"The poem which I gave first place to is, I believe, truly surreal in the way it convinces us of the metamorphosis taking place.

It does not try to explain or clarify, it just lets the images and the language do the work. It is funny, surprising and shocking ...

The second prize winner is also brief but like the first is based on a single startling, sinister concept. I like the way it stays with that horrifying image in such an understated and yet compelling way. The third prizewinner intrigues me because it is so experimental but like the other two, convinces us of its poem-world and interestingly, perhaps, like the other two is based on human relationships. I like the way it risks leaving phrases unfinished and doesn't suffer from this.

The commended and highly commended poems are also strong pieces of writing - focussed, clear in their development, well crafted. I have chosen a number of shorter poems because I feel it takes skill to engage in such complete worlds in so few words. However, I have also enjoyed the new approach to narrative in some of the longer ones too.

The poems which caught my eye were the ones which acknowledged the everyday world around us and distorted it. They were interesting, linguistically and in their use of imagery. There were poems, too, which were unpredictable and playful."
 
Jackie Wills, Adjudicator

The Winners

First Prize: Indigestion of the Senses, Lara Frankena
Second Prize: Self-Storage, Derek Adams
Third Prize: Nightfall So Briefly Here, Pansy Maurer-Alvarez

Highly Commended: Notes On The First Session, Pam Zinnemann-Hope
My Wedding, Mandy Haggith

Commended: Pocket, Bruce Barnes
Is it the end of the World? Rosemary McLeish
Fur, Patricia Zontelli
Dali - the Persistence of Memory, Diana Mitchener

Shortlisted: Mississippi Highway, John Godfrey
Shape Shifter, Diana Mitchener
And if... Nicola C Grant
The Head, Valerie Darville
Shed, Pam Zinnermann-Hope
A Visit to the Sweat Lodge, Jean Harvey
The Sky Sweeper, Lesley Mountain
Of Say, Berlin, Pansy Maurer-Alvarez
The Westminster Vixen, Josh Ekroy
Under the Knife, Rex Andrews
Electricity, Sarah Hoyle
I am the house, Diana Mitchener
Unsolicited Mail, Barbara Ellis
39 Abingdon Road, Valerie Bridge
Retribution, Pat Varey
Skinners Wharf, Christine Lowes