Poetry Writing Prizes and Opportunities
Sienna Weir Prize for Poetry
Sienna was a vibrant young woman with a passion for English, and in particular, poetry writing. She wrote and studied poetry from Primary School through to University and completed English at the highest level at SCEGGS, where she excelled in her HSC results and completed an Extension 2 Major Work. To celebrate her life, her family wanted to help foster a love of poetry in young writers and have sponsored a poetry workshop and Speech Night Prize aimed at students in Years 6 and 7.
This year we are excited to invite Australian poet, Jane Gibian, to SCEGGS to work with a small group of Year 6 and 7 students. The students will spend a day in Week 8 of Term 3 learning about poetry, writing and drafting their own pieces while also receiving feedback from Ms Gibian. Their work will be published by the school and considered for the Speech Night prize. Students are invited to apply for this opportunity by submitting one or two pieces of poetry to either Ms Cristi Wilsmore (Year 6 students) or Ms Jenny Bean (Year 7 students) at the email addresses below. Students may submit any pieces they have composed this year (including pieces they may have worked on in class or submitted for other competitions). All entries must be submitted electronically by Friday 28 June. We look forward to reading your work!
Dorothea Mackellar Writing Competition
It is one of Australia’s most prestigious poetry awards for young people – this year it is celebrating its 40th Anniversary! This year’s theme is “Listen, I have an idea.” The school has registered an account for this competition and your daughter will be able to check with her teacher about entering before the due date of Friday 30 June. Many Years 7 – 10 courses explore poetry in Term 2 and our 7 – 9 cohorts will have visits over the next few weeks from performance poetry group, Poetry in Action. Hopefully this will help to inspire our budding young poets! More information can be found at the website here.
Red Room’s Poetry Forest Competition
The competition encourages students to compose poems which have a positive message on climate change. This competition is open until Friday September 27. More information can be found here.
Jenny Bean
Head of English
