The School of English and the Centre for Creative Writing at the University of Kent were proud sponsors of this year’s Canterbury Festival Poet of the Year. The winner of the competition, Abegail Morley, was crowned on National Poetry Day (8 October) at an awards ceremony the Gulbenkian Theatre on the University of Kent’s Canterbury campus.
Judge (poet and former Creative Writing Lecturer in the School of English) Sonia Overall said of the winning poem ‘Occupied’: ‘It draws a poignant character study of both the poem’s narrator and its subject, with images of such clarity they linger long between readings.’ Abegail received a cheque for £200.00, whilst second prize (£100.00) went to Jacqueline Haskell from Hampshire and third (£50.00) to Edinburgh-based poet Rachel Plummer. Two additional prizes were awarded; a bottle of sparkling wine for the ‘Best Read Poem’ of the evening which went to local poet Rosey Wilkin from Wye for ‘Rib Hip’, and the ‘People’s Choice’ (£25.00), the favorite poem of the audience on the night, went to Roger James of Tonbridge for his poem ‘Yosemite’. Rosey also received a special commendation from the judges for another of her poems, ‘Rib Hip’. The Poet of the Year competition, now in its ninth year, received a remarkable 279 entries from all over the world. You can read the full list of short and long-listed poems on the Canterbury Festival website.
Earlier the same afternoon the Gulbenkian also played host to the Canterbury Festival Schools’ Poetry Competition awards ceremony. In the months running up to the event performance poets Neelam Saredia and Helen Seymour ran poetry workshops, using teaching resources they had developed, in local primary and secondary schools. This year’s competition theme was ‘Re-write the world’. Twenty six poems were shortlisted from hundreds of entries and are now published in the 2015 Canterbury Festival Anthology available from the Canterbury Festival office. Generously supported by Stagecoach, three poets were chosen to have their poems published on vinyls which can now be seen displayed on buses around East Kent.
Next year’s Poet of the Year competition will be launched in March and the School of English looks forward to reading the contributions and continuing to support the Canterbury Festival.