News Archive

2008 Competition Launched

The Welsh Poetry Competition 2008 was launched last week in Pontypridd.

The aim of competition is to encourage and reward the wealth of creative writing talent that exists in Wales but currently receives little attention. The organisers wish to inspire people to capture life in the present day and to give a voice to a new generation of poets and writers.

Established last year, the first competition was a great success. Entries came from as far away as the USA, Germany, Spain and Ireland, as well as from within the UK and Wales itself.  

"…We were especially pleased that last year’s winners were all new, unpublished writers, but with a considerable degree of talent, and in fact the majority of them went on to be published themselves. We are not looking for a purely academic approach to poetry but would rather see raw passion burst onto the creative writing scene. So many people in Wales write, and in particular, poetry – after all, Wales is the land of poetry and song, and we hoped that our already well established and international competition will go some way to developing and restoring that rich literary tradition…"
Dave Lewis, Competition Organiser


Judge

Welsh writer John Evans will resume his role as Competition Judge this year. John has an excellent reputation for both producing exciting work himself and, through the popular writing workshops he holds in the south Wales valleys, inspiring and developing new talent. John began his career in ’76 as a frontman and songwriter for a punk rock band. For more than ten years he has worked as a full-time writer and film maker.
 


To mark the success of last year’s competition, the prizes have been doubled for 2008. First Prize will be £200, Second Prize will be £100 and Third Prize will be £50. Winners will be announced on the competition website and in the media after the closing date, and when all entries have been judged.


How to enter

To enter you need to compose a poem, in English, of less than 50 lines and send it to the competition organisers. Entry forms are available from all Rhondda Cynon Taf libraries and from the competition website. It is £3 to enter and the closing date is Sunday 22 June 2008.

Competition Website - www.welshpoetry.co.uk
Competition Judge - www.johnevans.org.uk

For more information on the competition, contact Dave Lewis on 07890 888585 or click here to visit the relevant competition listing on the Academi website. For further detail on John Evans, click here to visit his Writers of Wales entry on the Academi website.