The Academi Cardiff International Poetry Competition

Colette Bryce Wins £5000 in the
2007 Cardiff International Poetry Competition

The results of the 2007 Cardiff International Poetry Competition were announced by one of the competition’s judges, Owen Sheers, over brunch at a unique ceremony held in Brazz, Cardiff Bay on Wednesday 6 June 2007.

Derry born poet Colette Bryce, who now lives in Newcastle Upon Tyne, was awarded first prize and presented with a cheque for £5000 for her poem Self Portrait in a Broken Wing Mirror. The judges noted that the winning poem was ‘confident, sustained, powerfully visual’ and that it should be ‘read aloud to really appreciate the complexity and skill’. Colette, who is a literary fellow at the universities of Newcastle and Durham, has published two collections of poetry to date, The Heel of Bernadette (2000) and The Full Rope Trick (2004).

Second prize of £500 was awarded to Jennifer Copley from Cumbria for her poem On Shyness. Third prize winner Victor Tapner who received £250 for his poem Elizabeth Blackwell’s Five Hundred Cuts is no stranger to the Cardiff International Poetry Competition. He won first prize in the competition back in 2000. There were also five runners–up in the competition who won £50 each: Heather Richardson, Jeanne Macdonald, Marlene Rosen Fine, Pat Winslow and Elisa Pulido who travelled to Cardiff from California to be at the prize-giving ceremony.

All winners and audience members at the prize-giving were treated to a first class brunch in Brazz while they listened to the winning poems being read and the adjudication from Owen Sheers who judged the 2007 Competition alongside Scottish poet Kathleen Jamie. 

(From left to right: Peter Finch, Owen Sheers, Victor Tapner, Elisa Pulido,
Jennifer Copley, Heather Richardson and Colette Bryce)

For further details on the Cardiff International Poetry Competition, including previous winners and the winning poems, click on the ’Competitions’ button on the left of the screen, then click on ’Academi Competitions’.

The Academi Cardiff International Poetry Competition is pleased to acknowledge the financial sponsorship of Cardiff Council.