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 The Gift of Boats Sails Away with £5000

First Prize-winner Jane Routh (right) with runner-up Marianne Burton

The much awaited results of the 2009 Academi Cardiff International Poetry Competition were announced in Cardiff Bay aboard cruise vessel Seren-y-Bae on Wednesday 17 June. National Poet of Wales, Gillian Clarke, read a selection of her own work from her first year as National Poet and from her latest poetry collection A Recipe for Water (Carcanet, 2009) before announcing the winners to a boat full of Welsh poets, competition entrants and literary enthusiasts. The 2009 competition was judged by Ian McMillan and Kurt Heinzelman.

The first prize of £5000 was awarded to Jane Routh from Lancaster for her aptly named poem The Gift of Boats. Jane is a photographer and writer who also looks after a flock of geese and an Ancient Semi-Natural Woodland in North Lancashire. Her collection Circumnavigation (The Poetry Business, 2002) won the Poetry Business Competition and was short-listed for a Forward Prize for best first collection. Her second book Teach Yourself Mapmaking (Smith/Doorstop Books, 2006) was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. The judges commented that after reading The Gift of Boats they knew that they were ‘in the hands of a master mariner and master craftsman.’

Second prize went to Christopher Simons a British-Canadian poet, who is currently the Associate Professor of English Literature at International Christian University, Tokyo. It was Christopher’s poem Pink Dog, about the process of memory and a dying dog that never stops dying that the judges chose to receive the 2nd prize cheque of £500. Former Eric Gregory Award winner Emily Berry from London scooped third prize of £250 for her poem Strange Fish which the judges described as ‘a very strange piece, both vivid and distorted, like observations made underwater’.

The five runners-up in the competition each receiving £50 were: Marianne Burton from London; Laila Farnes from Nittedal, Norway; Stephen Moore from Liverpool; Philip Tomkins from Cardiff and Pat Winslow from Oxfordshire.

Academi Chief Executive Peter Finch launched the 2010 Academi Cardiff International Poetry Competition which will be co-judged by multi award-winning poet and short-story writer Jackie Kay and Anglesey-based poet and Editor of Poetry Wales, Zoë Skoulding.

As a fitting end to a very enjoyable event aboard Seren-y-Bae Cardiff Poet Ifor Thomas, who dressed for the occasion in suit, tie and straw boater, entertained the guests with a lively performance of some of his Cardiff and Cardiff Bay inspired poetry.

For more information on the 2009 or 2010 competition contact Academi on:
029 2047 2266 / post@academi.org  

The Winners:

First Prize, £5,000: Jane Routh from Lancaster for her poem The Gift of Boats

Second Prize, £500: Christopher Simons from Essex for his poem Pink Dog

Third Prize, £250: Emily Berry from London for her poem Strange Fish

Runners-up, winning £50 each:

Marianne Burton from London for her poem Owls at Midnight

Laila Farnes from Nittedal, Norway for her poem Wild Ice

Stephen Moore from Liverpool for his poem The Bride

Philip Tomkins from Cardiff for his poem And Suddenly the Bitch is Talking Poetry

Pat Winslow from Oxfordshire for her poem The Man who Kept Bees in his Beard

 Click on the poem titles above for biographies of the writers
and to read the winning poems

Click here to read the judges adjudication