“At the 2006 prize giving night, the University of Newcastle announced that in recognition of the value of the Newcastle Poetry Prize brings to the region as well as Australian poetry, it will continue its sponsorship a further five years, up until 2011. This was welcome news to anyone who believes in supporting the Arts, something not afforded in some countries at all. Sitting in the audience I was very proud to be living in Newcastle.”

Debra Hely, Past President of Poetry at the Pub, Newcastle

The Newcastle Poetry Prize was born of community spirit and continues to respect its foundations in local cultural development. The Prize isn’t just an awards night – it is a comprehensive package of initiatives and events aimed at promoting poetry to a wider audience and cultivating Newcastle as a centre of excellence for poetry. These include:

25th Anniversary poetry reading at Gleebooks, Sydney (December 2006), featuring Sydney and Newcastle poets from anthologies in recent years

25th Anniversary poetry reading at Readings Port Melbourne store (April 2007), featuring Melbourne poets from anthologies in recent years

NPP sponsored New Media Workshop at the Emerging Writers’ Festival, Melbourne (May 2007), given by 2006 New Media winner, Phil Norton

New Media poetry panel discussion at the 2006 National Young Writers’ Festival featuring 2002 New Media Judge, Michael Meany and 2005 New Media Winner, James Stuart

Australia Council for the Arts application for funding for ‘The ShockWave of the New Media Poetry’ arts project which will team established poets with renowned web designers to produce best practice examples of this emerging art form (Approved Jan 2008)

‘How to read a poem’ workshop with Martin Langford to develop techniques for improving poets as readers of their own work (September 2007)

liaison with curators of ‘Poets Paint Words’ exhibition re the selection of the Indigenous poet who participated in this project (Sam Wagan Watson) in 2007, and also re the selection of poets for the planned 2009 exhibition of the same name.

Provoking dialogue and debate about Australian Poetry in national forums (eg The Australian, Jan 11, 2008)