On 27 October the 2022 POEM FOREST prize announces its shortlist of 80 young poets from all over Australia drawn from the more than 5,700 entries this year. The POEM FOREST prize plants a tree for every poem entered to create positive climate action and empower the voices of young people. The shortlisted poems span eight prize categories for teachers and students from years K-12 from each state and territory across Australia. “[I] would write a thousand poems if a tree was planted each time!” – Emma O, Year 6, Broome North Primary School, WA “We need to be the difference, not the cause.” – Kylie V, Year 7, NSW “I don’t really care if I win, I just want a tree to be planted.” – Ginger V, Year 3, Chewton Primary School, VIC “Doing the poem had me realise that trees are very important to humanity. I got my idea from a tree that I really liked to climb when I was younger and the tree was very climbable. Even though I might not win, at least I know that I have made new plant life.” – Unur-od O, Year 5, Ross Park Primary School, NT Shortlisted poems are available to read here. |
| ABOUT THE POEM FOREST PRIZE The POEM FOREST Prize is a nature writing prize for young poets. For every entry received, a tree is planted in the POEM FOREST within the Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan. All POEM FOREST Prize entries have been published in Red Room Poetry’s digital student library and are in the running for $5,000 worth of prizes. Selected poems and excerpts will be published in the POEM FOREST at the Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan. Winning entries will be announced on 17 November 2023 from the 2022 shortlist. Judges select one winner and one highly commended place in each of the eight prize categories. This year’s high profile judges include award-winning author of Bindi, Gunai woman Kirli Saunders OAM, co-founder of Good Life Permaculture and guest presenter on Gardening Australia, Hannah Moloney, Senior Botanist at the Australian Institute of Botanical Science, Dr Marco Duretto & 2021 POEM FOREST Upper Secondary winner, Saufi R. Prize categories:Lower primary (F-Year 3)Upper primary (Years 4-6) Lower secondary (Years 7-9) Upper secondary (Years 10-12) Threatened Species Prize (F-Year 12) Accredited Teacher (18+)Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan Local Prize (F-Year 12)Wollongong Community Greening Local Prize (F-Year 12) The winning poem in each category will receive $500 cash, a $100 book pack from Magabala Books, Pantera Press and Wonderground Journal, seeds from the Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan, judging notes and a winner’s certificate. Highly commended prizes in each category will also be awarded a book from Magabala Books. Special Prize Categories:The Threatened Species Prize (F-12) will be awarded to the best poem written in response to Australia’s threatened species. The Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan Local Prize (F-12) will be awarded to the best poem by a student attending school or living on Dharawal Country (Camden and Campbelltown LGAs). The winning poem in this category will also receive a private Garden tour and a native plant.The Wollongong Community Greening Local Prize (F-12) will be awarded to students attending school or living on Dharawal Country (Wollongong LGA). The winning The winning individual poem in this category will also receive a $50 voucher for the Wollongong Botanic Garden’s Greenplan Nursery and the winning collaborative class poem will win a free school excursion to the Wollongong Botanic Garden and 30 free plants. The 2022 POEM FOREST Prize winners will be announced at a live-streamed digital Winners Announcement Ceremony via DART Learning on 17th November at 10am AEDT. ABOUT THE POEM FOREST PLANTING Created by Red Room Poetry in partnership with the Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan, the POEM FOREST Prize planting has helped heal critically endangered habitats, and create a forest of poems for future generations. The POEM FOREST is growing with seedlings planted in and around the critically endangered Western Sydney Dry Rainforest and Cumberland Plain Woodland. The Garden has been working to restore the mighty Cumberland Plain Woodland, which once covered most of western Sydney, since the 1980s. Combined with the seedlings from the 2021 Prize, over 10,800 trees have been planted over the last two years. In total, the Garden has planted over 22,500 trees in this time. The POEM FOREST includes three grand native tree species: Forest Red Gum (Eucalyptus tereticornis), Grey Box (Eucalyptus moluccana) and Narrow-leaved Ironbark (Eucalyptus crebra) as part of the Greening our City Premier’s Priority to increase the tree canopy across Greater Sydney by planting one million trees by 2022. For more information visit: redroompoetry.org/projects/poem-forest |
