Spud
Poets Application Form
The Spud Poets Award is being held for the third time at the Lake
School in 2008.
The two previous winners were Chris Healy with Mas-cav-enger in 2006 and Harry Reed with Spud Train in 2007. Harry Reed donated his prize money to a school in West Africa where his daughter works! For 2008, applications forms are available by downloading the Spud Poets Award Application Form and poems can be sent after July 7 2007. Please note that the format for 2008 is quite different to that in 2006 and 2007. Applications are to be sent in by December 14 2007, but all poets will be required to read their poem at the heats held at the Koroit Theatre beginning at midday on January 5 2008. The finalists will be chosen from the heats, and the final will be held in Koroit on the evening of January 5 2008 beginning at 8pm. Enrolled Lake School students will also be able to put in a late entry, and enter their poems by midday on January 5 2008.
The Spud Poets Award was inspired by a poem written by local legend and Koroit born, May Fiorini-Lowell who read the poem at the Lake School Launch in July 2004.
A photo of Mary reading her poem and a copy of the text are below.
The Judging Panel will consist of three judges Dennis O'Keeffe (Songwriting tutor at the Lake School), Cynthea Wellings from Ausmed Publications, and Chris Healy (Spud Poet Award winner 2006).
The Spud Poets Award is sponsored by Ausmed Publications
The Humble Spud
Mary Fiorini-Lowell © 2002
Shaped like a gold nugget The men who first dug it Cried out "Eureka" - its gold we have found But it was a spud come fresh from the ground A spud of humility And abounding utility So full of surprises - one hardly surmises To know all the ways that a spud can be praised So unique in design, so delicious with wine So heavenly roasted, no wonder its boasted That a spud is a treasure of price beyond measure Be it oblong or round, when dug from the ground Coming clean, or with mud Such a shape has the spud, that they say That's why God hid the spud in the sod For man designs war tanks, and bridges and banks And planes and fast cars (He can fly through the stars) But with all his power He can't make the flower Or the little white bud That grows from the spud And the food it provides For the hungry world-wide For the rich and the poor (Kings and Popes to be sure have praised it in prayer) Great songs have been sung in every known tongue The spud has saved nations That's why celebrations, in wartime and peace For the spud never cease O the stories in books which tell of the cooks Throughout all the ages Writ by poets and sages From the Tower of Babel That when brought to the table The spud should be carried Like a bride to be married Of the greatest renown, most deserving a crown Is the much loved magnificent, illustrious splendiferous For all that it di' fer us Lets praise with glad voices, the Spud Spud Poets Application Form