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Building a community of poets as the annual AVBOB Poetry Competition closes
Wed, 13 December 2023
When the latest annual AVBOB Poetry Competition closed on 30 November 2023, it had received a total of 28 995 poems only four months after opening on 1 August 2023.
The competition invited poets to submit up to 10 poems in any of South Africa’s official languages on the theme I Wish I’d Said…, and 6 107 poets from all across South Africa answered the call in 2023.
A cash prize of R10 000 will be awarded to the winner in each language category, and the winning poems will be published in an annual anthology. Winners’ names will be announced at a gala prize-giving event in 2024 at which the anthology, I Wish I’d Said… Vol 7, will also be launched.
“Each year, we are astonished anew by entrants’ willingness to be vulnerable and share their words,” says AVBOB CEO Carl van der Riet. “The quality of the work, especially by youth poets, is always particularly encouraging.”
As in previous years, 2 973 of the poems entered in 2023 were selected by the competition’s editors for publication in the AVBOB Poetry Library, a free online resource that offers words of comfort and consolation to the general public. Seven years since its launch, the library now contains just under 23 000 poems in all of South Africa’s official languages.
“We are proud to have created a platform like no other,” says Van der Riet. “When the competition was first launched, we thought we might receive a few hundred entries. We never dreamt that it could have this kind of impact. It has become a space for open conversations across languages and generations. It is a way of promoting mental health, and we are deeply encouraged by the results.”
Apart from being a platform on which South Africans from all walks can express themselves, the AVBOB Poetry Library has become an essential resource for readers and writers of poetry, helping aspiring poets to learn their craft and sharpen their skills. In this way, the AVBOB Poetry Project is fostering a community of poets across the country.
To strengthen this sense of community even further, the AVBOB Poetry Project also ran a second series of freely-accessible online poetry workshops in 2023. Hosted by poet and teacher Liesl Jobson, these events provided opportunities for aspiring poets to learn from more experienced practitioners in the company of other poetry enthusiasts.
“The judges are settling down to their reading, and we don’t know yet how this year’s competition will be different from those of previous years,” remarks AVBOB Poetry’s Editor-in-Chief Johann de Lange. “The number of entries in indigenous languages remains high – 55% of all poems entered were in a language other than English – which is a very encouraging sign, as we encourage our poets to express themselves freely in their home languages.”
Visit the AVBOB Poetry Project’s website regularly at www.avbobpoetry.co.za for editing tips and advice as well as updates about upcoming workshops.
The competition invited poets to submit up to 10 poems in any of South Africa’s official languages on the theme I Wish I’d Said…, and 6 107 poets from all across South Africa answered the call in 2023.
A cash prize of R10 000 will be awarded to the winner in each language category, and the winning poems will be published in an annual anthology. Winners’ names will be announced at a gala prize-giving event in 2024 at which the anthology, I Wish I’d Said… Vol 7, will also be launched.
“Each year, we are astonished anew by entrants’ willingness to be vulnerable and share their words,” says AVBOB CEO Carl van der Riet. “The quality of the work, especially by youth poets, is always particularly encouraging.”
As in previous years, 2 973 of the poems entered in 2023 were selected by the competition’s editors for publication in the AVBOB Poetry Library, a free online resource that offers words of comfort and consolation to the general public. Seven years since its launch, the library now contains just under 23 000 poems in all of South Africa’s official languages.
“We are proud to have created a platform like no other,” says Van der Riet. “When the competition was first launched, we thought we might receive a few hundred entries. We never dreamt that it could have this kind of impact. It has become a space for open conversations across languages and generations. It is a way of promoting mental health, and we are deeply encouraged by the results.”
Apart from being a platform on which South Africans from all walks can express themselves, the AVBOB Poetry Library has become an essential resource for readers and writers of poetry, helping aspiring poets to learn their craft and sharpen their skills. In this way, the AVBOB Poetry Project is fostering a community of poets across the country.
To strengthen this sense of community even further, the AVBOB Poetry Project also ran a second series of freely-accessible online poetry workshops in 2023. Hosted by poet and teacher Liesl Jobson, these events provided opportunities for aspiring poets to learn from more experienced practitioners in the company of other poetry enthusiasts.
“The judges are settling down to their reading, and we don’t know yet how this year’s competition will be different from those of previous years,” remarks AVBOB Poetry’s Editor-in-Chief Johann de Lange. “The number of entries in indigenous languages remains high – 55% of all poems entered were in a language other than English – which is a very encouraging sign, as we encourage our poets to express themselves freely in their home languages.”
Visit the AVBOB Poetry Project’s website regularly at www.avbobpoetry.co.za for editing tips and advice as well as updates about upcoming workshops.
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