Thom wins 2025 Judith Wright Poetry Prize

Overland has announced Mia Thom as the winner of the 2025 Judith Wright Poetry Prize, worth $6000, for their poem “go raging”.

Thom’s poem, chosen from a shortlist of 8, will be published in the print edition of Overland. According to Overland, it “distills personal moments of reckoning with ongoing ontological homelessness perpetrated by colonial powers”.

Thom is a queer Bundjalung writer moving between Arakwal and Wurundjeri Country.

The judging panel of Shastra Deo, Harry Reid and Andrew Sutherland chose the winner from over 800 entries.

Overland also announced Linda Judge’s “Cooking Lessons” and Isabella G Mead’s “On the Future Distribution of Fruit Bats” as the second and third prize winners respectively. Judge will receive $2000 and Mead will receive $1000, and each of their poems will also be published in Overland.

Established in 2007, the Judith Wright Poetry Prize is awarded annually in recognition of outstanding poetry from new and emerging writers. Last year’s winner was Neika Lehman with their poem “The Dog House”.

More information about the prize is available on the Overland website.

Category: Awards Local news