We have now received the results of the Nature and Place Poetry Competition back from Kathleen Jamie and are delighted to announce that the winners are:

1st Prize of £1000 – ‘Marsh thistle’ by Jemma Borg

2nd Prize of £500 – ‘Harold Wilson Rows Towards Bishop Rock’ by Martin Figura

3rd Prize of A place on a creative writing course at Ty Newydd– ‘Habitats’ by Polly Atkin

Additional Prize of a personal tour with Mark Cocker of his most cherished wildlife places in East Anglia – ‘Have I already told you this?’ by Sophie F Baker

Additional Prize of a personal tour with Nick Davies of Wicken Fen – ‘The Golden Panamanian Frog Waves To Us’ by Sue Norton

The five prize winning poems will be published in issue 89 of The Rialto.

Kathleen also selected six highly commended poems:

‘This Year’ by Ellie Rees

‘White death spider’ by Jane McCarthy Wilkinson

‘An Argument with the Town Clerk’ by Sally St Clair

‘Ligns’ by Jamie Thorp

‘A Wilding’ by Sean Lysaght

‘Some Thank You’ by Christine Lowther

This was a record year for the competition with an amazing abundance of fantastic writing. It really is a special thing, making a difference to nature and poetry. Many thanks to Kathleen, Ty Newydd Mark Cocker and Nick Davies for their generosity in working with us and indeed to all of you who entered.

Kathleen Jamie and the prize winners will be reading their poems at CCI in Cambridge on Thursday 15th June. Full details and a link to buy tickets is here. https://natureandplace2017.eventbrite.co.uk

To view the long list please click the tab below. Please note the long list is not a list of all entrants.

Long list

East coast main line – Kate Rambridge
The Fisherman’s Bride – Pam Thompson
Song of the Wasp’s Nest – Jane Robinson
Daffodils – Rachael Matthews
Disturbed, – Jane Commane
Zen of scything – Lorn Macintyre
The Golden Panamanian Frog Waves to Us – Sue Norton
My Friend, the Physicist, Attempts to Explain his Version of E = MC2 – Dominic Bury
The Opened Field – Dominic Bury
A Wreath – N.Prentice
A wilding – Sean Lysaght
Hare Crossing – Mick Evans
Last Seen At Blos Cafe – Brian Clark
Culpability – Kate Thick
Bulbs – Jo Peters
The Wren – John Kelly
He Wasn’t There – Sam Burns
Sand – Linda Snell
Concert – Lizzi Thistlethwayte
Towards The Heat – Jean Stevens
An Encounter – Sue Davies
There Is A Place – Jane Routh
Butterfly House (Armenia, Colombia) – Isabel Bermudez
Sleeping Beauty – Chris Hardy
Auspices – Chris Hardy
Evening primrose – Caroline Harris
Glamour – Rebecca Watts
Have I already told you this? – Sophie Baker
The Woodwife – Elizabeth Wheeler
Shooting land – Elizabeth Wheeler
Ligns – James Thorp
Cold Gathering – Polly Atkin
Interrupted Metamorphosis – Polly Atkin
Inupiaq Words For Ice – Sneha Madhavan-Reese
Suicide Hill – Karen Jane Cannon
An Argument with the Town Clerk – Sally St Clair
Earth – Nicholas Murray
Spider Season – Jake Reynolds
Waxwings in Rushmore Road, London E5 – Matthew Brown
Nocturne for Another Life – K T Landon
Aurora Borealis – Justin Hunt
Signora Gallinotto recalls October 2000 – Clare Best
On the mulattiera – Clare Best
Marsh thistle – Jemma Borg
An organ of ‘extreme perfection’ – Jemma Borg
White death spider – Jane McCarthey
Brink – Simon Middleton
Child’s Song – Mia Anderson
Harold Wilson Rows Towards Bishop Rock – Martin Figura
A Test – Guy Russell
Gladioli – Geri Dogmetchi
Hope For My Friends With Breakable Hearts – Anita Ouellette
This Year – Ellie Rees
Let’s Say – Tess Cosslett
From Nowhere – Dominic Fisher
Malus – Dominic Fisher
A Garden In Greece – Penelope Turner
A Journalist Visits The Peninsular After A Fire – Penelope Turner
Threshold – Ruth Calway
Wren – Jed Myers
Biologists – Samantha Collier
Moonrise, Earthshine – Nicola Healey
Lost Ground – Art O Suilleabhain
Stone – Jane Blank
Swimmer, 2016 – Gail Anderson
Hansard, 1959 – Gail Anderson
God’s Love, 2:1 On Favourite – Alexandra Josephy
The Arrival – Hannah Hogan
What Do We Do When The Water Rises – Tania Hershman
Safe Passage – Eleanor Holmes
Self-Portrait, With You And Elk – Patrick Errington
The Thrush – Stephen Meek
Canyon Matins – Mary Sue Cave
The Crone – Jessica Mookherjee
Holly Berries – Janet Joyner
Following The Cut – Alan Hawley
Spring In The Old Kent Road, 1967 – Michael Hutchinson
The Skelligs – Jennifer Russell
The Benevolence of Barnacles – K M Russell
Enmedio – Beth McDonough
Recordings – Claire Basarich
The Loneliness of the Mortal Coil – Jeanne Julian
Control – Keith Hutson
Seining The Parking Lot – Catherine Carter
Inheritance – Amanda Williams
Since When Have I Moved Through This Land – Amanda Williams
The Ambiguities Of Place – Maitreyabandhu
The Answer To Your Question Is, “Nanobots To Reignite The Sun” – John Freeman III
Ocean Skull – Ann-Marie Blanchard
Filiatra – Vasiliki Albedo
Riddle – Doreen Gurrey
Dipper – Anne Milton
Growth – Janet Lees
Guilt With Deed – Christine Lowther
Some Thankyou – Christine Lowther
Parenting – Rosie Mapplebeck
Stickleback – Mark Parry
August Postcard – Heather Yeung
Natural Disaster – Roger Camp
Canada Geese – Joan Crate
Hunting Morels – Martin Settle