Are you a master of rhyme?

Last week I introduced you to a fantastic resource for poetry through our digital library. This week we want to hear about your poetry.

Submit your poem to the Auckland Libraries poetry competition by 13 July and be in to win prizes! The prize-giving ceremony will be held at Mt Albert Library on National Poetry Day, Friday 22 July. Established in 1998, National Poetry Day has grown to become one of the most anticipated events on the calendar and once again, our poetry competition is back. If you enjoy reading, writing, performing, or simply listening to poetry, wait no further – submit your poem(s) now.

There are two ways to enter the competition:
(a) get an entry form from your local library

(b) download a pdf entry form now

There are three age categories to choose from:
5 to 12 years
13 to 17 years
Over 18 years

Submit your entry/entries at a local library no later than 5pm, Wednesday 13 July.
Poems will not be returned, so make sure you keep a copy!
For full details of entry conditions go to our competition page

Rodney "Poetry Aloud" Winners

Rodney Libraries National Poetry Day ‘Poetry Aloud’ competition winners have been announced for 2010.

James Logue of Tomarata School was the overall winner. Alex de Beer of Red Beach School and Regan James from Helensville were both placed second. James won an 4 Gigabyte video MP3 Player and Alex and Regan both received a 4 Gigabyte MP3 Player.

The competition was a Rodney Libraries initiative as part of the build up to National Poetry Day, which is celebrated on 30 July.

National poetry day has been marked for a number of years. Two years ago Rodney Libraries decided to embrace the new technology now available to local residents through public access computers within libraries and launch a ‘Podcast Your Poetry’ competition.

The competition was a way to bring the objective of ational poetry day, ‘Poetry shouldn't stay on the page - it needs to be shared and read aloud,’ to life within Rodney. Podcasting gives children and teens the opportunity to share their creativity with others around Rodney District and New Zealand.

The competition ran from 1 – 30 June. 75 entries were received in this year’s competition, which was open to children in years 4 to 13.

“The number of classrooms entering was great to see,” says Rachel Fisher of Helensville Library who was the National Poetry Day Poetry Aloud Co-ordinator. “Tomarata School have always been a big supporter of this competition but this year has seen other schools come on board such as Red Beach School. We are pleased to be able to offer them a competition which fits in with their school curricula.”

Pauline Mee, a Helensville poet who judged the competition commented that, “the poetry and prose was full of beautifully descriptive use of imagery and evocative story telling. It was thoroughly enjoyable to listen to everybody’s work.”

Montana Poetry Day Poetry Aloud results

Rodney Libraries ‘Montana Poetry Day Poetry Aloud’ competition winners have been announced for 2009. This year Lily James of Whangaparaoa was the overall winner with runners up Kristian McCracken (Wellsford) and Letitia Clunie (Helensville).

This competition was a Rodney Libraries initiative as part of Montana Poetry Day. Montana poetry day has been going a while but this is only the second year that Rodney Libraries have run such a competition. The idea behind the competition is that poetry shouldn't stay on the page - it needs to be shared and read aloud. Podcasting poetry gives children and teens the opportunity to share their creativity with others around Rodney District and New Zealand.

“Rodney Libraries were very pleased to see the number of entrants increase this year” says Rachel Fisher, Montana Poetry Day Poetry Aloud co-ordinator. “It was a pleasure to see children bringing their poetry to life in this way.”

Daniel Howe (Who was the judge and himself a published poet) was pleased with the quality of the poems. He said that winner Lily James was “a wonderful young poet,” who would go far.

Tomarata School has been very involved with Montana Poetry Day Poetry Aloud since its inception. In the two years that the competition has been running, Tomarata School has had a finalist in the top three.

This year Montana Poetry Day Poetry Aloud received corporate sponsorship from web design and computer store Liquidsilver. They provided hosting and services free of charge. Rodney Libraries would like to thank them for their contribution.

To listen to this years entries, please go to: http://www.mpdpoetryaloud.blogspot.com/

Breaking News - Montana Poetry Winner 2009

The winner of the 2009 Montana New Zealand Book Awards Poetry prize has just been anounced. Jenny Bornholdt has won for her collection The Rocky Shore; a book that judges say has achieved something significantly new in poetic practice in this country, disobeying traditional rules in her ninth collection containing six largely autobiographical poems.

