2020 International Competitions: Winners

Congratulations to all the winners, and we would also like to thank everyone who entered. You can watch a recording of our 2020 Poetry Reading and Prize Giving event.

Open Poetry Competition

Our 2020 Open Poetry Competition judge Sean Borodale was selected in 2014 as a Poetry Book Society Next Generation Poet. His first collection, Bee Journal, was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize and Costa Books Award. Mighty Beast, his documentary poem about livestock markets for the BBC won the Radio Academy Gold Award for Beast Feature or Documentary. He currently teaches creative writing at Royal Holloway.

Open Poetry – 2020 Winners

Position	Title	Author	Download Link (Subject to Availability)
1st	A Familiar Path	Maggie Wadey
2nd	Restoring Our Parents Grave	Stephen Lloyd
3rd	Orpheus in the Classroom	Elizabeth Porter
Hilly Cansdale Local Prize	Lights Out	Roger Adams

Short Story Competition

Our 2020 Short Story judge Duncan Minshull. Duncan worked at BBC Radio more than 20 years, as a senior producer for programmes such as Book Of The Week, Book at Bedtime, The Essay, and Short Story. He is now a freelance audio producer and a writer on the subject of walking. His latest book is Beneath My Feet: Writers on Walking, published by Notting Hill Editions.

Short Story – 2020 Winners

Position	Title	Author	Download Link (Subject to Availability)
1st	Ammonites	Rolf Venner
2nd	We are The Poet	Jeremy Galgut
3rd	Waving Back	Rosemary Guilding
Wyvern Local Prize	The Price of Feet	Simon Heathcote

Book for Children Competition

Our 2020 Book for Children judge Fleur Hitchcock embarked on the Writing for Young People MA at Bath Spa University and graduated with a distinction. Her debut novel Shrunk! was The Sunday Times ‘Book Of The Week’, since when she has never looked back. Now with 16 more books for young people to her name, she divides any of her remaining time between her family, her garden and working as a children’s bookseller.

Book for Children – 2020 Winners

Young Poets Competition

Victoria Adukwei Bulley judge of the 2020 Young Poets Competition, is a poet, writer and film-maker. She is the winner of a 2018 Eric Gregory Award for promising British poets under 30, and has held artistic residencies internationally in the US, Brazil, and the V&A Museum in London.

Young Poets – 2020 Winners

Position	Title	Author	Download Link (Subject to Availability)
1st	Rechristening	Catherine Turner
2nd	So Lovely is the Loneliness	Nathanael Wheatcroft-Brown
3rd	Come in, the Water’s Fine	Archie Hamerton