200 young poets enter Bell Gully competition

25 June 2004 Public Affairs

200 budding young poets enter Bell Gully poetry competition

More than 200 poems have been submitted for this year's Bell Gully National Schools Poetry Competition, organised by Victoria University’s International Institute of Modern Letters, and judged by award winning poet Glenn Colquhoun.

Entries have doubled from 2003, and budding poets in Year 12 and 13 at 93 secondary schools from throughout New Zealand are represented.

"We're delighted with this growth in the competition's popularity. It represents an increasing engagement with creative writing in New Zealand classrooms,” says Maggie Callicrate, Chief Executive of Bell Gully.

The winning poet will be announced by children's writer Margaret Mahy at a reception in Wellington in August during the Bell Gully Schools Writing Festival 2004 – a chance for young writers to work with the country's leading writers, poets and screenwriters.

The winner will receive a $500 cash prize; a $500 book grant for their school’s library; a year’s membership to the New Zealand Book Council; and subscriptions to leading literary journals Landfall and Sport.

This is the second year that the International Institute of Modern Letters and law firm Bell Gully have joined forces to stage the award, with support this year from existing partners, the New Zealand Book Council and Book Tokens (NZ) Ltd and new partners, Landfall and Sport.

Notes:

About the International Institute of Modern Letters The International Institute of Modern Letters is an international centre focusing on contemporary imaginative writing. Inaugurated in March 2001, the Institute is situated at Victoria University’s Kelburn Campus and incorporates the University’s renowned Creative Writing Programme and its annual writer-in-residence programme.

About Bell Gully Bell Gully is New Zealand's leading commercial law firm. The firm has the country's strongest legal team with over 250 partners and lawyers with experience and expertise in a wide range of business and government sectors.

ENDS

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