Adelong Show Bush Poetry Competition
Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 8:30 pm
On Sunday 11/3/2012, I had the pleasure of being one of the judges in the inaugural Adelong Show Bush Poetry Competition.
This year, there were not too many competitors, but there were some very high quality performances.
The competitors were able to perform their choice of traditional, original or contemporary poetry. Special prizes were also available for Adelong themed poetry that was written by the performer. All competitors were allowed to perform twice.
In the Adelong themed poetry, the runner-up was Lorraine McCrimmon from Bungendore. The winner was an Adelong local lady, Heather Roach. This was Heather's first performance in a competition and I'm sure that it won't be her last - it seems that she has picked up the "poetry bug" that so many of us in bush poetry circles are afflicted with. Her winning poem was about her husband's first visit to her family's farm at Adelong and was titled "The Engineer"
The overall poetry section included a good mix of traditional, contemporary and original poems. John Mackenzie was one of the equal runners-up with his performance of Greg Scott's "Mulligan's Mob". Sue Pearce from Tumut was the other equal runner-up with her performance of Banjo Paterson's "The First Surveyor". Sue Pearce was also the winning performer with her original poem, "Love You, Daddy". Sue has come a very long way as a writer and performer in a very short period of time, she will be a force to be reckoned with in competitions in the future.
Outside of the competition, the crowds were also entertained with poetry from myself and Frank Daniel.
The organisers of the competition believe that the foundations are now in place and are very keen on looking at running another competition at the Adelong Show next year. It is something to keep an eye out for when planning what events you are looking at attending in 2013. I am sure that next year's competition will be even bigger and better.
John Peel
This year, there were not too many competitors, but there were some very high quality performances.
The competitors were able to perform their choice of traditional, original or contemporary poetry. Special prizes were also available for Adelong themed poetry that was written by the performer. All competitors were allowed to perform twice.
In the Adelong themed poetry, the runner-up was Lorraine McCrimmon from Bungendore. The winner was an Adelong local lady, Heather Roach. This was Heather's first performance in a competition and I'm sure that it won't be her last - it seems that she has picked up the "poetry bug" that so many of us in bush poetry circles are afflicted with. Her winning poem was about her husband's first visit to her family's farm at Adelong and was titled "The Engineer"
The overall poetry section included a good mix of traditional, contemporary and original poems. John Mackenzie was one of the equal runners-up with his performance of Greg Scott's "Mulligan's Mob". Sue Pearce from Tumut was the other equal runner-up with her performance of Banjo Paterson's "The First Surveyor". Sue Pearce was also the winning performer with her original poem, "Love You, Daddy". Sue has come a very long way as a writer and performer in a very short period of time, she will be a force to be reckoned with in competitions in the future.
Outside of the competition, the crowds were also entertained with poetry from myself and Frank Daniel.
The organisers of the competition believe that the foundations are now in place and are very keen on looking at running another competition at the Adelong Show next year. It is something to keep an eye out for when planning what events you are looking at attending in 2013. I am sure that next year's competition will be even bigger and better.
John Peel
