Upper Hutt City Library’s Poetry Evening

Upper Hutt City Library’s Poetry Evening concludes annual competition

Two celebrations were held on Friday 28 August at Upper Hutt City Library to conclude the 15th Annual Upper Hutt Poetry Competition.

UPPER HUTT, Wellington NZ, 03 SEP 2015—On Friday 28 August, Upper Hutt City Library held its 15th Annual Poetry evening. As part of National Poetry Day celebrations, the evening was an opportunity to honour the winners and finalists of our annual poetry competition. The poetry evening began with a special ceremony and prize-giving for the children and young adult participants. This was followed by the adult event, which included live music from the Mainly Acoustic music club, an award ceremony and finally an open mic session. His Worship the Mayor, Wayne Guppy opened the event which was then hosted by Lower Hutt author Maggie Rainey-Smith.

The theme for this year’s competition was Time. Participants were invited to explore time in any way they wished: good; bad; special; sad; past; present or future. The competition had over 260 entries (over 120 in the adult section and over 140 in the children and young adult’s section). Professor Peter Whiteford from Victoria University judged the adult poetry and Virginia Francis judged the children and young adult categories. The People’s Choice awards were also chosen by the audience on the night.

Local attendee, Richard Lawrence was very positive about the event, “I would like to say a big thank you to the staff for organising such a professional event. I have attended for several years, and this year the way the sound was set up was perfect. We could hear every speaker so well even from our back row seats. It was also lovely to have the couple providing music entertainment during the interlude—another great idea. Looking forward to attending next year... …Well done.”

The winners for each category are as follows:
Adults

1st—$150 book voucher:
Sandi Sartorelli, Timing

2nd—$100 book voucher:
Vivienne Merrill, Goodbye to summer

3rd—$50 book voucher:
Suzanne Herschell, Portrait of the Man in the Chair Young Adults (ages 12 – 18)

1st—$50 book voucher:
Sara Anne Coghlan, Blue Balloon

2nd—$30 book voucher:
Julia Corston, To Kill or not to Kill Children (ages 6 – 11)

1st—$50 book voucher:
Belinda Jackson, I Put my Brother in Time Out

2nd—$30 book voucher:
Scarlet Cowley, Butterflies
People’s Choice—prizes provided by Paper Plus Upper Hutt

Adults—The Bookshop Book by Jen Campbell: Brent McCauley, On Craig’s Flat

Children and young adults—The Complete Winnie-the-Pooh by A A Milne: Belinda Jackson, I Put my Brother in Time Out

Four images accompany this media release

Children-and-Young-Adult-Winners.jpg: Winners of the Children & Young Adult Categories; Top left: Julia Corston, Top Right: Sara Anne Coghlan, Bottom Left: Belinda Jackson, Bottom Right: Scarlet Cowley

Peoples-choice-winner-Belinda-Jackson.jpg: People’s Choice winner of the Children and Young Adult categories, Belinda Jackson.

Maggie-Rainey-Smith-Presenting.jpg: Maggie Rainey-Smith, MC on the night.

Brent-McCauley-Presenting-his-poem.jpg: Brent McCauley, winner of People’s Choice for the Adult category presenting his winning poem, On Craig’s Flat.

About Upper Hutt City Council

Upper Hutt City Council is the steward and custodian of Upper Hutt City, providing governance, infrastructure, and community services and resources, and promoting opportunity in the city for business, recreation, lifestyle, and leisure. Upper Hutt City is located 30 km north-east of Wellington City (41°07'34" S, 175°04'06" E) and boasts 70% of the region’s parks and reserves, along with state-of-the-art entertainment and leisure facilities.

ENDS

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