Winners of the Fifteenth International Poetry Competition announced

firstwriter.com is pleased to announce the winner and special commendations in its Fifteenth International Poetry Competition, which closed on November 1, 2016.

Congratulations go to  Annest Gwilym, from Gwynedd, United Kingdom, who wins £200 (around $350) for first place, with the poem "Last night I became an Emperor Moth". The winning poem can be read online at https://www.firstwriter.com/competitions/poetry_competition/winners/15thpoetry.shtml 

Annest Gwilym lives in North Wales, near the Snowdonia National Park in the UK. She is a native Welsh speaker. Her writing is often neurotic, obsessive, disturbing and uncanny. Her work has been published in numerous literary magazines and anthologies. She has been placed, highly commended and shortlisted in several writing competitions in recent years. Her interests include beachcombing for that elusive chunk of ambergris, and making her own jewellery, which she sells.

Seven special commendations go out to the following entrants (in no particular order):

• Ute Carson, United States, "When Did I Get Old?";
• Jeremy Gardner, Jamaica, "Honey and Clover";
• Ginna Wilkerson, United States, "A Dip in the Pool";
• Mary V. Williams, United Kingdom, "Funeral Parlour";
• Philip O'Neil, Czech Republic, "Bug Life";
• Adam Khan, United Kingdom, "To Robinson Jeffers";
• Bruce Harris, United Kingdom, "Partying".

All the winners will be published in issue #31 of firstwriter.magazine (scheduled for release in summer, 2017), and will receive vouchers worth £24 / $36.

This competition is the last of firstwriter.com's inernational poetry competitions. The competitions have run every year for 15 years, starting in 2001, and have received over 2,000 entries from poets all over the world. Thank you to everyone who has entered and been involved over the years.

For the details of other competitions that are available to enter now, click here