Buninyong’s call out for young poets

IN response to this year’s second lockdown, school aged children in and around the area are encouraged to create a piece of work for the Buninyong poetry competition.

The Paint the town with poetry event aims to provide a creative outlet for children whilst from home and organiser Hayley Quach said is a great way for kids to be a part of their community.

“It’s something to be involved in which is wider than their little world of schooling at home during the pandemic,” she said.

“Open to all school ages, we even have a poet on board, Fraser Mackay, who will judge the best entries while keeping in mind the ages to have a variety of winners from different year levels.

“All the kids who enter will get a certificate but the ones who are the winning entries will receive a winning certificate and be published in The Buninyong Community News.”

Last lockdown while kids were remote learning, school children from Prep to year 7 were invited to enter short stories with a winner from each age category selected.

This project was a way of integrating children’s learning with their involvement in the wider community which Ms Quach said was a success.

“It started as a short story competition last time, which was really good,” she said.

“For the second time, we thought we would look at another creatives outlet for the kids to be a part of their community, and that’s how we came up with the poetry.

“A one-page piece of poetry which can be four lines or longer, any sort of poetry and if they want to decorate and draw on it that would be great to.”

All entered poems will be displayed around Buninyong’s central to be read by residents on their daily walks.

Ms Quach said the major driver behind the competition was to have a way to display and celebrate things around the town and connect people through a creative form.

“With everything shut down at the moment, there’s no school, recreation, events or other activities on at the moment so it’s a way for them to be a part of their community and give something back,” she said.

“As they will be going on display, it’s something nice for everyone coming out of this lockdown to have poetry in and around the town and for the community to read on their isolation walks.”

For more information or enter your own piece to the Buninyong poetry competition visit buninyongstories.weebly.com before 30 September when entries close.