Stafford Poetry Competition 2008-9

We can now announce the winners of the Stafford Poetry Competition 2009.

The competition was launched by Stafford Library with the support of Stafford District Arts Council.

It was a nationally promoted competition aimed at raising the profile of Stafford and the library service. The first prize was £1000, with five runners up prizes of £50.

In addition there was a separate prize for the best poem with a local connection – to Stafford or Staffordshire.

The competition is completely open, to published writers and amateurs, and all poems are judged anonymously. This year the winner is a nationally known poet, which sets a high standard.

The poems with a local connection came from as far afield as South Africa!

The competition has been an overwhelming success with over 1000 entries, including well over 100 from local writers.

The poems were judged by Michael Hulse, Stafford based poet and creative writing lecturer at Warwick University.

The winner of the £1000 Stafford Poetry Prize is

Grevel Lindop (Manchester) - for “Letters”.

http://www.grevel.co.uk/

The winner of the £250 Local prize was

Vishvantara Julia Lewis (London) - for 'Staffordshire County Asylum: V'

http://www.vishvantara.com/

The five £50 prize winners were:

Charles Evans (London) - 'Ablative Absolute'
Philip Williams (Alsager) – “Connections”
Ian McEwen (Bedford) - 'Why I can't have the stereo on when I'm writing'
M C Newton (Conwy) - “ppp”
Caleb Klaces (Birmingham) – “Between Kim and Her Baby”

Ten poems from the overall competition were commended -

Patricia Tyrell (Cornwall) – Worcester Porcelain
Gill McEvoy (Chester) – Snow Gift
Paul Groves (Monmouth) – Miserabilist
Tom Bryan (Kelso) – “Imaginary CV”
Simon Jackson (Edinburgh) – “Courtship”
John Lane (Lancashire) – “Other Minds”
John Terry (Bristol) – “Sailing alone around the world”
Deborah Harvey (Bristol) – “Prawle Point”
Jonny Reid (Newcastle-under Lyme) – “Cracking British Pen”
Angela France (Cheltenham) – “Sarah talks to the Social Worker)

Ten poems with local connections were commended:

Isabel Gillard (Gnosall) – “ST Mary’s Stafford”
Jeremy Duffield (Heanor, Derbyshire) - “The Boots of Solomon Goodwin”
Bert Flitcroft (Lichfield) – “Alrewas”
Bert Flitcroft (Lichfield) – “Eye to Eye”
Judith Stewart (East Lothian) – “Ancestry”
Julia O’Brien (Lewes, Sussex) – “Junction 13”
Robin Muers (Rugby, Warwickshire) - “Izaak Walton Takes Me Fishing for Carp”
Peter Branson (Alsager) – “Red Hill”
Nick Mellors (Cardiff) – “Monday Poem”
Sarah Rowland Jones (Western Cape, Republic of South Africa) – “Elegy for Leek”

Andrew Baker 2/4/2009

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