Thanks to the crowds who flocked to the Newcastle Art Gallery to celebrate this exciting event, organised by the Hunter Writers Centre, which included:

Newcastle Poetry Prize 2011 Awards Announcement: Congratulations to the winners. First prize: Mark Tredinnick, Second prize: Kelly Furgo, Third Prize: Julie Chevalier, Local Prize: Trisha Pender, Harri Jones Memorial Prize: Jakob Ziguras. Many thanks to judges Keri Glastonbury and Jennifer Harrison and the presenters of awards Prof Kevin McConkey from the University of Newcastle(Open Section), Lord Mayor of Newcastle, Councillor John Tate (Local Award) and Sian Smith (Harri Jones Memorial Prize).

NPP 2011: Thank you to the University of Newcastle for providing the prize money for 2011, The City of Newcastle for sponsorship of the 2011 Anthology, the Newcastle Art Gallery for in-kind support of the venue for prize night, Peter Bower for photographing the evening, Sprout Catering as well as all the volunteers who have assisted us.

30 Year NPP Celebrations: Thank you to poets Les Murray, Diane Fahey, Philip Salom, Anthony Lawrence, Brook Emery, Judy Johnson, Peter Kirkpatrick, Mark Tredinnick, Patricia Sykes and Duncan Hose who joined us on the night to read from their award winning poems from the past 30 years.

LAUNCH OF TWO POETRY ANTHOLOGIES:

The Wombat Vedas (AU$20)

Newcastle Poetry Prize Anthology 2011

Features shortlisted and winning poems for 2011. Published by the Hunter Writers Centre with sponsorship of The City of Newcastle. Cover design and typesetting: Tom McMahon

Download WOMBAT VEDAS ORDER FORM to pay by cheque or pay by credit card below

To pay by credit card, please indicate the title of the book in the “Order or Item No.” field.

Once you’ve made your payment, an email will be sent to us and we’ll confirm the details with you.

Completely Surrounded   (AU$30)

Thirty Years of the Newcastle Poetry Prize 1981-2011

Features the winning poems from the past 30 years. Published by Puncher & Wattmann on behalf of the Hunter Writers Centre.

Download COMPLETELY SURROUNDED ORDER FORM to pay by cheque. Or pay by credit card below:

To pay by credit card, please indicate the title of the book in the “Order or Item No.” field.

Once you’ve made your payment, an email will be sent to us and we’ll confirm the details with you.

SELECT PHOTOS FROM NPP AWARDS NIGHT – 30 SEPTEMBER 2011

Congratulations to 2011 Winner of the Newcastle Poetry Prize Mark Tredinnick for his poem The Wombat Vedas.

NPP Local Winner Trisha Pender with presenter Lord Mayor of Newcastle, Councillor John Tate.

Prize Sponsor University of Newcastle's Professor Kevin McConkey presented Mark Tredinnick with his First Prize award of AU$12000.

Gathering of NPP winners from the past 30 years: From left: Peter Kirkpatrick, Les Murray, Diane Fahey, Mark Tredinnick, Patricia Sykes, Duncan Hose, Judy Johnson, Brook Emery and Philip Salom.

Christopher Pollnitz, Mercia Buck and Paul Kavanagh, the original prize organisers, celebrated the launch of Completely Surrounded: 30 Years of the Newcastle Poetry Prize

Congratulations to the following poets who have been shortlisted for the 2011 Newcastle Poetry Prize.

In alphabetical order, shortlisted poets are:
RJ Carver: A Mending Time
RJ Carver: Lines in Absentia
Julie Chevalier: darger: his girls
Nathan Curnow: The Lullaby Pregnancies
Stuart Cooke: Biophilia
Judy Durrant: the interim
Anne Elvey: Taking Leave of No. 5
Diane Fahey: Desert Flowers
Michael Farrell: Spoiled for Choice: 80 Ganymedes
John Foulcher: City of Light
Kelly Furgo: Open Letter With Commentary
Jill Jones: The Linden Tapes
John Kinsella: Postscriptums
Peter Kirkpatrick: Australian Gothic
Andy Kissane: Conversing with Ghosts
Cynthia D Nelson: The Darmstadt Year
Mark O’Flynn: History and Philosophy
Trisha Pender: Australia
Nathan Shepherdson: racking up dialogues on blue felt
Mark Tredinnick: The Wombat Vedas
Isi Unikowski: Jedem Das Seine
Simon West: Journeys out of Seasons
Jakob Ziguras: The Last Man in Pompeii

All shortlisted poets will be published in the annual Newcastle Poetry Prize Anthology.  Congratulations to all on this fantastic achievement!

The launch of the anthology and the announcement of the winners will be on Friday 30 September at the Newcastle Region Art Gallery, Laman Street in Newcastle.

