Poetry on Postcards

Calling all poets!

Get it out there with Get Reading!’s postcard poetry promotion.

The 2010 Get Reading! campaign is taking poetry to the people with a series of free postcards featuring previously unpublished short poems by Australian poets. 

The postcards will be available nationally in cafes and retail outlets during the month-long campaign, which is Australia’s largest annual promotion of books and reading.

Get Reading! invites Australian poets to submit their previously unpublished short poems to be considered for the postcard series. Poets whose work is chosen will receive $500 for each poem published, and will retain copyright of their work. 

Poets are encouraged to submit as many poems as they like.

Now in its ninth year, Get Reading! (previously called Books Alive) is an Australian government initiative administered by the Australia Council for the Arts. It encourages all Australians to put up their feet and get reading. Central to the campaign are 50 books of broad appeal that are promoted via a free guide, called 50 Books You Can’t Put Down. When book buyers purchase one of the 50 books listed in the guide, as an added incentive they receive a brand-new, limited-edition, free book exclusive to Get Reading!.

The campaign also involves events, television advertising and other promotions.

In 2010 the campaign will include the described promotion of Australian poetry via free postcards.

The brief:

Poems should be:

• new or previously unpublished

• 12 lines or less

• inspired by one of the following themes –

- Get real

- Get fresh

- Get lost

- Get hooked

- Get comfy 

Key dates 

• Closing date for submissions: 5 pm, Tuesday 12 April 2010

• Poets notified regarding acceptance no later than: 30 April 2010

• Get Reading! campaign period: 1 – 30 September 2010

How to submit your poems

 

• Poems should be submitted via email by the closing date to

getreading@capma.com.au with the subject line ‘Postcard Poetry’.

• Submissions should include your name, address and telephone number.

Submission conditions

• Poets can submit as many poems as they like.

• Poems must be no longer than 12 lines long.

• Poems must be previously unpublished on 1 September 2010.

• All copyright in the poem remains with its creator. However, as a condition ofthis promotion, the creator grants to the Australia Council for its own internaland statutory purposes, an irrevocable, royalty-free, world-wide, nonexclusivelicence to use, reproduce and communicate the poem for thepurposes of the 2010 Get Reading! campaign for a period of six monthsstarting 1 September 2010. 

• The poem must conform to the Office of Film and Literature ClassificationGuidelines in the ‘Unrestricted’ category – ie, suitable for display in public and doesn’t include material that offends a reasonable adult. The guidelines can be downloaded from http://www.comlaw.gov.au/comlaw/management.nsf/

• The judges’ decision is final. No correspondence shall be entered into.