Congratulations to all the amazing entrants!

Highly Commended
My Pet Budgie (Haiku) by Isaac
Kōtare by Taylor

Winner
Tui by Onyu

Judges Report from the Poets XYZ (Elena de Roo, Kathryn Dove and Melinda Szymanik)

Wow! We were so impressed by the enormous flock of entries that landed in the Box of Birds entry box. There were Tūī, Whio, Pūkeko, Kuaka, Pīwakawaka, Phoenix, Moa and many more. The poems came in many different forms: haiku, acrostic, rhyming and free verse, some factual and some mysterious and magical. A massive thank you to all the talented young poets who entered and to the amazing team from Cornwall Park who ran the competition.

There were 179 entries in total and the overall quality of the poems was outstanding. Between the three of us we came up with a shortlist of 36 from which we had the hard task of choosing a winner. But first big congratulations to all the poets who made our, not so short, shortlist.

Click here to read the full shortlist and judge's comments.

2025 Competition Details 

Calling all tamariki ages 5-12 to think outside the nest and create a bird-inspired poem.

Your poem can be about anything bird related : extinct birds, native birds, backyard birds, an invented bird, a bird story or experience, a bird-word, told from a birds-eye view (imagine you are a bird) or something else you'd like to write a bird poem about.

The poem must not be longer than 25 lines (it can be as short as you like) and must be all your own work.

Judges
The competition will be judged by The Poets XYZ. The Poets XYZ (Elena de Roo, Kathryn Dove, Melinda Szymanik) are award-winning children's poets from Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland whose mission is to encourage children's poetry writing in Aotearoa.

Prizes
The winning poem will be displayed at Huia Lodge Discovery Hub in May and published on our website. The winner will also receive a bird theme prize pack, which must be collected from Huia Lodge Discovery Hub by August 31st 2025.

How to enter
Entries open April 1st and close April 20th 2025, and must include the entrant's full name, contact email, phone number, age and poem.

You are welcome to use our optional entry form and return it by emailing it to info@cornwallpark.co.nz or by handing it in person to Huia Lodge. 

Or you can send your poem directly if it doesn't fit on the form.

Huia Lodge is open 7 days, 10am-4pm.

The winner will be notified by email or phone by May 5th 2025. The winning poem will be published online, on our website and social media.

By entering, you give permission for Cornwall Park to use your poem on social media, in-person displays, and online and to add it to our archive.
You may enter poems written in other languages, but an English translation must be provided.

If you have any questions you can contact The Poets XYZ here or Huia Lodge info@cornwallpark.co.nz