UQ calls for all budding poets

Aspiring bards are invited to submit entries to one of Australia`s most prestigious poetry awards.

The 2003 Josephine Ulrick National Poetry Prize was established in 1997 as a tribute to former University of Queensland student, writer, artist and photographer, Josephine Ulrick.

Entries for the $10,000 prize close on Friday, December 13, with up to five highly-commended entries receiving $1000 each.

UQ`s School of English, Media Studies and Art History is administering the prize, which will be awarded to a poem or group of poems not exceeding 200 lines.

Open to all Australian residents, the award aims to encourage budding poets and it is a condition of entry that the poem has not been published, performed or submitted to any other poetry competition.

The award ceremony, held in association with The Brisbane Institute, will take place on Tuesday, February 25, 2003 at Brisbane Customs House, 399 Queen St.

Previous winners include prominent poet Anthony Lawrence, whose latest volume of work, Skinned by Light, was published by University of Queensland Press and launched at the recent Brisbane Poetry Festival.

Judy Johnson, who won last year`s prize with her work entitled The African Spider Cures, recently won the City of Greater Dandenong Poetry Award and the prestigious Arts Queensland Val Vallis Award for Unpublished Poetry.

For further information, contact Aimee Heuzenroeder (mobile 0419 375 245), UQ’s School of English, Media Studies and Art History (telephone 07 3365 2593, email: admin@emsah.uq.edu.au) or visit www.emsah.uq.edu.au/ulrick

Media: for further information, contact Aimee Heuzenroeder (mobile 0419 375 245), UQ’s School of English, Media Studies and Art History (telephone 07 3365 2593, email: admin@emsah.uq.edu.au), Joanne van Zeeland at UQ Communications (telephone 07 3365 2619, email: communications@uq.edu.au) or visit www.emsah.uq.edu.au/ulrick