By Parker McKenzie
The hills are full of talented creatives, ranging from award-winning filmmakers, to writers and poets. For decades, the Woorilla Poetry Prize has highlighted the work of poets throughout the Dandenong Ranges and beyond.
On Sunday 20 November at 2pm, it will return to Emerald for an afternoon of appreciation of literature, poetry and music.
Held this year at the Hills Hub, the event will also be live-streamed online as the winners of the prize are announced after being shortlisted by judges Professor Kevin Brophy and Alicia Sometimes.
Woorilla Poetry Prize founder Maria Millers said the event was started in the 1980s to celebrate the creative energy throughout the hills.
“I realised there were a lot of amazing, creative people around me, a lot of them who are no longer with us,” she said.
“We had the idea to start a journal and then we also thought what about a poetry prize?”
The event will feature live poetry reading, music, wine and cheese for attendees to enjoy.
Prof. Brophy told the Star Mail in June 2022 that he first became aware of the poetry prize because he wanted his own poems to be read by Judith Rodriguez, one of the first judges of the prize.
“Encountering a poem I guess is a bit like encountering a person. It’s hard to describe exactly what’s going on, exactly what it is you’re encountering,” he said.
“When you encounter a person, often you don’t know until much later, what it was that attracted you, interested you or impressed you.”
This year’s Judith Rodriquez Open Section will feature a $2000 1st prize and a $300 dollars second prize.
The Louise Rockne Youth Section, named after the prize’s co-founder, and the culturally and linguistically diverse sub-category will reward the winner with $250 and 2nd place with $100. Both are for people aged 12 to 18-years-old.
Ms Sometimes told the Star Mail what elevates a poem for her is “you can tell that you’re in the hands of a crafts person and there’s always something that makes you feel or think.”
“It’s just about what speaks to you, what is well crafted and what is vibrating a bit more than the others,” she said.
“That’s why I find poetry competitions ephemeral in some ways because there are so many good writers and it’s sometimes what catches you at that moment.”
Victoria’s Poetry Slam Champion for 2022 Aloma Davis will perform a live reading of her winning entry.
Ms Millers said poetry is much more prominent now than in previous years and decades.
“It doesn’t necessarily come on the page. It comes in all those poetry events, the poetry slams,” she said.
“Beyond poetry, this is for people who love the literary world, music and performance.”
The Emerald Hills Hub is located at 402 Belgrave-Gembrook Rd, Emerald. Tickets for the poetry prize can be booked with a donation ranging from free to $100. For more information, visit events.humanitix.com/woorilla-poetry-prize-2022-awards/tickets
