Rochford Street Review and The Red Room Company are proud to announce the shortlists for the New Shoots Poetry Prizes. Thank-you to everyone who submitted. All submissions were inspiring and thought-provoking. There was an interesting range of styles and forms used to express a variety of plant-based themes; all of which deserve commendation. The winning and highly commended poems will be announced on 1 December and published in Rochford Street Review.

New Shoots Poetry Prize 2016

‘Anneslea fragrans’- Magdalena Ball
‘strangler fig’- Chloë Callistemon
‘Aboreal sorority’- Anne M. Carson
‘Antarctic Beech’- Stuart Cooke
‘Fallen Myrtle Trunk’- Stuart Cooke
‘The Cootamundra Wattle’- Penelope Cottier
‘Corymbia ficifolia’- Anne Elvey
‘What is commonly called a weed’- Jeremy Gadd
‘sensurious’- Ian Gibbins
‘Coirëflower’- Shaneen Goodwin
‘White mangrove (Avicennia marina subsp. australasica)’- Annie Hunter
‘vitis vinifera’- Miguel Jacq
‘Sheoak’- Mike Ladd
‘Tears of Stone’- Mohammad Ali Maleki
‘Agapanthus’- Moya Pacey
‘On Seurat in my back yard’- Frances Rouse
‘Sufficient Harvest’- John Karl Stokes

New Shoots Royal Botanical Garden, Sydney Poetry Prize 2016

‘our primitive lives’- John Bennett
‘Green warriors’- Jenny Blackford
‘Sydney Rock Orchid’- Kathryn Fry
 ‘How Deep is Your Love’- Julie Maclean
‘Leaving Wilona’- John Karl Stokes

Download a pdf of the shortlisted poets

Selection panel: Dr Tamryn Bennet, Director of The Red Room Company and Zalehah Turner, Associate Editor of Rochford Street Review

Plant a seed of inspiration in your mind’s eye and let it grow into a poem

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Zalehah Turner is a Sydney based critic, writer and poet currently completing her Bachelor of Arts in Communications majoring in writing and cultural studies at the University of Technology, Sydney. Zalehah is an Associate Editor of Rochford Street Review: https://rochfordstreetreview.com/2016/02/09/welcome-zalehah-turner-rochford-street-review-associate-editor