Gold stars and much gratitude to all the teachers and hundreds of students who submitted poems and shared photographs of special objects in 2013!

In 2013, Poetry Object was opened as a pilot project to all Australian and New Zealand schools.

The Poetry Object is a free poetry writing project for students Years 3-10. Created by The Red Room Company, The Poetry Object invites young writers and their teachers to submit poems and photographs about objects that are special to them. Special objects that inspired poems in 2013 included snow globes, hot chocolates with Dad, old, creaky dogs, treasured grandparents' trinkets and even one student’s shadow!

With 72 schools from across Australia and New Zealand registering, we've been overwhelmed by the imagination, descriptive language and creative spirit of all involved. From arm casts to army tanks, snow globes, instruments, pens and treasured pets, we've now published over 1150 poems about the talismanic objects students and teachers hold dear. The standard of poems has been extremely high. A big congratulations to all involved.

The winners of The Poetry Object 2013 are:

• Winning Poem (Primary) 
  'Nitro Car' by James, Yr 6, Holy Saviour School, NSW 
• Winning Poem (Secondary) 
  'My Book' by Isabella, Yr 8, Iona College, Havelock North, NZ
• Winning Teacher Poem 
  'Magnolia' by Ms Johnson, Waterford State Primary School, QLD
• Winning School Installation 
  'The Poet Tree' by Mid North Christian College, SA  

An exhibition of all shortlisted poems and photographs, curated by The Red Room Company, are currently on display at Customs House Library, from November 28, 2013 to February, 2014. We encourage everyone to stroll amongst the backlit poems and bask in the light of this year's best object poems, from students far and wide. 

See Rachael Brigg's commendations here

Resources

A range of free poetry resources are available to support teachers as they implement project with their students.

Publication

The Poetry Object provides students with creative opportunities to compose and publish their own poetry for authentic audiences. All submitted poems and images are published in a dedicated gallery on The Red Room Company’s website. Click the link for schools or students above to view the poems.

Student recognition

Certificates of participation and achievement have been awarded to all participating students, teachers and schools. The Poetry Object winner will receive judge’s commendations and a poetry prize pack.