Thank you so much to everyone who entered the competition which this year was on the theme of ‘Refuge’. We had lots of entries from all over the West Midlands and the panel of judges, made of up of poets and librarians, were hard pressed to choose winning poems for each of the categories. But choose they did…
*Drum Roll*
The winners of the Poetry on Loan Poetry Competition 2023
Adult Prize Winner
‘Refuge’ by Amy Fox (You can read Amy's poem on the home page of the website)
Fresh Prize Winners*
‘Hymn to my home town’ by Lucy Dyer
‘Refuge’ by Iris Briscoe
Young Poets Prize Winner
‘Dragonfly’ by Sophie Nock
Congratulations to shortlisted poets:-
‘Iris’ by Ann Atkins
‘A little bit of heaven’ Wendy Goulstone
‘This is not Farewell’ by Anne Hodnette
‘Hibernation’ by Lorna Meehan
‘A bit of room of one’s own’ by Hazel Meredith-Lloyd
‘Lighthouses’ by Liz Parkes
‘Genocide’ by Alison Tanik
*Two ‘Fresh Poets’ had exactly the same marks so Poetry on Loan have made the decision to award a joint prize this year.