This year students of Te Parito Kōwhai Russely School in Christchurch made word videos with their teacher Melanie Koster. All the videos were great fun and we have selected three of the most creative as well as one by their teacher, filmed during a walk on Sumner beach. These are complimented by a word video by the Wellington-based artist Malcolm Doidge.
We invite you to write a poem which includes the five words and send it to us before midnight on 23 August, National Poetry Day. Please see the full rules below.
We will award prizes for the Best Poem and the Best Poem by Under-16s. The winners will receive books courtesy of The Cuba Press and Massey University Press (see below).
And the five words are…the video you will find them at the bottom of this post.)
THE RULES:
– The words can be in any order.
– You may change the tense of verbs and change nouns between plural and singular. (For example, whisper can be a noun or a verb, and so can change to the plural whispers and the verbs whispered or whispering, but cannot be exchanged for the adjective whispered.) If you are in doubt about any word you can send us an email.
– Maximum length 200 words.
– Use of AI in the process of writing the poem is permitted but must be declared.
– 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: We have prepared a lesson plan 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.
– Participation means you allow us to reproduce your poem on Given Words.
– The deadline for entry is midnight on 23 August 2024.
Submit your poem by email including your full name and town of residence + age if under 16 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.
Winning poems will be selected by Sophia Wilson, Pat White and Charles Olsen.
Sophia Wilson grew up on unceded Anaiwan land in Australia and is now based in southern Aotearoa New Zealand. An arts graduate and former mental health worker, she is the author of Sea Skins, a poetry collection published in 2023 by flying island books.
Pat White is a poet, essayist, memoirist and artist. His writing often directly reflects his interest in rural life and the natural environment. His first collection of poetry, Signposts, was published in 1977, and he has since published a range of collections that draw on his experience living in different places around New Zealand, from the bottom of the South Island to the far north of New Zealand. Pat White was the 2010 Writer in Residence at the historic Randell Cottage in Wellington.
Charles Olsen is an artist, poet and filmmaker based in Spain. His third poetry collection, La rebeldía del sol ('Rebellious Sun') is published by Olifante Ediciones de Poesía. His latest poetry film In a House a Cloud Floats was made with girls of the Our Little Roses orphanage during the Poetry Fellowship he shared with Lilián Pallares in Honduras in 2023.
About the prizes
The winner of Best Poem will receive Town by Madeleine Slavick, courtesy of The Cuba Press, and Katūīvei Contemporary Pasifika poetry from Aotearoa New Zealand edited by David Eggleton, Vaughan Rapatahana and Mere Taito, courtesy of Massey University Press.
The winner of Best Poem by Under-16s will receive (for teenagers) Fox Spirit on a Distant Cloud by Lee Murray or (for children) Wizardry and Wētā Verse [Soon to be released] by Elena de Roo, courtesy of The Cuba Press, and the Annual Bundle made up of #Tumeke! by Michael Petherick, Hazel and the Snails by Nan Blanchard, and Skinny Dip edited by Kate De Goldi and Susan Paris, courtesy of Massey University Press.
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