Australian Bush Laureate Awards 2015 winners
An emotional appearance by the six-year-old granddaughter of the late Judith Hosier, one of the much loved founders of the Bush Laureate Awards, was a feature of this year’s presentation in Tamworth, Tuesday evening, January 20.
Young Lily presented the Judith Hosier Award for outstanding services to Australian Bush Poetry to veteran poet Milton Taylor from Hartley NSW, who was unable to attend the Awards because of ill health. His award was accepted on his behalf by another Judith Hosier Award winner Trisha Anderson.
Winners at this year's Awards, which started in 1996, were:
• Book of the Year: The Billy That Died With It's Boots On by Stephen Whiteside from Melbourne.
• Album of The Year: Bargo Bargo by Manfred Vijars from Brisbane.
• Published Poem of the Year: The Ghost of Long Tan by Tom McIlveen from Port Macquarie, NSW
• Single Recorded Performance of the Year: The Auction by Dave Proust from the NSW Central Coast.
• Traditional Song Lyric of the Year: He's Droving Once Again by Golden Guitar winner Graham Rodger from Nambour, Queensland.
• Contemporary Song Lyric of the Year: The Lifesaver by rising country music star Amber Lawrence from Sydney.
• The Judith Hosier Award for outstanding achievement in nuturing Australia’s unique heritage of rhymed verse: Milton Taylor from Hartley NSW.
Now in his 70s, Milton is a renowned and highly awarded poet. However it is Milton’s gentlemanly ways and his willingness to help others that has earned him this accolade. He has encouraged and mentored generations of young poets and has unstintingly supported bush poetry events all around Australia for many decades.
Our photo shows (from left): Manfred Vijars, Amber Lawrence, Tom McIlveen and Trisha Anderson.
David and Greg dominate 2014 Australian Bush Laureate Awards; top lyricists Norma and Lee honoured
Poets David Campbell and Greg North have taken out the majority of Golden Gumleaf honours from the 2014 Australian Bush Laureate Awards staged in Tamworth yesterday.
David, from Beaumauris in Victoria, and Greg, from the NSW Blue Mountains, won two each of the six judged awards presented today. A nationally recognised poet, David won the prestigious Book of the Year with his publication “Riders On The Wind” and Published Poem of the Year for “The White Man’s Way”.
Greg, famous for his comedy poems, won the much sought after Album of the Year title with his release “Frackin’ Fricker”. The title track from the album also won Single Recorded Performance of the Year.
One of Australia’s leading country songwriters and one of the leading country songwriting teams took out the song lyric categories.
Norma O’Hara Murphy, of Bony Mountain, Queensland, won Traditional Song Lyric of the Year with her song “Gilbert, O’Meally & Hall”. Norma is a multiple Golden Guitar winner and this song comes from her latest album “The Celtic Connection”.
The Contemporary Song Lyric of the Year category was won by the hugely successful songwriting team of Lee Kernaghan, Garth Porter and Colin Buchanan with the song recorded by Lee, “Flying With The King”. The song, a tribute to the late Slim Dusty, is also a finalist for the Heritage Song of The Year Golden Guitar on Saturday night.
A seventh award, the Judith Hosier Heritage Award (named in honour of the Awards founder) was presented to long time supporter and promoter of Australian bush verse Trisha Anderson from Queensland.
Presented in the Tamworth Town Hall, The Bush Laureate Awards are a highlight of the Tamworth Country Music Festival. They started in 1995 and were established to recognise excellence in Australian rhyming bush verse.
For the past two years they have included two song lyric categories which have attracted a strong entry from leading song writers.
Further information about the Awards can be obtained from the website www.bushlaureate.com.au.
Weblink – www.bushlaureate.com.au.
Australian Bush Laureate Awards – 2013 winners
Winners in the 2013 Australian Bush Laureate awards were announced in Tamworth this afternoon (January 22).
Leading Australian bush poet Carol Heuchan (pictured, right) of Cooranbong, NSW, was the biggest winner taking out Album of the Year for her current work Partners which also won her the Single Recorded Performance of the Year Golden Gumleaf for the album's title track. Partners is a live recording of Carol and her poetry.
