Province of Salzburg - Georg Trakl Award

Georg Trakl Promotion Prize (Georg-Trakl-Förderungspreis)

You receive a one-off prize of 5,000 EUR for a set of unpublished poems. The Province of Salzburg (Land Salzburg) awards it to promising new poetry. It is handed out roughly every two years, timed to the birth and death anniversaries of the Salzburg poet Georg Trakl.

Who can apply

• Who it is for: You write poems. You don’t need a degree or a place at university.
• Connection to Salzburg: You have a clear connection to Salzburg and can provide evidence of this. For example, you were born there, live there, are studying there or work there. This is the key selection criterion.
• Language: You write your poems in German.
• Unpublished work: You are submitting 15 poems that have never been published before.
• Not a past winner: You haven’t won this prize yet.
• Nationality: Applicants of all nationalities are welcome. What matters is your connection to Salzburg, not your passport.

How to apply

Please send your 15 unpublished poems, the signed entry form and proof of your connection to Salzburg to the Cultural Office of the Province of Salzburg. Please do not include your name on the pages containing the poems. An independent jury will assess the entries anonymously and select the winner without conducting an interview. In the last known round, entries had to be received by 28 August.

How realistic are your chances?

This prize has very strict eligibility criteria: only German-speaking poets with a demonstrable connection to Salzburg may enter, meaning that the pool of entrants remains small. In one of the most recent calls for entries, there were 29 submissions for a single prize. Whilst this is certainly a tough competition, it is by no means a mass competition. If you do indeed meet the Salzburg criterion and your poems are compelling, you stand a real chance.