And the Forbes Poetry Slam Winners are......

What a great way to start Poetry Week - with a Poetry Slam in Forbes! Congrats to Keith Rawsthorne, of Forbes, and Ted Webber, of Young, (pictured wearing a hat) the two winners from the Australian Poetry Slam held at Forbes as part of the Kalari-Lachlan River Arts Festival on Sunday. Host Miles Merrill is pictured announcing Keith as the winner. Keith was quite modest in his acceptance speech joking that his grandchildren were judges in the audience.

Five poets performed their works on the Festival's Main Stage in front of large audience on the Lake Forbes Foreshore.

Judges, selected at random from the audience during the afternoon, scored Keith first place with Ted not far behind for their bush poet inspired performances.

The scores were very close for the other three contestants, Glenn Couchman, of Orange, Dulcie Mclean of Orange, and young Marisha Downey, of Forbes. Miles is pictured with Ted, Dulcie, Glenn, Marisha, and Keith. Both winners now have the opportunity to compete in the Australian Poetry Slam State Final to be held at the Sydney Theatre Company, Walsh Bay, Sydney on Friday 4th November, 2011.

Host Miles Merrill also had a great time performing and was impressed by the poets and enthusiastic audience. And Ted did an encore performance of another bush poem about farm machinery (pictured). Stay tuned for more images from the Festival. Loud applause and cheers to all involved.