The prestigious Blackened Billy writing award, which took place during the Tamworth Country Music Festival each year, was hosted in Orange for the first time on Thursday.
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Held as part of the Banjo Paterson Australian Poetry Festival the writing awards attracted some of the country's best known bush writers.
For writer Catherine Lee, her poem The Wanderers landed her her third first place win in the Blackened Billy competition.
It's a prestigious and iconic award, poets have it on their bucket list.
- Janine Keating
This year's second and third placed awards went to Shelley Hansen for Lawson's Legacy and My Singing Garden.
Poets With Pizazz promoter Janine Keating said the event was organised quickly after word went round in late November that a new location needed to be found.
She said the Banjo Paterson Australian Poetry Festival, which has been running this week, welcomed the competition aboard and the "poetry world" supported the move.
"It's been run as part of the Tamworth Country Music Festival since 1991," she said.
"The competition is about writing bush verse.
"It's a prestigious and iconic award, poets have it on their bucket list.
VIDEO: Robyn Sykes read out Catherine Lee's poem The Wanderers...
"Even merit certificates say to the poets they are writing very well.
"We had 73 entries, that's down on prior years but that's more down to the short time frame."
She said the verse had to have beautiful writing and a musical flow like that of Banjo Paterson and the early Australian bush poets.
Unlike the Banjo Paterson Australian Poetry Competition where poets will perform their work on stage on Saturday at the Orange Ex-Services' Club, the Blackened Billy competition was a written competition.
Blackened Billy entries were read by three judges who have won a wealth of written and performance competitions between them, including the Blackened Billy, Golden Damper and Australian titles.
Carol Heuchan was a former Blackened Billy winner and Australian Champion.
Noel Stallard was awarded an Order of Australia for Services to Literature earlier this year, and was highly regarded for his writing and performance talents.
Tom McIlveen had won more than 40 first places, and hundreds of other awards and commendations.
For the Blackened Billy, highly commended award winners who were announced at the award ceremony on Thursday included Jim Kennedy for One Silent Night, Peter O'Shaughnessy for The Last Mob Down the Canning.
David Campbell won a highly commended award for Judgement Day, while Shelley Hansen won one for The Trial of Harry Redford, and Jim Kennedy for George - Anzac Day, 1955.
David Judge, Jim Kennedy, Robyn Sykes and David Campbell also won commended awards.
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Tanya Marschke
I am based at Orange and cover a wide range of subjects as well as the weekly business column. I've worked consistently in the the media industry since 2006 including the past seven years at the Central Western Daily. Before moving to Orange, I worked as a journalist at weekly newspapers the Beaudesert Times and the Gold Coast Sun in Queensland, as well as the Scone Advocate in the Hunter Valley. I started my career at the Ridge News in Lightning Ridge while I completed my journalism studies remotely at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst.
I am based at Orange and cover a wide range of subjects as well as the weekly business column. I've worked consistently in the the media industry since 2006 including the past seven years at the Central Western Daily. Before moving to Orange, I worked as a journalist at weekly newspapers the Beaudesert Times and the Gold Coast Sun in Queensland, as well as the Scone Advocate in the Hunter Valley. I started my career at the Ridge News in Lightning Ridge while I completed my journalism studies remotely at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst.
