2020 was an odd year, you may have noticed, but in our ‘Looking Out, Peering In’ Competition in the Autumn, we wanted to take the time to look beyond it and see what really mattered.
‘Looking Out, Peering In’ asked poets to use a metaphorical window to look out at the world or peer into their lives and share with us their feelings, ideas, conclusions or dreams for a different world.
Needless to say, this was the best supported competition that we have ever run and the judging has taken, what feels like aeons.
But we got there in the end and I am more than very proud to be able to announce that the shortlisted poets, who will see their poem appear in our beautiful anthology in the nearest of futures, are:
- Alison Lock
- Anthony Paticchio
- Brian McManus
- Ceinwen E Cariad Haydon
- Darren J Beaney
- Eileen Carney Hulme
- Elizabeth Barton
- Emma Kemp
- Gavin Bourke
- Kate Copeland
- Nina Parmenter
- Olga Dermott-Bond
- Oz Hardwick
- Sadie Maskery
- Sallie Durham
- Sam Smith
- Sarah Connor
- Sharon Larkin
- Susan E Darlington
- Zoe Karathanasi
But of course there has to be a Winner, and I am very pleased to say that it is:
Nina Parmenter,
for her poem
‘Clever Cauliflowers.’
Many congratulations to Nina who will be:
- Receiving £100 in Prize Money
- Receiving 500 copies of their poem beautifully printed in Artcard format, and
- See her poem entered into the Forward Prize Competition
Additionally, all of the shortlisted poets will be invited to have their poem included in a special anthology , ‘Looking Out, Peering In’ to be published in Spring 2021.
As ever, many thanks to all who took part and apologies for taking quite so long to judge the competition.