Photo caption: Federal Member for Parkes Mark Coulton congratulated Gunnedah South Public School student Quinn Eyre for winning the Kurrumbede Award (Primary) for her poem Oh, Beautiful Garden at the 2022 Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Awards.
Students from Gunnedah have been named among the winners at the 2022 Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Awards during the presentation ceremony today.
Federal Member for Parkes Mark Coulton congratulated Gunnedah South Public School student Quinn Eyre who won the Kurrumbede Award (Primary) for her poem Oh, Beautiful Garden and the Emu Class from GS Kidd Memorial School in Gunnedah which was named runner-up in the Learning Assistance Secondary category for their poem Dhinawan.
“Congratulations to nine-year-old Quinn and the Emu Class for their outstanding achievement – writing poetry is not easy, so to have success in a national competition is a great honour and one they should be very proud of,” Mr Coulton said.
“Both poems were very well written and deserving of these awards.
“I’d also like to acknowledge every student from the Parkes electorate who took part in this year’s competition, for having the courage to express themselves through poetry.
“That’s what these awards are all about – providing students with an opportunity to exercise their literary creativity and bring their imaginations to life through the written word, just like Dorothea Mackellar did when she penned the iconic Australian poem My Country more than a century ago.
“It was a pleasure to attend the annual poetry awards in Gunnedah today to hear all the award-winning poems in person. The talent of our young poets is truly inspiring.”
The Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Awards is Australia’s longest running annual poetry competition for school-aged children, and this year more than 6,000 entries were submitted from across the country.
The Australian Government has funded the Awards since 2004. The former Coalition Government allocated $290,000 to support the competition through to 2025.
Visit www.dorothea.com.au for more information and a full list of the 2022 winners.