Five prizes will be awarded:

First prize: $12,000
Second Prize: $5000
Third Prize: $1000
Local Award: $500
Harri Jones Memorial Prize*: $250

*Harri Jones Memorial Prize

In 2011, the Harri Jones Memorial Prize will be incorporated into the Newcastle Poetry Prize and awarded to the best poem in the anthology by a poet under the age of 36.  This prize was set up in 1965 after the tragic early death of T.H. (Harri) Jones.  He was a Welsh poet, critic and lecturer in the English department at what was then a college of the University of NSW, subsequently to become the University of Newcastle. In the time from his arrival from the UK in 1959 Harri had a huge impact on the cultural and literary life of Newcastle. He is remembered not only for his own poetry (most recently published in the Complete Poems of T.H.Jones), but also for his virtuosity as a reader and a lecturer. He was known to hold his listeners riveted with his fine Welsh voice whether in class or at private readings. His friends and family set up a fund after his death to support a perpetual prize in his memory.

We are also delighted to announce the First Prize winner will be included in our special ‘30 Years of the Newcastle Poetry Prize’ anthology, published by the Hunter Writers’ Centre and Puncher and Wattmann.

- Friday (30 September)

5.30 – 7.30pm, Newcastle Region Art Gallery, Laman St, Newcastle – FREE event

• Announcement of the 2011 Prize winners
• Launch of the 2011 NPP anthology
• Launch of the 30 Year Anthology published by the Hunter Writers’ Centre and Puncher and Wattmann
• Food and drink

- Friday (30 September)

7.30 – 9pm, Newcastle Region Art Gallery, Laman St, Newcastle
FREE event

• Welcome to the 30-year poets.  The 30-year anthology will encompass a broad spectrum of Australian poets at various stages of their career: a remarkable body of work that will showcase the growth and diversity of Australian poets over time.
• readings by the 30-year poets with
  Patricia Sykes
  David Musgrave
  Mark Tredinnick
  Peter Kirkpatrick
  Judy Johnson
  Brook Emery
  Diane Fahey
  Anthony Lawrence
  and more.
• book signings
• food and drink

- Saturday (1 October)

Australian Poetry’s National Poetry Symposium

On Saturday 1 October, join poets Lucy Dougan, Dennis Haskell, Paul Hetherington, Bronwyn Lea, Peter Minter, Jaya Savige, Michael Sharkey, Sandra Thibodeaux, Philip Salom, Jennifer Harrison, Judith Beveridge, Elizabeth Webby and many others for conversation, debates and arguments, readings and exploration.

See some highlights here

• Launch of a new Cafe Poet in Newcastle

This is also the weekend of the National Young Writers’ Festival in Newcastle so please book early.

If you have any questions, would like some advice about accommodation or travel, need picked up from the airport or station, or anything else, please contact the Hunter Writers’ Centre on hwcadmin@optusnet.com.au

Congratulations to the winners of the 2010 Newcastle Poetry Prize!
Click here to view more the pictures from the night.

First Prize Winner: Duncan Hose with ‘An allegory of Edward Trouble’

Highly Commended: Christopher Kelen with ‘time with the sky’

Commended: Michael Farrell with ‘the 200′

Commended: Ivy Ireland with ‘Porch Light’

Local Award: Ivy Ireland with ‘Porch Light’

New Media Winners: James Stuart and Laura Gulbin with ‘Sudden Rain, Tilba Tilba’

To order copies of time with the sky, please click here

To watch ‘Sudden Rain, Tilba Tilba’, please click here.

Congratulations to the following poets who have been selected for inclusion in the 2010 Newcastle Poetry Prize anthology.

• Connie Barber with ‘Intersections’
• Stuart Barnes with ‘Caravaggio: A Secret History in Sonnets’
• John Bennett with ‘Love in the Flesh’
• Loma Bridge with ‘horsehair armchair’
• Brett Dionysius with ‘A Strong Brown God’
• Michael Farrell with ‘The 200′
• Ian Gibbins with ‘Letter to Nature, 21st January 2010′
• Duncan Hose with ‘An allegory of Edward Trouble’
• Ivy Ireland with ‘Porch Light’
• Carol Jenkins with ‘Set Pieces’
• Christopher Kelen with ‘time with the sky’
  
• Alana Kelsall with ‘The distance between us’
• Peter Lach-Newinsky with ‘Bog Transcestrals, a movie’
• Roberta Lowing with ‘Freeport Mine Zone, West Papua’
• David Mortimer with ‘Beyond First’
• Mark O’Flynn with ‘Untested Cures for Modern Day Ailments’
• Nathan Sheperdson with ‘eye echos’ and ‘aposiopesis’
• Andrew Slattery with ‘Ravine’ and ‘Ars Politica’
• Patricia Sykes with ‘Prosthetic Winter’
• Todd Turner with ‘At Cobark’
• John Watson with ‘Glasshouse’ and ‘To A Convalescent’
• Simon West with ‘Depth of Field’
• Chloe Wilson with ‘Grandmother Says’
• Michael Yates with ‘Haiku’

The winner of the open section, the winner of the local award and any highly commended and commended poems will be chosen from the anthology and announced on prize night.  The awards ceremony will take place at the Lockup, 90 Hunter Street, Newcastle on Saturday 27th November, 6-8pm.