Phil Ilton has won numerous awards for his poetry and short stories, in a number of Regional Festival Literary Competitions and the Fellowship of Australian Writers Macarthur Region Competition. His poetry has been published in several literary journals and anthologies.

Ilton has edited an anthology and been a literary judge for the Fellowship of Australian Writers ( FAW) C.J. Dennis Poetry Award. He has conducted writing workshops and writers' groups and has performed readings from his poetry many times. His work has been read on Radio National's PoeticA. Ilton has been a Vice-President of the Victorian Branch of the Fellowship of Australian Writers.