The 2024 winners of the 18th International Welsh Poetry Competition were announced on their website.
Award-winning poet and judge, Kathy Miles said, “Judging a poetry competition is always a humbling experience, not just because of the exceptional standard of the work, but because so many of the poems let you into the private and personal world of the poet. Over 700 poems were submitted to the competition, and judging them was a daunting task. Subjects were wide-ranging and included many pieces that dealt with the political issues of our time, particularly climate change and the war in Gaza. Others were more intimate – sometimes devastating – poems that described incidents of abuse, rape and misogyny, cancer and chemotherapy, or were focussed on the dementia or loss of a loved one. Whilst all of the entrants are to be congratulated on the very high standard of their submissions, I also applaud the bravery of those who had the courage to share what were often heart-breaking stories.
“I was hoping to see well-crafted pieces that reached out from the internal world of the poem to make a real connection with the reader, and wasn’t disappointed. Selecting the winners from such a wide and varied field was difficult; many other poems very nearly made it to the shortlist, and a lot of them will remain in my mind for a long time. I’m absolutely sure that all of those will find their place in the world very soon.
“Many congratulations to all the winners, and to everyone who submitted to the competition; it’s been a pleasure and a privilege to read such a wealth of excellent poems.”
The 2024 Competition
1st Prize Once Upon A Time – Gill Learner (Reading, UK)
2nd Prize The Chariot – Theophilus Kwek (Singapore)
3rd Prize To Poison – Sue Davies (Catisfield, UK)
Highly Commended
4th You had to learn how to live after her – Monica Carroll (ACT, Australia)
5th Amalgam – Fiona Lynch (Victoria, Australia)
6th Childhood Fears – Naoise Gale (Norwich, UK)
The remaining top twenty highly commended in no particular order:
Rice 244 Days – Lavinia Small (Oamaru, New Zealand)
2029, and the last environmentalist… – Steve Pottinger (Willenhall, UK)
A Guide to Parenting, with Macaques on Itsukushima – Jonathan Greenhause (Jersey City, USA)
Hull – Jane Burn (Consett, UK)
The mirror test – Andy Craven-Griffiths (Leeds, UK)
A Song Of The River Teign – Sheila Aldous (Newton Abbot, UK)
Hippocampus – Christopher M James (Tamnies, France)
An Immigrant’s Curse – Pratibha Castle (Walberton, UK)
Cezanne’s Paysage D’Auvers-Sur-Oise – Isabella Mead (Bristol, UK)
Total-ly partial eclipse of the heart – Paul Hawkes (Aberteifi, Wales)
The Improbability Of Flight – Anne Bradshaw (Hexham, UK)
Rhosys cochion, lilis gwynion – David Walrond (Porthkea, UK)
Jolly Roger – Shoshanna Rockman (Elsternwick, Australia)
Homage to Monteverde – Gwendolyn Sobkowiak (Pittsburgh, USA)
Full details – click here.