Theme: Solace

“The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God... I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles.”- Anne Frank

Judge: Professor Chris Wallace-Crabbe AM

Purchase a copy of the 2019 Chapbook

Winner

“Revising Casuarinas” by John Foulcher

Download poem (PDF, 33KB)

2nd prize

“Single Women in Their Later” by Geoff Page

Download poem (PDF, 151KB)

3rd prize

“October Morning After Rain” by Mark Tredinnick

Download poem (PDF, 74KB)

Highly commended

“The Whale” by Frank Corso (PDF, 109KB)

“The Blackwood River’s Song” by Rose van Son (PDF, 153KB)

“Last Night on Mount Zion” by Anne Benjamin (PDF, 103KB)

ACU Student Chapbook Cover Design winner

Joanne Holmes

My family and I lived 'on the road' for 14 years, pursuing our dreams. We experienced a unique way of sharing life together. We travelled in a Bedford motor home and nature was our back yard in which to explore, learn, play and rest. Special moments included discovering the ochre pits in Burt Plain, NT; driving through the lunar landscape of the Painted Desert in SA; visiting the central desert town of Yuendumu for the community sports weekend; swimming at Esperance WA after crossing the Nullarbor and sweeping red dirt out of everything.

The Darling river was a favourite place to camp, and we returned there often. We would fish, catch yabbies and spend endless hours absorbing the country and the night sky. But we never made it to Lake Eyre, Kati Thanda. The Bedford couldn't take the corrugations! I heard it was filling up this year (2019) and poured over images in the newspapers, including satellite and aerial photographs. As we grieve the state of the Darling river system, the sight of Lake Eyre basin slowly filling, has become a very hopeful visual image for me. I drew on this inspiration when designing the cover of the ACU Poetry Prize book. 

I was drawn to use chalk pastels because of their capacity to create a luxurious dusty texture and represent the salinity and the beautiful sand dunes that form around the lake.  A sans-serif font appealed against the soft swirling artwork to add contrast and modernity.  Solace is often experienced after enduring hardship. Observing Lake Eyre filling after devastating drought in many areas of the country, we can draw solace from this rare and life-giving occurrence.

Theme: Empathy

“Empathy is about finding echoes of another person in yourself. ”- Mohsin Hamid

Judge: Professor Chris Wallace-Crabbe AM

Purchase a copy of the 2018 Chapbook

Winner

“Athene Noctua” by Annie Hunter

Download poem (PDF, 134KB)

2nd prize

“Sound Bridge” by Felicity Plunkett

Download poem (PDF, 94KB)

3rd prize

“3 Points of Recognition” by Jane Williams

Download poem (PDF, 104KB)

Highly commended

“Photograph: Sunrise, Syria, August 2017” by Roberta Lowing (PDF, 10KB)

“Deep Sea Callings” by Paul Scully (PDF, 127KB)

“Recalling Sarah” by Denise O’Hagan (PDF, 57KB)

ACU Student Chapbook Cover Design winner

Sarah Wood

Shape and Line

It is quite easy to think this barren dry land is unsympathetic, however it is the line and shape working in unison to create the feeling of empathy. The fragmented pieces of earth are connected by the jarring lines, crackling across the cover. Like the act of empathy, two people may be connected by a shared understanding and feel emotion for each other.

Balance, colour, grid

With such a busy image as the background, balance has to be maintained through simplified colour and grid. The main imagery has been relegated to the top left corner of the front cover, the text is aligned to the right. The only other content on the page is the authors' names and the ACU logos. The colours are quite muted and calming. The simplicity of the design allows for openness, for the viewer to bring their own understanding to it. The design maintains its integrity whilst also being able to hold many forms of empathy within its covers.

Texture

The dry heat, heavy dust and scorched earth is known well in Australia. We all feel the heat and dryness. The leached grey earth really contrasts the feeling of empathy, hence the splash of pale pink and white. This colour palette serves to sooth over the roughness. The typeface lends sincerity to the design because the feeling of it being hand written. It feels candid, like the word empathy was written personally for the viewer.

Theme: Joy

“Joy is not in things; it is in us.”- Richard Wagner

Judge: Professor Chris Wallace-Crabbe AM

Purchase a copy of the 2017 Chapbook

Winner

“Charles S. Ryan to Alice E. Sumner” by Geoff Page  

Download poem (PDF, 75KB)

2nd prize

“Lichen: 13 points” by Lesley Lebkowicz 

Download poem (PDF, 59KB)

3rd prize

“On Botox, bibles and baguettes” by Judy Keighran

Download poem (PDF, 62KB)

Highly commended

“What ear sees, eyes can’t say” by Jenny Pollak (PDF, 62KB)

“An Argument for the Bee” by Susan Fealy (PDF, 65KB)

“Sydney North Head” by Alastair Spate (PDF, 55KB)

ACU Student Chapbook Cover Design winner

Ada Onyeka

Rationale

Joy is both an emotion and a state of being. We can feel joy in our everyday lives, or when we achieve a personal goal. I chose blue and green as background colours to represent the joy that nature brings to humanity. Many artists and poets have been inspired by nature, because of its beauty and spiritual qualities. The flower on the cover was inspired by the Aussie Rambler. This plant is native to Australia, so it can withstand tough weather and extreme conditions. I found this inspiring because although the Aussie Rambler grows in less than ideal circumstances, it still produces a beautiful, bright pink flower that brings joy to those who see it.

