The Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Awards, Australia's longest running annual poetry competition for school-aged children, is open for entries from today (1 March).
Minister for Regionalisation, Regional Communications and Regional Education Senator Bridget McKenzie said the national poetry competition is an institution in Australia.
"The Dorothea Mackellar Memorial Society has been managing the competition for nearly 40 years, and the Australian Government has been a proud supporter since 2004," Minister McKenzie said.
"I encourage all schools to get involved in the Awards, which offer teachers a focused and engaging way for students to explore and produce poetry.
"Storytelling and expression through poetry is a quintessential part of Australian culture and something we should encourage our children to practise, whether they're from our cities or our regional and remote areas.
"The Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Awards are based on the literature strand of the Australian Curriculum, and the theme for the 2022 competition is 'In my opinion', which I'm sure will generate some interesting work.
"I look forward to reading some of the poems and creative pieces of work written by our students."
To participate, students must be an Australian primary or secondary school-aged student and submit a poem for consideration by the awards judging panel before 30 June 2022.
