Expecting something of a trickle of entries, coming to a slow halt perhaps two, three weeks before the competition closed, we were delighted (and surprised) to have received nearly 600 poems altogether by nearly 300 poets. It took careful consideration, blazing rows and endless teas to come to our conclusion, and our winners. We'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone who entered, and to Ideas tap for hosting all the tomfoolery.
You want winners? We got winners!
First up is 26 year old John Challis whose poems have appeared in Wild Women Press anthology, The 3am Club, Citizen 32 magazine and Spilt Milk magazine. He is currently studying for an MA in Creative Writing at Newcastle University.With John, we were simply blown away by his 'Jazz Maggot', the visual, visceral re-imagining of the Femme Fatale is both darkly comic and seductive in its lure of the reader, and we're truly excited about publishing it.
Our second winner is Niall Campbell, also 26, from Scotland. Niall's deft use of phraseology, in both of his poems - 'Hitching Lifts From Islanders' and 'Bank Holiday' – leave the reader with an enduring, ethereal sense of substance, be it the forty miles which belong to "the radio", or the "ghost-fruit" left to ripen on the train-track on a drab bank holiday.
Our second winner is Niall Campbell, also 26, from Scotland. Niall's deft use of phraseology, in both of his poems - 'Hitching Lifts From Islanders' and 'Bank Holiday' – leave the reader with an enduring, ethereal sense of substance, be it the forty miles which belong to "the radio", or the "ghost-fruit" left to ripen on the train-track on a drab bank holiday.
Yet three entries were also stand-out submissions, so we've invited three runners up, Danny Sorby, Kirsty Logan and George Meredith – to the day-long workshop next week. We'll also be featuring their work on the blog over the coming weeks.
