Poetry Monday: Newcastle Poetry Prize

I’ve been reading a couple of posts online lately about whether poetry prizes are worth the entry fees. While I do understand that the often steep fees tends to privilege those who can afford it, and that there may be a bias towards certain styles of writing, or certain subject matters, I do think in the main that poetry prizes are good for writers.  For a relatively unknown poet, prizes are a great way of getting your name known, and your work taken seriously.  Even a longlist can make the difference between being able to get your work published or not.  The best poetry competitions are blind judged by well respected poets at the top of their game, which means that entrants aren’t advantaged by number of publications or how well-known they are.

As a ‘professional’ reader of poetry who is often overwhelmed by the number of books that come my way, I do often rely on competition wins to help direct my attention.  It’s a noisy world out there, and prizes help filter that noise a little.  I often use the excuse of a competition entry to direct my writing and as encouragement to polish something.

For me, the Newcastle Poetry Prize is one of the best and something I enter annually.  It’s a regional prize and administered by the Hunter Writers Centre - a writers association that I’ve been a member of for over 20 years (they’ve sent a lot of opportunities my way, including a fully funded mentorship which got me going with my first novel).  With a $15,000 prize for first place, the prize substantial enough to warrant time and effort, and this year they’ve got the fabulous Eileen Chong and Kevin Brophy as judges.  Because they accept up to 200 lines, the competition is particularly suitable for longer poems and poem cycles or poems with multiple parts.  For me this is a kind of constraint since I usually write short poems and has given me a reason to explore the longer form, and do something I might not otherwise tackle.  The prize is blind judged, and many poets have become known through their wins.  Competition is steep to be sure and the winning poems have been exceptionally good, so the chances of winning aren’t huge, but at the end of it, even if you don’t place, you have a poem that you’ve polished to be its best, which is already a win.  Enter here by the 30th of June: http://www.hunterwriterscentre.org/newcastle-poetry-prize.html

2014 Newcastle Poetry Prize

There are a number of poetry prizes available to writers in Australia, but the one that excites me most of all is the Newcastle Poetry Prize.  The key reasons why I make it a point to enter this every year (I shortlisted a few years back for my multimedia poem Betelgeuse), is that:

• it's administered by two local organisations, both of which I have links to: the wonderful Hunter Writers Centre (of which I've been a member for some 18 years or so!) and The University of Newcastle
• It's well established - 33 years old this year (still younger than I am...), and is prestigious enough to make a huge difference in terms of a poet's career - opening doors and pulling some strings...
• It's lucrative (hey, a poet has to eat).  First prize is $12,000.  Second prize is $5,000. That's a pretty decent meal.
• The judges are almost always excellent poets themselves, and well versed (couldn't help myself) in critically assessing the work of others. The 2014 judges are two poets whose work I admire greatly: Mark Tredinnick and Anna Kerdijk Nicholson. 

Yes, the competition is outrageously steep.  Some of Australia's best poets enter and win it each year, but not every winner is already rich and famous (the rich was just a joke - poets tend not to be rich...).  Entries are judged anonymously so the only thing that matters is the quality of your work and I have to say that I've read just about all the winners over the past 10 or so  years and the poems have, without exception, been astonishingly fine (even if you don't win, taking part in such a gorgeous word fest is an honour). All short listed poems are published in the annual anthology, which is, in itself, a thing of great beauty.  So, despite the fact that I'm not necessarily looking for any extra competition this year, I'm urging you to have a go.  Just the process of getting a poem or series of poems up to a quality ready for entry is a worthwhile task.  In other words, you win no matter what the outcome, especially if you then take the time to read the winning entry, attend the award ceremony (which I'll be involved in this year...), and generally participate in the process.  Entries close Friday 20th June.   Enter at: http://www.hunterwriterscentre.org/newcastle-poetry-prize.html