The Art2Words Writing Prize
The Art2Words Writing Prize is an annual writing competition at The Friends’ School. Founded in 1887, The Friends’ School, an independent, coeducational day and boarding school located in the heart of Hobart, Tasmania, is the largest Quaker School in the World (and the only Quaker School in Australia), offering education programs from Early Learning through to Year 12.
Established in 2021, the Art2Words Writing Prize is based upon the Ancient Greek practice of ekphrasis (responding to an art work in words) and involves students writing either a short story or poem in response to student art work. The art work which is inspiration for the creative writing is that of the winner of The Visual Arts Prize of the previous year.
The Friends’ School’s Visual Arts Prize is an annual award, granted to a senior Art student for their consistently exceptional approach to their practice, rigour of their research and ideation, complexity and sophistication of the ideas and issues they explore, and the professional quality of their exhibited works.
The 2020 winner was Year 12 Art Studio Practice student, Georgina Davy, whose striking series of mixed media works titled, Opulence, will be the stimulus for the inaugural year of this writing prize.
The competition, held in Term 1, awards short story and poetry prizes in both Secondary (Years 7-9) and Senior Secondary (Years 10-12) sections.
Prizes are sponsored by The Hobart Bookshop and, in community partnership with Forty South Publishing, the artwork and shortlisted entries are available to read online via the link below.
View the artwork
(Read the inspired entries below)
Secondary (Yrs 7-9) Poetry Section
Short-listed:
Rupert Bullard (Yr 9): ‘I Remember’
Tom Petty (Yr 9): ’The Existence of Triumph’
Winner:
Sahansa Udawatta (Yr 9): ‘The Broken Jigsaw’
Secondary (Yrs 7-9) Short Story Section
Short-listed:
Milly Taranaki (Yr 9): ‘Why her, why take her away from me’
Willow Henry (Yr 9): untitled entry
Winner:
Callum Jarvis (Yr 9): ‘The Farm’
Senior Secondary (Yrs 10-12) Poetry Section
Short-listed:
Regine Chua (Yr 10): ’The Second Deadly Sin’
Winner:
Annabel Woolward (Yr 11): ’Stitched Up’
Senior Secondary (Yrs 10-12) Short Story Section
Short-listed:
Zoe Gangell (Yr 11): ‘Before I Go’
Lila Gould (Yr 12): ’Mouse’
