Aquarium on look-out for marine themed poetry

Published: 5 February 2015

Last Updated: 19 May 2015

Media Release

The National Aquarium encourages any budding poets to enter the 2015 Seaweek Poetry Competition which closes 4pm Thursday 19 February.

In past years the popular competition which has five categories of primary, intermediate and secondary schools, along with adult and Te Reo, has drawn entrants from as far away as Tokomaru Bay and Palmerston North.

Carol Larson, Education Team Leader from the National Aquarium says that they are always amazed with the talent the competition brings forward.

“Many of the children and adults who receive awards have written little poetry before, but what is demonstrated is their careful consideration and love of the sea.”

The Seaweek Poetry competition is in its ninth year of running which demonstrates its strong following and popularity year after year.

Ms Larson says they have had cases where an entire school participates in the competition with hundreds of poems being produced by each school. Teachers become the judges by putting forward the winning poems.

“Some difficult decisions must happen behind the scenes as poetry is not always the easiest to judge,” says Ms Larson.

“We are so fortunate to have passionate poets and teachers who judge the five categories.  We are also very proud to have sponsorship from Ngati Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated to supply prizes for the Te Reo category”.

All participants in the competition will be invited to the Poetry Reading Evening held at the National Aquarium of New Zealand on Thursday 5 March at 7pm where winning entries will be read and prizes awarded.

The Seaweek Poetry Competition is just one of the initiatives run by the education team at the National Aquarium.  Over 6000 students participate in the Aquarium’s range of education programmes annually.

For more details about the 2015 Seaweek Poetry Competition visit the Aquarium's website.

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