Judge’s report – poetry competition

The Katharine Susannah Prichard Foundation invited Andrew to judge the 2009 Karen W Treanor Poetry Awards. Andrew delivered his Judge’s Report at the Awards Ceremony on Sunday, 6 December. He said:

I was pleased to receive an invitation by the Katharine Susannah Prichard Foundation to judge the Karen W Treanor Poetry Awards. Given that this is the inauguration of the Awards, I felt doubly honoured to be entrusted with this responsibility. My thanks to Fay Dease, Glen Philips, Paula Jones, Katrin Kuenstler and others involved with by the Katharine Susannah Prichard Foundation.

      Sixty-nine poems were entered in the Karen W Treanor Poetry Awards, which is a good number for a new competition. As is to be expected, the poems varied greatly in subject, theme, style and tone. Although the quality of the poems was uneven, most were cogent and accessible. This is praiseworthy in an age when pretension and ambiguity are often passed off as profundity.

      Before commenting on the winning and commended poems, I would like to make a comment on the submissions generally. I noticed several faults reoccurring in the poems and it may be helpful to mention two of these faults.

      The first fault involves the use of clichés. … CLICK HERE TO READ ANDREW’S FULL REPORT