The 1st of April has finally arrived, and so we have officially opened submissions for Tūhono 2024, our annual poetry journal for children and teens! This year’s theme is “Tūmanako | Hope” — check out our last blog post for the full details. We are so excited to read your entries this year — just make sure you get them in before the 12th of May! Use the button below to submit your entry.
Submit your poem for Tūhono 2024!
Here’s a wee reminder of the guidelines this year:
- We want you to write a poem on the theme of “Tūmanako | Hope.” The kupu Māori ‘tūmanako has a wide range of meanings, including the act of hoping or wishing for something to happen, as well as hope as an object — something that you greatly desire, yearn for, or wish to be so. When you are writing your poem, you might like to think about some of the following questions, but as always with Tūhono, there is no one way we expect you to respond to this theme:
- Act of hoping — how does hope make you feel? What does hope help you to achieve? What does hope mean to you? When you are hoping for something to happen, what thoughts and feelings come into your mind? How does the act of hoping make your body feel?
- Hope as an object — Do you hope for something tangible, like a new thing to own? What does that thing look like, smell like, taste like, sound like, or feel like? Do you hope for something intangible, like world peace? What does that look like, smell like, taste like, sound like, or feel like? When you have gained (or not) the thing that you have hoped for, what do you think that will feel like?
- Length: Your poem should not be longer than one A4 page typed, with size 12 font and 1.5 line spacing. Only one poem per person will be accepted.
- Language: Your poem may be written in English or te reo Māori.
- Format: Your poem should be submitted as a .doc, .docx, or .txt file.