We have now received the results of the 2022 Nature and Place Poetry Competition back from Gillian Clarke and are delighted to announce that the winners are:

1st Prize of £1000 – ‘Blame the Fox’ by Jane Lovell

2nd Prize of £500 – ‘Whales in the Forth’ by Cecilia Rose

3rd Prize of £250 – ‘Ghosts’ by Lesley Saunders

The three prize winning poems will be published in issue 99 of The Rialto.

Gillian also selected eight highly commended poems:

‘Heeling in at Lower Wood’ by Alison Binney
‘Trapper’ by Nicky Kippax
‘Hymn to Sheep’ by Mary Mulholland
‘Letter from the Moon’ by Christine Macfarlane
‘October’ by Candida Elton
‘The End of Things’ by Anthony Lawrence
‘The Whale Watching’ by Jonathan Greenhause
‘Cae Ysbyty’ by Rachael Davey

 

The link to the Long List below is not a list of all the poems submitted to the competition, it lists those poems that were still in the running right to up to the late stages of the judging. Please don’t be disheartened if your work doesn’t appear on this list! Once again, we had a huge response to the competition, receiving around 2800 poems from 1350 poets.

The quality of the writing submitted and the deep engagement with our theme is always astonishing and indeed heartening. Every poem entered makes a difference to nature and poetry.

Many thanks to Gillian for her generosity in working with us and indeed to all of you who entered.

We will shortly be announcing details of the free online event that will feature a reading by Gillian Clarke and our winners. This is planned for Wednesday 6th July. Further details will be announced in due course.

Long list

Please be aware the long list is only representative of a part of the process of selection and does not include all entrants. The judging is a difficult process of elimination, from the thousands of poems received one hundred or so poems go on to the long list, a short list is then compiled and from that a list of winners and highly commended poems.

We are grateful for all submissions, the standard this year was exceptional.

Dutton Meadow Alison Binney
Heeling in at Lower Wood Alison Binney
The End of Things Anthony Lawrence
The Clearing Bill Dodd
bloody excellent canopy Brent Cantwell
Archive Caleb Parkin
October Candida Elton
Piscinas Naturales Los Abrigos Carmina Masoliver
Reinventing the Pig Catherine Ormell
Whales in the Forth Cecilia Rose
Fruit Bat Charlotte Wetton 
Lindamar Beach Clean Up Christina Lloyd
Letter from the Moon Christine Macfarlane
The skulls at Brechfa  Christopher Meredith
An overall net gain for displaced bird species Claire Miller
The View from Here Claire Orchard
Wild Life Claire Orchard
Wormwood Scrubs Clare Sandling
Wandering Heart Clive McWilliam
The Last Birds Damen O’Brien
Lion’s Mane Mushroom Dan MacIsaac
Storm Petrels David Healey
Bog Butter David Nash
Asinus Minor Di Slaney
Shaconage Duncan Wu
Big Barn Migration DW Evans
Fish at the quarry Elizabeth Gibson
Plastic Helen Pletts
Ollie the Octopus Hilary Menos
The Texas Tattooed Pig as Art Critic Hilary Menos
Sydney Harbour’s Blue-Ringed Octopus Ian Pettit
In the Purple J Garvey
maybe dying is easy Jamie Hale
An Accidental Lexicon Jane Callan
Blame the Fox Jane Lovell
Malus sylvestris, 60-90 cm, January 2022 Jane Routh
Mazed Jane Wheeler
Myxy Jane Wilkinson
As the Gentle Rain Janet Hatherley
In the Spared Heart Kindled of Turf and Clouds Jennifer Militello
Skein Jill Munro
About Ticks Jim McElroy
Oligarchias Jo Davis
Indifference : at the old Oparara Goldfields John Gallas
On Going to See the Bears at The Wild Place Project, Bristol, and Not Seeing Them Jonathan Edwards
The Whale Watching Jonathan Greenhause
Cyprus Well Judy O’Kane
Wet Wipe Reef  Julian Bishop
A Drigg glossary Julian Dobson
How Time Works on the Southern Plains Justin Hunt
Amplification Kali Richmond
Woodpecker Kathy Miles
Whale Watching in the Arctic Circle Kerry Ryan
Protection Kristen Lang
After a thin snow L A Watt
there goes the red horse again  Laura McKee
A Lush World in Ruins Leo Boix
Ghosts Lesley Saunders
Revolution Lesley Sharpe
Alba Linda France
By the end of June the earth was flat again Liz Houchin
Snow Nights Luke Allan
Sheep at Heathrow Lydia MacKinnon
Withens Lydia MacKinnon
My Son at Cuckmere Haven Canoe Club Mara Bergman
Brood X Marie-Louise Eyres
Hymn to Sheep Mary Mulholland
A Premonition Michael Greavy
Unmooring Michael Greavy 
An unsung song Mike Barlow
Hope is a zombie frog Molly Underwood
Salmon on the Garry Morag Smith
Salvage From The Sky Days Niamh Mac Cabe
Terms of the Tail Nicky Hallett
Trapper Nicky Kippax
Buds Nicola Healey
Death of a Field Mouse Nicola Healey
An Australian Summer Oliver Cocks
for we are young and free Olivia Tuck
Walking the Dales Paul Stephenson
A Boy Digging Peter Wallis
Mother Scorpion Thicktail Prerana Kumar
Cae Ysbyty Rachael Davey
Hindsight is a map  Rachel Baum
Concerning the principle underwriting several questions left at the Nature Table Roger Elkin
A Stone Pond Below Kashyem Roop Majumdar
Whooper Swans Rosie Rockel
Upkeep Rowan Lyster
The Road Sally St Clair
Mistletoe Sam Garvan
Acorn Sarah Westcott
If Time Were a Colour Serena Alagappan
Shop Local  Serena Alagappan
Love song of a lesser girl Stacey R. Forbes
Excess Sue Burge
Sublimation Sue Burge
Flint Thea Smiley
Uncaged Theresa Sowerby
no ice today  Tiffany Murray
The Day Comes When I Can’t Hear The Crickets Victoria Gatehouse
At the Autumn Equinox Virginia Astley