It is very excited to have a poem shortlisted in the 2023 SWW NSW National Writing Competition  Giving Women a Voice. Thankyou to organisers and judge Judith Beveridge

Dear Colleen,

Your entry, From the dust of stars in the Society of Women Writers NSW National Writing Competition is shortlisted. The winners are announced at the Society’s monthly event in the Dixson Room, the State Library of NSW on 8 November. Judith Beveridge, the Poetry Judge will be there to give her report.

Dear Colleen,

Your entry, From the dust of stars in the Society of Women Writers NSW National Writing Competition is shortlisted. The winners are announced at the Society’s monthly event in the Dixson Room, the State Library of NSW on 8 November. Judith Beveridge, the Poetry Judge will be there to give her report.

 Warmest Congratulations and best wishes

Maria

Maria McDougall

The Society of Women Writers NSW Inc.

womenwritersnsw.org

SHORT LIST  National Writing Competition 2023 – POETRY

PIPPA KAY FOR MARBLES

COLLEEN KEATING  FOR THE DUST OF STARS

LILY NASON FOR HOMESICK  ON A BALCONY SOMEWHERE IN PARIS

MARGARET RUCKART FOR CHROMOSOMAPERSON

JOANNE RUPPIN 

AND THE WINNER IS . . . . . . .  MARCKART RUCHART AND SECOND  PIPPA KAY

The photo is taken on

CONGRATULATIONS  TO THE WINNERS : I FEEL VERY HONOURED
TO BE SHORTLISTED WITH THESE GREAT POETS. I MISSED OUT BUT I AM PROUD OF THE POEM I WROTE

Judge’s Report – Judith Beveridge

Thank you to the Society of Women Writers for the honour and privilege of judging this year’s poetry prize for which there were 44 entries. I enjoyed the variety and vitality of the poems entered. Although most of the entries were in free verse, there was plenty of evidence that rhyme and stricter forms are not an entirely forgotten discipline. Whatever the form being used and with whatever success, I sensed honest voices dealing with real experiences. In judging the award, I looked for poems that made imaginative and inventive use of language, poems that showed a compelling engagement with subject matter, poems that had control over form and structure and poems that demonstrated masterful use of sound, imagery, lineation and rhythm to carry the meaning.

Winner: Chromosomapoem: I chose this poem as the winning entry because of the elegance and sophistication of language and subject matter. It addresses sex differences in a clever and witty manner. The linguistic quality is sustained throughout the poem as well as the use of form which enables the poem to embody and convey its thoughts in a memorable and powerful way. The poem shifts skilfully between historical and personal reflections on the biological and social realities determined by male and female sex chromosomes. The poem is a complex weave of humour and seriousness, executed with bravura and style.

Highly Commended: Marbles: This poem uses the highly challenging sestina form to excellent effect and has avoided the pitfalls of the sestina by being compact and economical. Form and content in this poem are beautifully married and generate an organic reading experience. The poem has as its subject matter the passing on of generational knowledge and experience – grandmother to grandchildren – thus the repetitions embedded in the sestina make it an excellent formal choice. The conversational style, in tandem with the poem’s formal requirements, create buoyancy and power. A tender and finally achieved poem.

Commended: Homesick on a Balcony Somewhere in France, no, not in Paris: This poem travels seamlessly through a wide range of feelings: humour, nostalgia, a sense of aloneness and displacement, as well as an acute awareness of time’s passing, both geologic time and personal time are juxtaposed to great effect. These tones and feelings are embodied in the movement and flow of the cadences and rhythms across the lines. This is a moving, engaging poem.

2022    SO PROUD TO BE MENTIONED THREE TIMES IN THE SHORT LISTED

PROGRAM FOR THE SOCIETY OF WOMEN WRITERS  COMPETITIONS 2022

SHORT LISTED IN POETRY BOOK  OLIVER MURIEL PINK

SHORT LISTED IN NON-FICTION BOOK OLIVE MURIEL PINK

SHORT LISTED IN NATIONAL POETRY COMPETITION 2023 FOR PETAL  BY PETAL