Gunnedah's Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Awards gains strong entry numbers

Awards project officer Brittany Riley said she was "relieved" because entries were only sitting at 2000 when the Dorothea Mackellar Memorial Society held its last meeting.

"Between the 18^th of June and the 30^th of June, it jumped up," Ms Riley said.

"There was a huge landslide at the end."

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Ms Riley is still yet to count postal entries but numbers have already outstripped last year's total, which came in under 7000.

"NSW always puts in the most entries, closely followed by Victoria," she said.

Ms Riley isn't sure why numbers are up this year because it could have gone either way considering the COVID-19 crisis meant many students had to stay home from school.

She said it could be the result of a combination of the countless emails she sent out to schools before the lockdown, the society's usual promotions through social media, and the team effort by the society in speaking to teachers from local schools.

Entries from schools in the North West are still low compared to national entries so two new awards have been introduced in the last few years to encourage greater participation.

This year, the Kurrumbede Award will up for grabs and is aimed at schools within a 100km radius of Gunnedah. There is a $250 prize for the best primary school and also the best secondary school.

The new award is named after the poet's nearby former family residence and was established by the society.

A second award aimed at smaller schools is the David Maher Award, which was introduced in 2018 for small schools in regional areas with 30 students or fewer, and no more than two teachers.

The prize is sponsored by ex-regional director of education for the New England North West Region, David Maher, who felt smaller schools should be acknowledged within the awards.

The primary school entries are once again being judged by author Kathryn Apel, and the secondary school entries are being judged by fellow writer Meredith Costain.

Ms Riley said the judges were undertaking a huge task, reading through the thousands of poems by the end of the month. This year's optional them is "We used to live there".

This year's award categories include lower primary (K-year 3), upper primary (years 4-6), assisted learning primary and secondary, junior secondary years 7-9, senior secondary (years 10-12), and the schools' award.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the society is yet to confirm if a physical awards ceremony will take place in Gunnedah this year.