So not only am I a poet, and President of Adelaide Plains Poets, I am also the competition secretary for that same writing group. Our writing group holds an annual competition, and has done so since around 2005. There have been many poems received from that time, and handed on for judging, then awarded. As the Competition Secretary, I am the fortunate person who gets to read every single poem entered in all of these competitions, and I have certainly read some truly awesome poems!
Every year, I know from experience, there will be a deluge of entries arrive in the mail, in the final weeks of the competition for the Open Section, and the numbers will be more than adequate for the judges to choose the awarded entries between a goodly number of poems, so that winning in our competition in the Open Section really means something significant in terms of literary quality, and so is deserving of the significant prize-money earned.
And on looking back at numbers of poems received at this point, for years in the past, it certainly looks as though the numbers this year, despite, or perhaps because of, Covid-19. Many of us are staying home, and writing … With the theme of the competition this year being “Vision” I’m wondering whether later entries may look at this terrible virus, and the way it is being dealt with, through a visionary looking glass, and comment through their poetic words …
And if they do so, I may well put on one of my other hats, that of an editor of an Anthology concerning Covid-19, which has been the subject of many of my recent posts on this website. If any of the entries do touch on the subject of this Anthology, and I feel the quality is high enough, I will certainly approach the poets if they would like their work to be considered for inclusion in “Plague Invasion – Creative Writing in Response to Covid-19”.
This poetry competition is for Australians only, and the Anthology is open to anyone and everyone globally, and there have already been worthy submissions from both Australians, and writers from other countries … And with the closing date for submission of work for consideration to the Anthology (31 July 2020), being after the closing date for the Poetry Competition, there will be no clash. The judging will be over, and winners announced before the book submission closes. It is hoped the two things might enhance each other …
And speaking of ‘enhancing’, one of the reasons Adelaide Plains Poets holds this annual poetry competition, is to improve, or ‘enhance’ the way poetry is looked upon by people in the Adelaide Plains region, which includes Gawler, and the Barossa regions. And in particular, it is hoped holding the two Student Sections (Primary School, and Secondary School), it is hoped to pique interest of students, in poetry. I know our judge for these sections is particularly interested in reading these entries, being a former school teacher herself, and maintaining interest in this sector still.
At the moment though, this section of the Adelaide Plains Poets Poetry Competition, has very few entries, and unless the numbers of entries don’t dramatically increase, it will hardly be worth judging, which wold be a sad thing indeed. With so many schools being closed down in Australia,, this has been a difficult time in regards to getting the word out to the various schools and their students. I hope this can be changed, and ask that anyone reading this who knows Australian Primary School and Secondary School Students to please pass on news of this competition. There is honour in being awarded because of your literary talents, in addition to the generous financial award the winners will be given, if their poem is chosen as one of the three best entries in their section.
Entry form and guidelines can be found at this site, and if you are an Australian citizen, I encourage you to take a look, and enter the competition, as well as pass the news of this onto any students you know, who may be interested in being involved. And of course if you know, or in fact are, a school teacher in Australia, this competition is a worthy one for students to enter. It is an easy process, and there is no entry fee for the two Student Sections, unlike entries in the Open Section.
Poetry can bring forward creative abilities and ideas, formerly unrealised, and with our world potentially looking toward a different way of being, the theme of Vision, is one we all need to be thinking about, long and hard, as we look to the post Covid-19 future …
Carolyn Cordon - Creative 