WINNER OF THE GREAT NZ DIGI-POEM competition ANNOUNCED

Charlie Ward of Wellington has won the inaugural Great New Zealand Digi-Poem Competition with his audio-visual version of Paekakariki poet Apirana Taylor's poem 'Hinemoa's Daughter'.

The announcement was made by NZ Electronic Poetry Centre (nzepc) Director and Convenor of Judges Michele Leggott last night during the Montana Poetry Day event Poetry Central in Auckland City.

The judges were unanimous in their decision to give Charlie Ward's flash animation top prize from within a shortlist that shows clearly the range of skills needed to make a convincing digital work that is sensitive to the multiple demands of text and audio poetry. "Charlie Ward achieves a balance between the visual, textual and auditory components of Apirana Taylor's poem 'Hinemoa's Daughter'", Michele Leggott said.

"His composition follows Taylor's evocative performance with nuanced images and typographical overlays that surprise and delight the eye as the poet speaks."

The other finalists were:
· Jody Lloyd of Trillion in Christchurch: On Originality by Bill Manhire
· Paul Homeboy (Christchurch): Instructions for the Consumption of your humanitarian Food Package by Fiona Farrell
· Helen Sword of Auckland: Hinemoa's Daughter by Apirana Taylor

The Great NZ Digi-Poem Competition, created to celebrate Montana Poetry Day by the nzepc in association with Auckland University Press, sought the best digital transformations of poems by six well-known New Zealand poets.

The competition poems were drawn from AUP's Contemporary New Zealand Poets in Performance, the second of AUP's popular CD-with-book anthologies of poets in performance, which will be launched tonight on Montana Poetry Day, during Poetry Central at the Auckland Central Library.

The winner will receive an iPod Nano donated by the University of Auckland Library and books from Auckland University Press. All the shortlisted poems are on the nz electronic poetry website (http://www.nzepc.auckland.ac.nz/digital/contest07.asp).

Ø Audio files and texts of the competition poems are available at http://www.nzepc.auckland.ac.nz/digital/contest07.asp
Ø Individual clips can be provided on DVD; the winning clip 'Hinemoa's Daughter' is available in wmv and quicktime formats and is 1.51 minutes long.
Ø Available for interview: Michele Leggott, Director of the nzepc and convenor of Judging panel of The Great NZ Digi-Poem Competition; Jack Ross and Jan Kemp, editors of Contemporary New Zealand Poets in Performance.

Christine O'Brien,
Auckland University Press
PB 92019, Auckland, New Zealand Tel: (+64-9) 373-7599 x 85735 MOB: 027 276 3969 Fax: (+64-9) 373-7465
http://www.auckland.ac.nz/aup