I drew inspiration from English 19th century book designers such as Talwin Morris, who often used a minimalistic colour scheme with large shapes and curved lines. The styles of this century often had a feeling of movement and expression to them, which is something that I wanted the flower to encapsulate. The freehand, slightly abstracted flower bursts from the serene background, creating a dynamic and exciting mood, which is how joy feels. I chose Plantagenet Cherokee as a font, because it is both classical and modern. Joy is something that all humans, past and present, have felt at some time in their life, so I felt that this transitional font encapsulated this notion well.

I used repetitive wavy lines on both the outer and inner book covers to show persistence through challenging times can have great benefit, and make us feel joy. A different type of joy, that is a daily choice regardless of circumstances is better represented through calmer colours such as cool blue and green. These colours are calming and serene, so they represent joy as a state of being. Orange was chosen for the wavy lines because it gives a feeling of warmth. I chose a faint shade of this colour to demonstrate the hard and often invisible work that goes on behind every great achievement.

My ideas on what joys is, along with the design principles and elements, have shaped the cover for this project. I hope these ideas are appropriate for ACU’s 2017 Prize for Poetry competition.

Theme: Loving Kindness

“Kindness, I’ve discovered, is everything in life.”- Isaac Bashevis Singer

Judge: Professor Chris Wallace-Crabbe AM

Purchase a copy of the 2016 Chapbook

Winner

“The Horse” by Mark Tredinnick 

Download poem (PDF, 94KB)

2nd prize

“Kenneth” by Lesley Lebkowicz  

Download poem (PDF, 53KB)

3rd prize

“Visitation” by Charlotte Clutterbuck

Download poem (PDF, 55KB)

Highly commended

“A Train to the Country” by Barry Breen (PDF, 52KB)

ACU Student Chapbook Cover Design winner

Renae Burton

Theme: Peace, Tolerance and Understanding

"It is crucial for all of us to give new meaning to the word ‘tolerance’ and understand that our ability to value each and every person is the ethical basis for peace, security and intercultural dialogue.

A peaceful future depends on our everyday acts and gestures. Let us educate for tolerance in our schools and communities, in our homes and workplaces and, most of all, in our hearts and minds.” - Federico Mayor, Director General of UNESCO from his address at the dedication of the Museum of Tolerance, Feb. 8, 1993

Judge: Professor Kevin Hart

Purchase a copy of the 2015 Chapbook

Winner

“Glass” by Kristen Lang

Download poem (PDF, 7KB)

2nd prize

“Orans” by Josephine Wilson

Download poem (PDF, 36KB)

3rd prize

“Route 9” by Penelope Cottier

Download poem (PDF, 12KB)

ACU Student Chapbook Cover Design winner

Chandler Brooks-Smith

Theme: The Language of Compassion

“Poetry, as the language of compassion, contrasts with objective and impersonal description and unfeeling reactions to tragedy. It can express empathy for what is too sad for words.” - Anthony Kelly

Judge: Professor Kevin Hart

2014 Chapbook is out of print.

Winner

“Surgeon Mother” by Helen Thurloe

Download poem (PDF, 55KB)

2nd prize

“Keepers of the Dead I Know” by Lucy Williams

Download poem (PDF, 75KB)

3rd prize

“Its Fur so Shining Smooth” by Jenny Blackboard

Download poem (PDF, 14KB)

ACU Student Chapbook Cover Design winner

Alexandra Janssens

Theme: Everyday Immanence

The poetic imagination seeks to draw out the “sacramental in the sensible,” to retrieve “the divine at the very heart of the least of things” (Richard Kearney). In this spirit the theme for 2012 is ‘everyday immanence’.

‘…what is usually unseen, and unspoken too – that, when it occurs, is what binds us all, since it speaks out of the centre of each one of us giving shape to what we too have experienced and did not till then have words for, though as soon as they are spoken we know them as our own.’ - David Malouf on poetry

Judge: Professor Kevin Hart

Purchase a copy of the 2013 Chapbook

Winner

“The Dancer” by Stephen Edgar

Download poem (PDF, 74KB)

2nd prize

“Light Years” by Mark Tredinnick

Download poem (PDF, 40KB)

3rd prize

“White Rabbits” by Jenny Pollak

Download poem (PDF, 104KB)