Tuesday 1 August 2017

Five Words for a poem. National Poetry Day, 2017

Thank you to everyone who has sent us their words! In the video below you can see our selection of five of our favourites. You have until midnight on 25 August, National Poetry Day, to write and send us your poem which must include all five words.

We will award a prize for the Best Poem and a prize for the Best Poem by Under-16s. The winner of Best Poem will receive a copy of the New Zealand Poetry Yearbook 2017, courtesy of Massey University Press and the winner of the Under-16 category will receive a copy of Lonesome When You Go by Saradha Koirala courtesy of Mākaro Press. Further details of these books are below. In addition the winning poems will be translated into Spanish and published on the Spanish version of the project Palabras Prestadas.

And the five words are…


(If for some reason you cannot see or hear the words in
the video you will find them at the bottom of this post.)

The rules:

– The poem must include the five words.
– The words can be in any order.
– You may change the tense of verbs.
– Maximum length 200 words.
– Entry is free and open to all NZ citizens.
– Only one poem per person.
– Poems by under-16s must also include the age of the poet. We would prefer parents or teachers to send the poem on the child's behalf.
– FOR TEACHERS: You are very welcome to get your classes to participate, but please help us out by only sending in a selection of up to 10 of the best poems from your students. We have prepared a lesson plan for teachers.
– Participation means you allow us to reproduce your poem on Given Words.
– The deadline for entry is midnight on 25 August 2017.

Submit your poem by email including your full name and town of residence to: nzgivenwords@gmail.com

To receive updates about the competition please subscribe to our newsletter here. We only send emails related with this competition and you can easily opt out at any time.

The poems will be judged by the poet and artist, Charles Olsen.  
Charles Olsen (b. Nelson, NZ, 1969) has published two collections of poetry in bilingual editions in Spain, Sr Citizen (Amargord, 2011) and Antípodas (Huerga & Fierro, 2016). His poems are included in Blackmail Press 28 and 39 and in the Poetry New Zealand Yearbook 2017. In July 2017 he was awarded the XIII distinction Poetas de Otros Mundos by the Fondo Poético Internacional, in Spain, in recognition of the high quality of his poetic oeuvre. Since 2011 he has run the Spanish version of Given Words with over 100 editions. He makes poetry films and has had pieces shown in Liberated Words, Bristol; ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival, Berlin; Sinestesia, Barcelona; Filmpoem Festival, FelixPakhuis, Antwerp, among others. He is translating poems by New Zealand poets into Spanish and has translated work by Spanish and Colombian poets into English.


Prize for Best Poem:  
Poetry New Zealand Yearbook 2017
Edited by Jack Ross
Massey University Press, 2017


About the Poetry New Zealand Yearbook 2017:

'Continually in print since 1951, when it was established by leading poet Louis Johnson, this annual collection of new poetry, reviews and essays is the ideal way to catch up with the latest poetry from established and emerging New Zealand poets.

'Issue #51 features 128 new poems by writers including featured poet Elizabeth Morton, Riemke Ensing, Mohamed Hassan, Michele Leggott, Kiri Piahana-Wong and Elizabeth Smither, as well as essays by Janet Charman, Lisa Samuels and Bryan Walpert, and reviews of 33 new poetry collections.'

More details on Massey University Press
Prize for Best Poem by Under-16s:  
Lonesome When You Go
by Saradha Koirala
Mākaro Press, 2016


Lonesome When You Go is an award-winning title on the Storylines Notable Books List 2017.

'Paige plays bass in high school rock band Vox Pop, which means keeping a steady rhythm even in their most raucous rock and roll moments. But in the tense build-up to the Rockfest competition, Paige finds she can’t control everything in her life, no matter how hard she practises and how loud she plays. There’s stuff happening in the band that she can’t put her finger on, a friend who can’t handle her own secret anymore and a mysterious guy who plays double bass like an angel. But there isn’t much time to sort things out – Rockfest looms and so does the end of the school year, when everything will change for good.'

More details on Mākaro Press


(The five words are: exhilarated, static, finish, kaitiakitanga and biscuitchip.)
Kaitiakitanga in the Māori Dictionary: (noun) guardianship, stewardship, trusteeship, trustee.


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