TEEN POETRY CHALLENGE 2012
Welcome to the 4th Annual Young Writers Poetry Challenge!
The competition is now open for young writers between the age of 12 to 18 years.
This year we are delighted to add a performance of Spoken Word & Music to the awards evening with special guests
Poet Stephen James Smith
& Musician Enda Reilly
FREE, All Welcome
Read more details on the challenge & the event......
FREE to enter & FREE to attend the awards & performance evening
The Challenge:
A 20 line (or less) composition in your own style with your own theme. Up to 3 submissions per person. Send your entry along with your name, contact details & age to info@wicklowartsfestival.ie before the closing date of Monday 14th May, 5pm at the latest.
The Prizes:
First = €50, Second = €30, Third = €20 and all the shortlisted poems will be up here on the website and on the Wicklow Writers blog after the festival.
The Judging:
Next, Wicklow Writers Group have a challenge of their own as they have the difficult task of whittling down all of the entries to a final shortlist. The shortlisted writers will be notified (so don't forget your contact details!) and invited to come along to....
The Event:
Upstairs @ Ernie's, Market Square, Wicklow Town (opposite Historic Gaol) on Thursday 24th May from 6.30 to 7.45pm, Wicklow Writers will welcome the finalists & the audience to a recital of the shortlisted poems after which the winners will be announced.
SPECIAL GUEST PERFORMANCE on the evening with Slam Poet Stephen James Smith & musician Enda Reilly as a part of their Arise and Go! tour. As well as treating us to a performance, Stephen & Enda will also be happy to take the time for a question & answer session with the audience.
Arise and Go! is a groundbreaking collaborative project by poet Stephen James Smith and folk musician Enda Reilly, which explores Irishness through re-interpreting the poetry of Padraic MacPiaras, Patrick Kavanagh, W.B. Yeats and Luke Kelly who all had unique views of what it is to be Irish. Highly recommended by Hot Press as one of the folk albums of the year in 2011, two original works are also presented and the Cd also features guest musicians Colm Ó Snodaigh (Kíla) and Elder Roche.
The collaboration began at a great festival called Knockanstockan a few years back in Wicklow, Ireland. After discussing poetry during the day, Enda’s sang his version of September 1913 at his gig that evening and spontaneously from the crowd Stephen began to recite the poem aloud. They liked the result and have since dubbed their new genre Spoken Word Sung Verse. They have been featured on two "best of CDs" of Dublin’s best music nights, Nighthawks and The Brown Bread Mixtape and have performed at many poetry and music nights around the Country. See them on youtube here
The tour which has centred on the poetry hotspots around the country has taken them most recently from The Saint Patricks Festival in Dublin to Wexford, Waterford, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Cavan. This year they have had their sites set further afield starting with a gig in Paris in February and looking forward to England in June and Wales in July
“There’s majesty, presence and an indefinable magic emanating from every second of this album..........If it raises not a tear to your eye or lump in your throat, then take care your soul has left you..........this is breathtaking.........a work of genius” - Tim Carroll, Folkwords
“It's a powerful album which makes you think about Ireland in the past and present and for me breathes new life to poetry.” - 2UIbestow
More about Enda Reilly.....
Dublin singer-songwriter Enda Reilly writes in both English and Irish, and his Irish songs can be heard regularly on RTÉ Raidio na Gaeltachta. He has represented Ireland in Inverness at Nós Úr a minority language song competition. He also reaches out to younger generations through his Climate Change Songs Workshops initiative, bringing fun songs and environmental issues into schools and other groups. 2010 saw Enda facilitating workshops with The Monaghan Song and Poetry Writers Group, culminating in production of their album “Hands Together”. He also plays regularly in Dublin with the fun-loving collective known as The Lazy Band in Dublin. His next project after Arise and Go will be all in the Irish language, which he’s currently writing and recording for.
More about Stephen James Smith.....
