In October of last year, the Cultural Foundation of Puls Polonii advertised two competitions on the internet, in various Polish newspapers, SBS Radio and various local and regional Australian media. The literary-musical competitions were devised to build a new repertoire for the 2008 Mound and Mt Kosciuszko Festival (18-20 April). The aims of the photographic competition was to build a visual exhibition based on the creative talent of Australian and Polish-Australian youth.

In the final tally of entries, the Foundation received 44 beautiful entries (made up of poems, lyrics to songs and one story). The entries all made reference to subjects such as Sir Paul Edmund Strzelecki, Tadeusz Kosciuszko, Stanislaw Blum, Australian Aboriginals, the Snowy Mountains and workers of the Snowy Hydro-electric Scheme. The largest number of entries (28) was received from the pens of Australians, including 2 written by a 13-year old resident of Cooma. 15 entries were written and submitted in Polish, including two poems written by young Polish girls in Poland!

The competition produced 19 songs. One of these, especially composed for the competition, was sent from Poland. One song is a joint effort between a person from Poland and a Pole here in Australia. One song has been composed by a 10-year Australian with Polish background. 3 songs were written by Polish Australians. However, once again, the greatest creative effort in terms of song writing has come from the local Australian community in both Jindabyne and Cooma, producing a grand total of 12 songs. I should also mention one particular song about Mt Kosciuszko which will be presented during the Festival. This song has not been included in the competition as the text was written by one of the organizers and the music by one of the jurors, as a joint creative effort to express a main theme of the Festival.

The photographic competition was limited to photographers under the age of 25. 128 photographs were received on the subject of "The Young and the Talented". From a pool of 11 photographers, 2 are from the local Australian community, 7 are from Australians with Polish background, and 2 from Poland. We are keen to see who will win the first prize of $600 funded by our wonderful sponsor National Parks and Wildlife Service.

The majority of the entries are at a very high standard. The jurors are really struggling to choose the prize winners and wish they could give a prize to everyone. Each entry has contributed something unique, special, heartfelt and relevant to the competition. We would like to appeal to businesses and sponsors to be more generous and allow us to broaden the prize pool so that we could acknowledge the huge creative efforts of so many wonderful young people!

The best songs will be showcased during the Festival. We hope to produce a detailed record of all events, exhibitions and highlights of the Festival in both Jindabyne and Cooma. Puma Films[/i] will be filming for TV Polonia. [u]Marek Kamma and Oscar Kantor will be taking footage and photographs for the archival requirements and needs of the Cultural Foundation of Puls Polonii. All concerts will be recorded using new equipment recently delivered from the States called a "Mobile Recording Unit". The Foundation hopes to produce a new CD featuring all the Festival Songs. Most of these will also be accessible via the Puls Polonii website. After the Festival, we plan to post some of the songs onto YouTube!

Polish youth, Polish landscape

15 of the best photographic images will be chosen for an exhibition which will be displayed in the Jindabyne Visitors Centre for a few weeks after 18th April. The same exhibition will be displayed for one day in Cooma on Sunday 20th April. A larger number of the competition images will be featured in the 2008 Festival Booklet along with selected poems drawn from the competition, together with articles and extracts from the book about General Kosciuszko written by the American historian, F. C. Kajencki. The Foundation sincerely hopes that the 2008 Festival Book will find its place in the National Library of Australia along with materials including the 2007 Programme Booklet, posters, CD with songs, and historical DVD, documenting the historical concert at the summit of Mt Kosciuszko, all of which were produced as part of the 2007 Mound and Mt Kosciuszko Festival.

The Cultural Foundation of Puls Polonii invites you to come along to the Mound and Mt Kosciuszko Festival in 2008, to hear, see and admire all the creative work that has been produced, and to be a part of history in the making.

ESK & UL