2017 Tom Collins Written Poetry Competition - now open
Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2017 8:36 pm
Hi All
For those interested, the annual Tom Collins Written Poetry Competition details can be found here ...
http://www.fawwa.org
As a side point, while navigating this website, I came across last year's winners in this competition, and it made me stop and ponder.
The competition is named for Tom Collins, the pen name of Joseph Furphy (1843-1912) - best remembered by most of us, I'm sure, as the author of "Such is Life", but also a writer of rhyming verse which formed part of the early body of work that was a precursor to the establishment of Australian Bush Poetry.
Yet last year's winners of the competition were all free verse. Of course, in an open competition free verse often dominates, but I think it's strange to name a competition after a particular poet with no intention of allowing that poet's style to feature in some way. The same thing seems to happen with the Henry Kendall competition - while on the other hand, the Henry Lawson and CJ Dennis Toolangi competitions do pay homage to the poets whose names they carry.
This is not a criticism, just an interested observation.
Cheers
Shelley
For those interested, the annual Tom Collins Written Poetry Competition details can be found here ...
http://www.fawwa.org
As a side point, while navigating this website, I came across last year's winners in this competition, and it made me stop and ponder.
The competition is named for Tom Collins, the pen name of Joseph Furphy (1843-1912) - best remembered by most of us, I'm sure, as the author of "Such is Life", but also a writer of rhyming verse which formed part of the early body of work that was a precursor to the establishment of Australian Bush Poetry.
Yet last year's winners of the competition were all free verse. Of course, in an open competition free verse often dominates, but I think it's strange to name a competition after a particular poet with no intention of allowing that poet's style to feature in some way. The same thing seems to happen with the Henry Kendall competition - while on the other hand, the Henry Lawson and CJ Dennis Toolangi competitions do pay homage to the poets whose names they carry.
This is not a criticism, just an interested observation.
Cheers
Shelley