Stephen James Smith is a remarkable spoken word poet and a bit of a legend in Dublin. Not only is he a multi award winning poet and playwright but also former Cúirt International Literary Festival Grand Slam Poetry Champion. He is also the MC and organiser of the excellent weekly Glór Sessions @ The International Bar. In 2009 he proudly represented Ireland at the Vilenica Literary Festival Slovenia and in 2010 at Wiersze w Metrze Poland. In April he was invited by Culture Ireland to reciting in the iconic Nuyorican Poetry Café in New York. He has performed at numerous literary festivals, such as the Dublin Writers’ Festival, the Festival of World Cultures and the Electric Picnic to name a few. His poetry has been translated into 6 languages now and he has been published in several journals around the world. His ABSOLUTE Fringe play Three Men Talking (co-wrote with Colm Keegan & Kalle Ryan) was nominated for Bewley’s Café Theatre ‘Little Gem’ Award. His poetry can even be found on an American University syllabus!
Check out the Stephen's website here, and Enda's here
In association & with thanks to Wicklow Writers
About last year's Challenge.....
Well done to everyone who entered the challenge and congratulations to those who made the shortlist- it was a difficult task for Wicklow Writers to choose from all the wonderful entries this year and the final scores between the shortlisted 6 were very close on the night. The 1st prize was won by Lauren Kelly for 'Winter Call', in 2nd place was Cian Griffin's poem 'I wrote' and in third place Emer Gerrard with her poem 'For You, Baby'. Congratulations!
Wicklow Writers with some of the young poets at the final event.
Eddie Ryan & Cait Breathnach (Wicklow Writers), Emma Tobin, Lauren Kelly, Emer Gerrard, Martin Swords (Wicklow Writers) & Rosie Magee (WAF)
Teen Challenge Shortlisted Poems
- 1 -
For You, Baby
Emer Gerrard
May you find a place to stay
May you see a better day
May you have a hand to hold
When the world seems too cold
May you have the strength to live
May you share your love to give
May you always have a smile
For people you see only once in a while
May you always have a friend
May you fight until the end
May you know in your heart
That I have loved you from the start.
- 2 -
Autumn’s Clutch
Josh Reynolds
Like a clash of steel, the howling wind batters him,
He desperately clings on as the crooked, ethereal hands of winter engulf him.
Numb, yet stoic, he clings on fervently while his body succumbs to the cold.
At last, his wrinkled body loses its resolve, his grip loosens, and he falls,
Plunging downwards like a droplet of rain into a dark, still lake,
His ruined body plummets amongst the mounds of dead below.
Silently he comes to rest and curls up in eternal slumber.
The tree looks on sombrely, through gnarled eyes,
Yet another leaf peels away and nestles amid the foliage.
- 3 -
Magic
Emma Tobin
Magic is all around us,
in every sight and every smell.
It’s in that draught,
whose source you can never find.
It’s in that subtle scent of perfume,
from a person you’ll never know.
It’s in the eyes of lovers,
as they hold each other tight.
Magic is all around us.
It’s in the open arms of flowers,
and the intricate spider webs.
It’s in that half-forgotten smile,
from the lady on the street.
It’s in our lives, and our hearts,
in our stories and our dreams.
Magic is there, never mind scientific disproof!
It’s not fire-breathing dragons and enchanted swords,
it’s not knowledge or science,
it’s not a single thing or person,
It’s life and every aspect of it
- 4 -
I wrote
Cian Griffin
I wrote her name in the sand,
But the waves washed it way.
I wrote her name in the sky,
But the wind blew it away.
I wrote her name in the stars,
But the sun drove it away.
I wrote her name on the ground,
But the rain washed it away.
I wrote her name in the snow,
But the heat melt it away.
I wrote her name in a book,
But maturity corrode it away.
I wrote her name in my heart,
And there, forever it will stay.
- 5 -
My Forest
Jennifer Whelan
I stand
Buzzing all around me
The cool breeze wafts and darts
inconspicuous
Surrounded yet alone
city skyscrapers puncture the skyline
like trees in a forest
- 6 -
Winter Call
Lauren Kelly
A stillness lingers in the air
Tall trees once proud are standing bare,
Frosted fields lie empty free
Not a creature around to see.
Spread out on ground like white soot,
It’s soft and crumples under foot.
This vast blanket of falling white
Is all the children’s sheer delight.
Sparkling ice shining bright
Glinting in the soft moonlight,
Wind is swirling round and round
Hushing all the winter sounds.
Softly humming,
Slowly coming,
It looms upon us all
That this is the final winter call...
