A poem for a tree – POEM FOREST

For each entry in this poetry competition, a tree was planted in an attempt to seed hope for the environment.
POEM FOREST

The 18 winning and highly commended entries across eight categories in the 2022 POEM FOREST competition have just been announced. The competition is an initiative by Red Room Poetry to showcase young voices (from Kindergarten to Year 12) in tandem with raising awareness of climate change.

For every entry received, a tree was planted in the POEM FOREST within the Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan (south-west of Sydney). This year, the prize has seen nearly 6000 entries, bringing the total number planted across the two years of its running to 10,800. The seedlings planted around the critically endangered Western Sydney Dry Rainforest have helped to regenerate previously degraded land, with hope of creating a forest for the next generation.

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Thuy On is Reviews Editor of ArtsHub and an arts journalist, critic and poet who’s written for a range of publications including The Guardian, The Saturday Paper, Sydney Review of Books, The Australian, The Age/SMH and Australian Book Review. She was the books editor of The Big issue for 8 years. Her debut, a collection of poetry called Turbulence, came out in 2020 and was released by University of Western Australia Publishing (UWAP). Her second collection, Decadence, was published in July 2022, also by UWAP. Her third book, Essence, will be published in 2025. Twitter: @thuy_on Instagram: poemsbythuy