Jenny McRobert Wins Biggest Poetry Contest In Wales

The organisers of the International Welsh Poetry Competition, the biggest poetry contest in Wales, have announced the winners from the 17th competition. The competition was judged by Mick Evans, whose excellent comments can be found on the contest website.

The 2023 Competition

1st Prize       Pegasus Rising – Jenny McRobert (Sutton Scotney, Winchester, England)

Jenny McRobert was born in Hackney, London and now lives in Winchester.  Making the transiton from Psychologist to poet has been Jenny’s most pleasurable journey. Silver Samovar, Jenny’s debut collection, was published in 2021 by The High Window Press.  Single poems have been published in Dreamcatcher, and online in Ink Sweat &Tears, The High Window and Words for the Wild. She has also done well in competitions:

At The Marquee in my sister’s dress was highly commended for the Binsted Prize 2023 (South Down Poetry Competition). Pegasus Rising and Talking to a Dragonfly in Great Ormond Street Hospital were shortlisted for the Plough Poetry Prize in 2023. The Giraffe in the Room was commended for the Ware Poets Competition 2022, Cherry Brandy was shortlisted for the 2021 Fish Poetry Prize and Sailing the high seas with my brother longlisted for the Plough Poetry Prize 2021,

Jenny lives in a house on the Watercress Way with her husband a cheeky garden hedgehog. She a founder member of Winchester Muse poetry platform and helps to run their ‘hybrid’ monthly events.

2nd Prize   The Poet’s Way – Partridge Boswell (Woodstock, Vermont, USA)

Partridge Boswell is the author of Some Far Country (Grolier Poetry). His poems and essays have recently surfaced in Poetry, The Gettysburg Review, Salmagundi, The American Poetry Review, Poetry Ireland Review, december, Plume, Southword, Hotel Amerika, Prairie Schooner and The Moth. Co-founder of Bookstock Literary Festival, he troubadours widely with the poetry/music group Los Lorcas, whose debut release Last Night in America (2020) is available on Thunder Ridge Records.

3rd Prize   My father’s last pint – Michael W Thomas (Stourport-on-Severn, Worcestershire, England)

Michael W Thomas is an award-winning, internationally-known poet, fiction writer and dramatist.  He is also a singer, musician and composer.  He has published numerous books, including poetry, novels and drama.  For many years he was poet-in-residence at the Robert Frost Poetry Festival, Key West, Florida, USA.

Highly Commended

4th   Greenan Castle Ruins – Julie Sheridan (Barcelona, Spain)

5th   Stone Ground – Adele Evershed (Wilton, USA)

6th   It never happened – Denise O’Hagen (Northbridge, Australia)

The remaining top twenty highly commended in no particular order:

When Wittgenstein Met Hitler – James Knox Whittet (Swaffham, Norfolk, England)

On the 253 bus without a palm cross – Jenny McRobert (Sutton Scotney, Winchester, England)

Looking back at me – Philip Harris (Cardiff, South Glamorgan, Wales)

Long before me – Philip Burton (Bacup, Lancashire, England)

Ruin – Sharon Black (Gardoussel, France)

My Father haunts Charing Cross Road – Jenny McRobert (Sutton Scotney, Winchester, England)

I Return To Lisbon – David Brady (Stockton on Tees, England)

The year my daughter moved to London – Bernie Crawford (Co. Galway, Ireland)

The curfew breakers – S M Davies (Fareham, Hampshire, England)

A windfall in lockdown – Philip Dunn (Nannerch, Flintshire, Wales)

Turn – Michael W Thomas (Stourport-on-Severn, Worcestershire, England)

A room of one’s own – Sharon Black (Gardoussel, France)

Carrauntoohil – Anne Connolly (Edinburgh, Scotland)

The Torn Dust Jacket – Tony Peyser (Altadena, USA)

For more information, to read the winners and check out the judge’s comments – www.welshpoetry.co.uk