Townsville Bush Poetry Mates Inc.

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HURRY – QLD BUSH POETRY CHAMPIONSHIPS ENTRIES CLOSING SOON!

Entries for the Queensland Open Bush Poetry Championships Written competition being held in conjunction with the Queensland Bush Poetry Championships in Townsville, will close on 12 April 2013.
 
Bush poetry is all about Australia and the Australian way of life, produced in rhyme and verse; it really tests the skills of the poets where many hours are put in fine tuning a poem to get it to competition standard.

The winner will not only be crowned Queensland’s Bush Poetry Written Champion they will also go away with a cheque for $250.00. The winner will be announced at the conclusion of the Queensland Open Bush Poetry Championships during the trophy presentation Sunday afternoon 16 June 2013 in the Pimlico Performing Arts Centre, Pimlico.

Entry forms can be downloaded from the ‘Major Events’ section.

TOWNSVILLE BUSH POETRY MATES TO HOST 2013 CHAMPIONSHIPS

Kathie Priestley receiving her trophy from Geoffrey Luke

The Australian Bush Poets Association have awarded the 2013 Championships to the Townsville Bush Poetry Mates Inc.

The current Queensland Bush Poetry Champion and local identity Kathie Priestley will now be able to defend her title here in Townsville after winning it in a close competition here last year.

The Championships will once again be held in the Pimlico Performing Arts Centre, Fulham Road, Pimlico 14th_ 16th of June 2013.

From their success in hosting the 2012 Championships they have added three new categories to this year’s competition. .

A Written Bush Poetry section, 18 years and over. Nomination for the written competition close 12th  April 2013.  An Intermediate section, with Traditional, Modern and Original, Male and Female combined.  Open Duo section, nominations for the Poetry Championships close 10th May 2013.

The Saturday night concert will be a highlight at the half way mark of the competition, with the Judges putting on the entertainment for the evening, followed up by the traditional Sunday morning Poets Breakfast, where there is an open invitation to step up and perform for the public.

This year the Townsville Bush Poets will be putting an emphasis on the under eighteen performers to introduce as many as possible to Bush Poetry, encouraging them to perform by running workshops before the competition.  Some schools have asked for workshops to be conducted by the Bush Poetry Mates thus giving these Junior’s the opportunity to do public speaking, and learn about the heritage created by the Bush Bards of yesteryear.

Nomination forms can be downloaded from the Major Events page.

TAMWORTH COUNTRY MUSIC FESTIVAL

Janeen Mapson performing at the Longyard in Tamworth

Congratulation to Townsville Bush Poetry Mates member Janeen Mapson who qualified for the Bush Poetry finals in both the original and traditional sections at the Tamworth Country Music Festival in January.

Janeen also received a much coveted invitation to perform at the Longyard Hotel Tamworth, where she did two fifteen minute segments.  In addition, Janeen performed in the walk up section at the Poets Breakfast.

Well done Janeen!