An Erindale College student has won the senior secondary prize in the Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Awards.

Lucinda Ferguson, 17, of Queanbeyan, has won the national award for her poem Eagling, in which she takes on the persona of an eagle as it whirls in the sky.

“A distinctive voice, using the symbol and imagery of eagles in contrast with a description of family,” primary judge Rebecca M Newman said of her winning poem.

Winners this year  receives a framed reproduction of artist Anne Knight’s print, Singing Our Song.

Ferguson is one of the Canberra region’s up-and-coming writers, shown in June when she also won a prize in the June Shenfield National Poetry Award at the ACT Literary Awards, hosted by Marion Ink.

The Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Awards, which  began 40 years ago in the NSW country town of Gunnedah to mark the influence of the poet who wrote My Country, is now Australia’s oldest and largest poetry competition for school-aged students, are still run from Kurrumbede Homestead, the former Mackellar family property, north of the town.

Newman said she had read some impressive poetry about war, injustice, social justice and climate change alongside poems inspired by family, beloved pets, friendship and school, also noting the number of poems set in natural environments.

President Philippa Murray said the competition, primarily funded by the Commonwealth Department of Education, was going from strength to strength, with this year’s number of entries at 7300, the best for several years.

Access to the digital presentation and the 2024 anthology of Dorothea Mackellar poets here