Poetry's the new rock 'n' roll: the winning entry in this year's New Zealand Post National Schools Poetry Award was written during detention, while another on the shortlist has been turned into a song by Black Seeds and Fly My Pretties frontman Barnaby Weir.

The competition was open to all Year 12 and 13 students attending New Zealand secondary schools, and was judged by poet Andrew Johnston. Poetry's the new rock 'n' roll: the winning entry in this year's New Zealand Post National Schools Poetry Award was written during detention, while another on the shortlist has been turned into a song by Black Seeds and Fly My Pretties frontman Barnaby Weir.

The competition was open to all Year 12 and 13 students attending New Zealand secondary schools, and was judged by poet Andrew Johnston.Winning poem written in detention

Chloë Nannestad - a year 12 student - was the winner of the overall award for best poem with "Mosaic". She admitted at the award ceremony that she had written the poem while on detention. Her reward? A $500 cash prize and a $500 grant for her school library, along with a brand new iPod loaded with New Zealand poetry, the recently released anthology Contemporary New Zealand Poets Read, and a package of Booksellers Tokens, a year's membership of the New Zealand Society of Authors and the New Zealand Book Council, and subscriptions to the literary journals Sport and Landfall.

Black Seeds frontman sets student's poem to music

Shannyn Boyd's poem "The Pact" has been turned into a song and recorded by The Black Seeds and Fly My Pretties performer Barnaby Weir, who selected it from the shortlist for its lyrical potential.

The song was given its first public airing at the award ceremony in a video directed by Rob Appierdo, who later wrapped up the evening with a multimedia show that also featured leading Wellington electronic musician Rhian Sheehan.

"The Pact" will be distributed to radio stations and made available for free download on iTunes and Digirama.

Finalists attend masterclass and night at the theatre

All the finalists attended a masterclass with poets James Brown, Dora Malech, Andrew Johnston and Bill Manhire at the International Institute of Modern Letters.

This was followed by a great night out at Circa Theatre, where they attended a performance of The Cape, the new play by Victoria University creative writing graduate Vivienne Plumb.

The nine runners-up also received $100 cash, a package of Booksellers Tokens, a year's membership of the New Zealand Book Council and a subscription to the literary journal Sport.

About the New Zealand Post National Schools Poetry Award

The competition was open to all Year 12 and 13 students attending New Zealand secondary schools. This is the first year New Zealand Post has supported the award, which is run by the International Institute of Modern Letters.

Read the finalists' poems.

22/8/07