All winners of the current competition will be announced on this page with links to all our previous poetry competition winners, specially commended entries and judges comments.

To read the winning entries from our 13th competition just click on the links below and scroll down to view judges’ comments.

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The 2019 Competition

1^stPrize     The Map-Maker’s Tale – Damen O’Brien (Queensland, Australia)

2^ndPrize   The Devil’s Shoes in Back Home Afro-Caribbean Shop – Pauline Plummer (North Shields, England)

3^rdPrize    What are you owl – Rob Miles (Leeds, England)

Our 2019 winner – Damen O’Brien

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Highly Commended

4^th        Bob Dylan waits for the Ferry at Aust – Deborah Harvey (Bristol, England)

5^th        Making and Mending – Gill Learner (Reading, England)

6^th        The Enchantment of Maps – Jean James, Swansea, Wales

7^th        Abandoned – Jackie Biggs, Newcastle Emlyn, Wales

8^th        Frost at Lighthouse Beach – Partridge Boswell, Vermont, USA

9^th        Marked – Trudi Petersen, Carmarthen, Wales

10^th      Speak – Gareth A Roberts, Newbury, England

11^th       Sestina – The Boxer – Alex Hancock, Dunvant, Wales

12^th      The Promise of Elsewhere – Louise G Cole, County Roscommon, Ireland

13^th      Ireland is Here – Noel King, County Kerry, Ireland

14^th      Dockers 1930 – David Butler, County Wicklow, Ireland

15^th      Waiting for Gold – Sheila Aldous, Teignharvey, England

16^th      Mermaids, and where to find them – Karen Hill, Ramsbottom, England

17^th      My mother’s heart – Phil Coleman, Pontardawe, Wales

18^th      The Archangel Dreams – Peter Wallis, Norwich, England

19^th      Ebb Tide, Morecombe Bay – M. Valentine Williams, Market Drayton, England

20^th      The Red Kite – Barry Norris, Swansea, Wales

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Results were announced on our web site, Facebook Group and Twitter on Monday 1st July, 2019.  We have also informed the UK national press, Literature Wales, Pontypridd Observer and associated district newspapers, SW Echo, the Western Mail, BBC Wales and RCTCBC as well as many organisations on our mailing list. Thanks to Mike Jenkins for judging this years competition, and thanks also to all those who entered and look forward to reading your work next year.

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Organiser comment:
Once again, this year (like the last few years) was an especially good one with many, many poems being in contention for the Top 20.  And so, in keeping with our aim to reward / recognise as many poets as possible we’ve taken the liberty, this year, to include (below) the names of the poems & poets who Mike Jenkins singled out for praise but didn’t quite make the cut:

Special mentions:

Oh To Be In England – Emlyn Williams

Cymraeg – Rachel Carney

Arabia Felix – Virginia Griem

Simon Says Nothing – Angela Fish

Don’t Swipe Her Like A Dish Cloth – Barry Norris

Superhero – Sally Festing

Pots Of Paint On The Roof – Brett Evans

100 Hours Of Darkness – Ashley Chan

Sister – Jan Westwood

These Feet – Vicky Hampton

Dachau Carpenter – John Baylis Post

In The Maternity Ward – Ann Leahly

Accordion – Pauline Plummer

Choughs At Llechwedd Slate Quarry – Sarah Lewis

Mapped Edge – Rob Cullen

Ermine Coats – Diana Sanders

In The High Street Charity Shop – Louise G Cole

Perfect Pitch – Christopher M James

How I Learned To Love Monsters – Gill Learner

Trefoil – Sharon Black

Brad From Joe Soaps Hand Car Wash – Roger Elkin

Cariad – Gareth A Roberts

On Newport Footbridge – Lawrence Illsley

Tragi-Colours Of Rajastan – Jeffrey Grenfell-Hill

She Tries Bless Her – Geraldine Hunt

Granny By The Sea – Judith Drazin

Flotsam – Phil Knight

Direction Of Breath – Bess Frimodig

Woken By Words – Lizzie Ballagher

The Gypsy – Dominique Hecq

Thrush Green – Sally Russell

Y Ddraig Goch – Rowan Kinnear (11 Yrs Old)

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Judge’s Comments:

The Map-Makers Tale, by Damen O’Brien

The joy of judging a poetry competition is finding a poem which takes a totally different direction and approach to all the others and the winner’s exactly that. Not only is its narrative descriptively intense, but it creates in such a short space, a world you inhabit, albeit a frightening, dystopian one. Curiously, the imagery of maps was used effectively by three very good poets in this competition; but this one handles a grave topic with subtle imagination.

The Devil’s Shoes in Back Home Afro-Caribbean Shop, by Pauline Plummer

In contrast, the runner-up is single focussed, describing the shoes in the title and being led by them to a conclusion in the way that poems should best develop, following imagery and not ideas. These shoes take on characters, suggesting dance and celebration and, ultimately, dangerous allure. I love the way they sound so enticing and exciting, yet end with a sense of the hollowness of wealth and superficial attraction.

What are you owl, by Rob Miles

I was in a quandary regarding third place, but again the sheer power and empathy of this poem was hard to resist. While it owes something to Ted Hughes with ‘quill-swivelling / killer’, the awe throughout impressed. I especially love the ending, with its onomatopoeia of ‘You, you, you… or air.’

Mike Jenkins, 2019

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Past Winners

Photograph by Andrew Davies, 2007

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To see lists of previous winners and read some of the winning poems, plus the judges’ comments use the links below:

The 2018 Competition

The 2017 Competition

The 2016 Competition

The 2015 Competition

The 2014 Competition

The 2013 Competition

The 2012 Competition

The 2011 Competition

The 2010 Competition

The 2009 Competition

The 2008 Competition

The 2007 Competition

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See also our links page for details of other poetry web sites in Wales and beyond.

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