Poetry Competition Results

Ekphrastic Poetry Competition 2026

First prize

Shutter — Marian Serer (London)

Second prize

Solo — Lauren Jarvis (Glasgow)

Commended

About Degas… — Bridget Crowley (Newlyn)

The Hand on the Reins — Aeman Abbasi

i found you in the gallery — Jonathan Kinsman

Portrait of myself as a chameleon — Helen Nattrass (Cambridge)

Rain, steam, speed and … — Frank Edwards

Heavenly earth — John Newton (Chelmsford)

Why are bananas yellow? — Karen Battoo

Judges’ Report

Ekphrastic poetry presents an interesting challenge. The poet begins with something that already exists, usually a painting, photograph or sculpture, and must find a way of making something new from it. The most successful poems do more than describe what can be seen. They explore what the image suggests, what it leaves unexplained, or what happens when the poet brings a different imagination to the subject.

In judging this competition, I was particularly interested in the relationship between the original artwork and the poem. A good ekphrastic poem should be able to stand independently as a piece of writing, even when the reader is unfamiliar with the work that inspired it. At the same time, there should be some sense of an encounter between the two art forms.

One of the pleasures of judging a competition of this kind is seeing the different possibilities that visual art offers to writers. A picture may suggest a story, a remembered experience, an imagined conversation or a question about the nature of seeing itself. There is no single correct approach, and it would be a mistake to favour one method over another.

The final selection reflects the importance of finding an imaginative response rather than simply translating visual detail into words. I was looking for poems in which the language had been given as much attention as the subject, and where the poet had made deliberate choices about what to include and what to leave unsaid.

Congratulations to Marian Serer, whose poem Shutter takes first prize, and Lauren Jarvis, whose Solo receives second prize. Congratulations also to the commended poets. The range of titles alone suggests something of the variety of approaches available to poets working with visual art.

My thanks to everyone who entered. I hope the competition has encouraged writers to continue exploring the possibilities of poetry that begins with looking but does not necessarily end there.

Easter Poetry Competition 2026

First prize

Unfolding — Dawn Lazier (Belgium)

Second prize

Summer at Willow Creek — Belinda Stone (USA)

Other selected poems

An Ethiopian Quartet — John Sterling (UK)

She said, we are ghosts moving lightly — Steve Pottinger (UK)

Polecat — Lindsey Thornton (UK)

Dog Pines — Amy Fletcher (UK)

I Forgot — Kopo Kebakile (Botswana)

Judges’ Report

It was a pleasure to judge this competition and to read such a varied and imaginative collection of poems. There was a strong sense of individuality across the entries, with many poets demonstrating a clear ability to create atmosphere, emotion and striking imagery through their writing.

In selecting the winning poems, particular attention was given to three qualities: vividness, memorability and originality.

The chosen poems all stood out because they created strong and distinctive images that stayed with the reader. Their language was vivid and carefully considered, allowing scenes, emotions and ideas to come alive. They also had a memorable quality: each poem left a lasting impression through a particularly effective image, phrase, voice or idea.

Originality was equally important. The selected poems demonstrated fresh ways of looking at their subjects and avoided relying too heavily on familiar expressions or predictable ideas. They had a sense of their own voice and showed confidence in their creative choices.

There were many strong entries, and the standard of the competition made the final decisions particularly challenging. The judge would like to congratulate all those who took part and thank everyone for sharing their creativity. The winning poems were ultimately those that combined vivid imagery, a memorable impact and an original poetic voice, making them especially engaging and distinctive.

Poetry Kit Spring Competition 2026

Below is the result of the Spring Poetry Competition, congratulations to those whose poems made this final results list.

Spring Poetry Competition 2026

1st

More of you – Gail Turner (London)

2nd

Look at me, a break up poem - Bridget Cook (London)

Commended

The Autumn Walk - Jill McCarthy (West Yorkshire, UK).

The Sting – Rachel Cain (London)

No Wonderland – Joy Lebof (West Yorkshire, UK)

Learning to ride – Jess Fogarty (London)

The Land I Will Show You Today - Chibuike Ukah (UK)

The particular order of rainbows – Piers Haben (Portugal)

Judges’ Report

Judging an open poetry competition is never simply a matter of finding the poems with the most accomplished language. Technical skill is important, of course, but a poem can be technically impressive without having very much to say. Equally, a poem written in apparently straightforward language can achieve something remarkable through its observation, its movement of thought or the way it makes an ordinary experience newly significant.

For this competition, I was interested in how successfully each poem developed its material. Did the opening establish something worth following? Did the poem move beyond its initial idea? Was there a sense that the poet had discovered something through the writing, rather than simply setting down a conclusion already reached?

These are not questions with fixed answers. Some poems work through narrative, others through association, and others through the careful arrangement of images. What matters is whether the chosen approach is convincing and whether the poem makes effective use of its particular form.

I also paid attention to endings. An ending does not have to explain a poem or bring everything to a neat conclusion. Sometimes the strongest ending is one that changes our understanding of what has gone before, or leaves us with a question that continues beyond the final line. The important thing is that the ending feels earned.

The final decisions in any competition involve judgement rather than an exact measure of quality. Different readers will inevitably respond to different poems, and there is always room for disagreement. That is part of the pleasure and difficulty of reading poetry.

First prize goes to Gail Turner for More of you, with Bridget Cook taking second for Look at me, a break up poem. My congratulations to both poets and to all those whose work has been commended.

I would also like to thank everyone who submitted poems. Entering a competition means allowing a piece of writing to be considered by someone who knows nothing of the circumstances in which it was written. That can be a useful test of whether the poem communicates what we hope it will, although a competition result should never be regarded as a final judgement on the value of anyone's work.