinder, University of Queensland Press
 * 1996: Eric Beach – Weeping for Lost Babylon, HarperCollins and J. S. Harry – Selected Poems, Penguin Books Australia
 * 1995: Peter Boyle – Coming Home From the World, Five Islands Press
 * 1994: Barry Hill – Ghosting William Buckley, William Heinemann Australia
 * 1993: Les Murray – Translations from the Natural World, Isabella Press
 * 1992: Elizabeth Riddell – Selected Poems, Collins Angus & Robertson
 * 1991: Jennifer Maiden – The Winter Baby, Collins Angus & Robertson
 * 1990: Robert Adamson – The Clean Dark, Paper Bark Press
 * 1989: John Tranter – Under Berlin, University of Queensland Press
 * 1988: Judith Beveridge – The Domesticity of Giraffes, Black Lightning Press
 * 1987: Philip Hodgins – Blood and Bone, Angus & Robertson
 * 1986: Robert Gray – Selected Poems 1963–83, Angus & Robertson
 * 1985: Kevin Hart – Your Shadow, Angus & Robertson
 * 1984: Les Murray – The People's Other World, Angus & Robertson
 * 1983: Vivian Smith – Tide Country, Angus & Robertson
 * 1982: Fay Zwicky – Kaddish and Other Poems, University of Queensland Press
 * 1981: Alan Gould – Astral Sea, Angus & Robertson in literature|1980]]
 * 1980: David Campbell – Man in the Honeysuckle, Angus & Robertson