For full details of the Judge's announcement click on this link from Voxy.co.nz.

To reserve your copy of The Rocky Shore click on the title here to take you to our catalogue or ask at your local Rodney Library.

Montana Poetry Day Aloud at Rodney Libraries

Poetry will come alive at Rodney libraries as part of Montana Poetry Day on Friday 24 July.
Montana Poetry Day has been celebrated since 1998 and is a chance to bring poetry to the people at events all across New Zealand. Poetry Day is part of the Montana Book Awards which is generously supported by Montana Wines.
Locally, Rodney libraries are delighted to once again mark Poetry Day with a series of special events.
Wellsford and Mahurangi East libraries will be celebrating the day with live poetry readings. The Wellsford session will be held from 5.15pm on 24 July and the Mahurangi East library will hold the readings on the same day at 2pm. Both sessions will be followed by refreshments and members of the public are welcome to come along and listen.
Whangaparaoa library is also holding a session between 12 and 2pm on Friday 24 July for people to share their favourite poetry with others or read out an original poem. Anyone can take part in the session.

Poetry competition for Years 4 to 13

Rodney Libraries are running a competition for students in Years 4 to 13 encouraging them to submit a podcast of an original poem during June. The Montana Poetry Day Poetry Aloud competition is in celebration of Montana Poetry day - this year on July 24 2009.
The competition runs from 1 - 30 June. One talented poet will win an MP3 player.
The podcast poetry competition was first run by Rodney Libraries last year. Helensville poet Daniel Howe, the judge of last year’s competition says, “Poetry shouldn't stay on the page - it needs to be shared and read aloud."

To enter children just need to write their poem and record it. It should then be emailed to rodneylibraries@yahoo.com.au as an attachment.

Entries must include the following information:

- name of poet

- contact details

- the school and year they attend

- their library card number (if they have one)

Rodney Libraries now have free computers with internet access and a range of multimedia features which children can use to record their poems at the library. Library staff can also provide advice about how to do this.

Entries to the podcast competition will be posted online at the competition website at http://mpdpoetryaloud.blogspot.com.

For more information about Montana Poetry Day visit: http://www.booksellers.co.nz/mpd_main.htm

Montana Poetry Award 2008

Janet Charman’s cold snack, published by Auckland University Press, has won the 2008 Montana New Zealand Book Award for Poetry and $5,000.
"The team at Auckland University Press are enormously proud of Janet Charman's achievement in winning the poetry category in the 2008 Montanas for COLD SNACK”, said Press Director Dr Sam Elworthy. “Janet has been a powerful and distinctive voice in New Zealand poetry for many years and we are lucky to be her publisher."
Janet Charman is a graduate of The University of Auckland and was the University’s Literary Fellow in 1997. She has published five collections of poems with Auckland University Press over 15 years.
There were 26 books submitted in the poetry category of the Montana New Zealand Book Awards this year, up from 19 in 2007.
Cold snack will now contend with the winner of this year’s fiction category for the grand prize for creative writing, the Montana Medal for Fiction or Poetry. The winner of the medal will be announced along with all the other Montana New Zealand Book Award winner at a gala dinner in Wellington on Monday 21 July

Montana Poetry Day Friday 18 July

If you've been into a library this week you'll notice that Montana Poetry Day is coming up tomorrow. Montana Poetry Day is part of the Montana New Zealand Book Awards. Originally conceived as a way to increase interest in the poetry finalists, the day has taken on a life of its own. It is celebrated all over New Zealand with poetry readings, samplers and posters.

Rodney Libraries have been displaying poems and encouraging you to add your favourites to the Poetry Wall. Some libraries have an epic poem where you can add a line or two.

Tomorrow Wellsford Library will host Poetry Hour at 4pm where you can read your poems to an appreciative and supportive audience. All libraries will be giving away poetry samplers with poems from this year's finalists. Look out for poems on the pavement tomorrow as well. A couple of pictures from last year are in our Flickr stream.

We've had the first entries in our Podcast Poetry Competition. Listen to them from the competition website. There's still a few days to left to get your entry in if you're in Years 4-13.

Finally, here's a link to the Montana Poetry Day website where NZ poets have been sharing their poems.