2006 Poetry Competition Winner and Runners Up
The winner of the 2006 competition is Josephine Abbott
When told that she has been chosen the overall winner of our Poetry Competition, Josephine, who lives in Chellaston, Derby, said: "The news is absolutely wonderful, and has come at just the right time." Read more about Josephine Abbott.
The highly commended poets were:
Alan Franks
Richmond, Surrey
Mike Horwood
Tampere, Finland
Photo on right shows, from left: Mike Horwood, Jeanne Macdonald and Alan Franks at the launch event in Newcastle
Andrea Porter
St Ives, Cambridgeshire
Victoria Pugh
Reading, Berkshire
J C Sinson
Whitby, North Yorkshire
They were selected from a field of 650 blocks of 5 poems, a total of 3250 poems.
The competition was judged by Jo Shapcott, who is president of the Poetry Society and has published several collections and won many prizes for her poetry. She teaches on the MA in Creative Writing at Royal Holloway College, University of London and is also Visiting Professor in Poetry at Newcastle University and the University of the Arts, London. She comments:
Jeanne at Blinking Eye gave me a strong group of poems to consider, which meant some pleasurable reading for me. The total response this year was an excellent 650 blocks of poems from all over the UK and as far afield as Finland. I hummed and hawed for a while, prolonging the enjoyable reading while putting off the difficult deciding, until I realised that with a collection of poems of such a good standard, the way towards the moment of selection was simply to read and reread the whole batch until the best stood out and declared themselves. In the end, the clarity and precision of Josephine Abbott's distinctive image-making came through forcefully, making her the clear winner.
But other poets deserve commending, too. The richness and intense musicality of Alan Franks' poems, particularly in 'The Stowaway' booked his place among the runners-up. In Mike Horwood's poems, the beautifully understated tone and his ability to make simple things in the material world resonate with mystery were among the strengths. The word 'jaunty' in one of Andrea Porter's poems also describes the fascinating cut glass surfaces of her work, always tugging against an undercurrent of darkness and violence. Victoria Pugh's work sites itself delicately on the boundaries between the self and the world. J. C. Sinson's lively and sensuous poems celebrate language, fragility and all things human."
Jeanne Macdonald adds:
All poets contributing to the anthology have received letters of confirmation.
Please don't feel disheartened if your poems have not been chosen for the anthology. The final selection was a difficult task. The entries were of a high calibre, therefore the choice was made by my decision to include certain forms - for example, the sustained work, the short poem, and by a wider observation of themes. Reading through over 3000 poems, I found various topics duplicated many times, creating many hard decisions as editor when choosing which poems to publish.
Please continue to send your work out to small presses, magazines and competitions. The mature writer is a poet whose work offers a sincerity that can only be gained from past experiences.
Thank you for your support.
Aall my best wishes,
Jeanne Macdonald
Contributors to the anthology, which will also include poems by Josephine Abbott, and poems by commended poets are:
Ken Baldwin
Vicci Bentley
Elizabeth Bertolla
Elizabeth Birchall
Peter Branson
Jan Caborn
Sue Chadd
Valerie Clarke
Derek Collins
Paul F Cowlan
Katherine Crocker
Simon Currie
Margaret Eddershaw
Charles Evans
Penny Feinstein
Bert Flitcroft
Catherine Frier
Jean Gill
Peter Gillott
Anne Grimes
David Hart
Pauline Hawkesworth
Marianne Hellwig John
J C M Hepple
Gordon Hodgeon
Carlotta Miller Johnson
Sue Johnson
Anna Johnston
Vivien Jones
Bridget Joseph
Alice Kavounas
Pam Kelly
Pru Kitching
Gill Learner
Lis Lee
Andie Lewenstein
Lorna Liffen
Margaret Livingston
P D Lucinski
Yvonne Lyon
Jane Mann
Gol McAdam
Jacky McCann
Evelyn McNally
Hilary Mellow
John Michelson
Ruth Midgley
Geraldine Mills
Gillian Minter
Jane Morley
Michael Mott
Lesley Mountain
Pippa Munro
Rosemary Norman
Lauraine Palmeri
Margaret Perry
Ellen Phethean
Diana Moen Pritchard
Lesley Quayle
John Quick
Jadzia Race
Sue Rylance
Brenda Shaw
Sarah Shaw
Karen Eberhardt Shelton
Hilary Spiers
Margaret Stallman
Michael Swan
Ruth Terrington
Wendy M Thrower
Simon Tonkin
Eleanor J Vale
Mike Walker
Jean Watkins
Lyn White
Jane Whittle
Sheila Wild
Sue Wood
Jan Woodling
Patricia Wooldridge
Dorothy Yamamoto
Brian Young
The launch of Josephine Abbott's collection Trying not to Levitate and the anthology of highly commended and commended entrants Night Balancing took place at the Lit & Phil Library in Necastle upon Tyne on 7 December. Despite truly dreadful weather, around 70 people attended the event. A group of 18 poets read their poems from the anthology and the evening ended with Josephine reading poems from her new collection.
Three of the commended poets who read at the launch event in Newcastle. From left, Lesley Mountain, Ellen Phethean and Sue Rylance
