Mangawhai schoolgirl's Seaweek poem earns barbecue for the school

Seaweek poetry competition winner Emma McCardle (left) was happy to share her seafood barbecue prize with her two besties and fellow pupils at Mangawhai Beach School. Photo / Supplied

Students and staff at Mangawhai Beach School enjoyed a seafood barbecue recently, thanks to pupil Emma McCardle, who has won the inaugural Fish4all Seaweek poetry competition.

Teacher Rebecca Low said the competition had given the school a fun and engaging learning opportunity, offering the students an authentic purpose to practise their writing and use the Fish4All app, which encouraged sustainable fishing through collecting data, all of which tied in perfectly with the school's celebration of Seaweek.

Fish4all is a free fishing app, described as a fun and easy-to-use virtual catch log and a way to take and share pictures while at sea, but also a sustainable fishing tool.

It collates anonymous catch data, which the Fish4All Charitable Trust uses to enhance and better-manage recreational fisheries.

The poetry competition was judged by prize-winning published poet Ria Masae, who said that although all the entries were delightful, Emma's stood out with her use of alliteration to produce a coherent and delightful result.

"Not only did she skilfully execute complete lines in this style of poetry, but she also divided a line into more than one set of alliterations; 'Gary the Gurnard greedily grunts after gobbling up Kyle the Kahawai in Makatu and he is now heading for Mangawhai'," she said.

"Her wonderful characterisation of sea life, such as Mighty Mike the Marlin and AJ the American Eel, reads like something out of a story book."

Emma McCardle's winning poem:

Sammy the Penguin watches a slippery salmon slide speedily on the surface of the sea surrounded by seagulls sitting on a seat.
Triumphantly Tom and Tim escape from the terrifying shark trying to tear apart Tom the Tuna and Tim the Tarakihi as the tide turns.
Gary the Gurnard greedily grunts after gobbling up Kyle the Kawhai in Makatu; he is now heading for Mangawhai.
Delightfully dawn comes, Dom and Derek decide to drive down to the beach and attempt to catch dory, instead they get the dorsal fin of a dusky whaler.
Kind Kingfish Kid kicks Kyle the karate diver as a khaki kite flies above the Kaitaia River.
Mighty Mike the Marlin misses Mary the Madagascar rainbow fish who fought Mark the Magnificent Marlin's mad mum Marly.
Ollie the Octopus opens his oval mouth onto Oscar the Oyster, who always says oi.
Alex the Angel fish abandoned AJ the American Eel and almost ate him as well.
Buckets filled with fish, 'bash' 'bash' goes the waves against the big brown buoy next to the bumpy blue boat.
Fish4all is a family friendly fun fishing app for fishers to record their feasty filled food caught from the sea.
It's fun to use fish4all.
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