Book of the Year went to Around The Campfire by Terry Piggott (pictured) of Canningvale, WA. The well-produced work includes a dozen or more of Terry’s photos as well as his highly regarded bush poetry.
Collected Verse Book of the Year was won by Award Winning Bush Verse, a compilation by Max & Jacqui Merckenschlager of Caloote, SA. The work, described as “a first anthology of award-winning bush poems and bush-themed stories” is published by Melbourne Books.
Published Poem of the Year went to The Truth About Waltzing Matilda by David Campbell of Beaumaris, Vic.
Children’s Poem of the Year winner was named as Stephen Whiteside of Glen Iris, Victoria, for The Sash, a poem about a young Ned Kelly’s “sash”.
The winner of the Judith Hosier Heritage Award – for outstanding achievement in nurturing Australia's heritage of verse – was named as Jan Morris (pictured above left) of Tamworth for her long association with bush poetry especially as a judge and administrator of the Blackened Billy poetry competition and Golden Damper Awards.
A new award, for Recorded Australian Song Lyric of the Year, went to Luke O’Shea from Sydney for The Drover's Wife. Luke wrote the lyrics to this meaningful and widely recognised song which is also up for the Heritage Golden Guitar this Saturday night.
This year was the 17th year for the Bush Laureate Awards which were established in 1997 to recognise excellence in published and recorded Australian bush poetry.
The Australian Bush Laureate Awards will be held in Tamworth again next January, with nominations scheduled to open in August.
Full details of finalists and nominees can be obtained from the website www.bushlaureate.com.au.
Australian Bush Laureate Awards - 2012 winners
Winners in the 2012 Australian Bush Laureate awards were announced in Tamworth today (January 24).
Book of the Year went to Noel Stallard for his work Aussie Verse, his sixth book which is billed as one “to make you laugh, cry and think” featuring “genuine Aussie characters – the original Australians, the pioneers, the soldiers, the harassed school teachers and their irrepressible students”.
Album of the Year was won by Grahame Watt for his release, G’day. Although Grahame has published three books, G’day is his first foray into recording, a successful debut at that!
Published Poem of the Year went to Musquito – The Black Bushranger by Max Merckenschlager as published in the book Captured Moments. The poem had previously won a Rolf Boldrewood Literary Award, an awards scheme run by The Macquarie Library which aims to foster the writing of prose and poetry with an Australian content.
Single Recorded Performance of the Year went to First Date by Bob Magor from his album The Best Of Sumo Mick, a selection of poems taken from his book Sumo Mick... And Other Verses.
Children’s Poem of the Year was presented to Bessie Jennings for her work Aussie A-B-C, a delightful work that takes up an entire book, with illustrations by her sister Patricia Gardner, aimed at helping children learn their “A-B-Cs” from a distinctly Australian perspective.
The winner of the Judith Hosier Heritage Award – for outstanding achievement in nurturing Australia’s heritage of verse – was named as Ellis Campbell for his long association with bush poetry as a poet, poetry performer, judge and as one who works tirelessly to help and encourage new poets beginning to write.
Two retrospective awards that had previously been overlooked were also announced today... a 2009 award for Album of the Year - Original Verse which went to Ray Essery for Coming Home and a 2010 award for Album of the Year - Original Verse won by Carol Heuchan with I Say.
This year was the 16th year for the Bush Laureate Awards which were established in 1997 to recognise excellence in published and recorded Australian bush poetry.
The Australian Bush Laureate Awards will be held in Tamworth again next January, with nominations scheduled to open in August.
Further information can be obtained from this website.
Photo (from left): Award presenter Manfred Vijars, Bessie Jennings and her sister Patricia (who illustrated her winning work) and Bush Laureate Awards Patron Joy McKean.
2011
BOOK OF THE YEAR
A Whole Lotta Muz by Murray Hartin
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Australian Bush Poetry Classics by Jack Drake
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Gallipoli by Keith "Cobber" Lethbridge
SINGLE RECORDED PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
Black Saturday by Jim Brown
CHILDREN'S POEM OF THE YEAR
Petunia by Carol Heuchan
JUDITH HOSIER HERITAGE AWARD
Noel Stallard