Candlestick Press
Competitions
Winners
‘Christmas Tree’
Thank you to all the poets who entered our competition. We received a fascinating variety of interpretations of the Christmas Tree theme from all around the world – everything from fake trees to real trees with stowaway birds! As always, we really enjoyed reading the poems and found it very difficult to choose the winners.
We eventually settled on seven wonderful poems, all of which will appear in our festive title Christmas Tree to be published in September.
Many congratulations to the winners and shortlisted poets:
- Winners
- CP Nield – ‘Our Book Tree’
- Gail Lawler – ‘Gown of Needles’
- Jeanette Burton – ‘The Owl in the Christmas Tree’
- Molly Thapviwat – ‘Inheritance’
- Olga Dermott-Bond – ‘Once Upon a Christmas Eve’
- Polly Walshe – ‘Needled’
- Rhona Stephens – ‘Just Keep Walking’
- Shortlist
- Aruna Stannard
- Carole Bromley
- DA Prince
- Helen Heery
- Jane Burn
- Oliver Comins
- Olivia Walwyn
- Penny Sharman
- Rob Walton
- Sarah Doyle
- Sophie Bathurst
- Vanessa Lampert
Please do look out for future Candlestick competitions which we publicise via Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, Threads or X and on this page.
Illustration by Shutterstock/Honyojima.
Previous Results
-
‘Light’
- Winners
- DA Prince – ‘Sea-light’
- Jane Burn – ‘Telling My Child About Light’
- Laura Theis – ‘craving’
- Nairn Kennedy – ‘Fire Fox’
- Penny Sharman – ‘Foxfire’
- Rachel Jeffcoat – ‘Desire Lines’
- Rosie Jackson – ‘Magdalene and the Flame’
- Shasta Hanif Ali – ‘Things that hold light’
- Stephen Keeler – ‘Flametree’
- Shortlist
- DA Prince (two poems)
- Elizabeth Tyson-Doneley
- Emma Simon
- Giles Watson (three poems)
- Isabelle Thompson
- Jane Burn
- Karan Chambers
- Kate O’Neil
- Kerry Darbishire
- LB Jørgensen
- Laura Theis (two poems)
- Leah Larwood
- Lisa Falshaw
- Maria Isakova-Bennett
- Martyn Crucefix
- Nairn Kennedy (three poems)
- Nora Nadjarian
- Penny Sharman (two poems)
- Rachel Jeffcoat
- Rosie Jackson
- Shasta Hanif Ali
- Stephen Keeler
- Sue Burge
- Vanessa Napolitano
-
‘Holidays’
- Winners
- Beth McDonough – ‘Right now,’
- Carole Bromley – ‘Postcard from Athens’
- Claire Lynn – ‘That Moment’
- Jeanette Burton – ‘My dad orders four drinks on the Greek island of Zakynthos, 1987’
- LB Jørgensen – ‘Tea House Trekking’
- Pete Taylor – ‘a walk with daughters at Merthyr Mawr’
- Polly Walshe – ‘Holiday Rental’
- Sarah Ziman – ‘The Guest Book’
- Stephen Payne – ‘Salobreña’
- Shortlist
- Ali Rowland
- Angela Topping
- Beliz McKenzie
- Carole Bromley
- DA Prince
- Giles Watson
- Isabella Mead
- Jane Simmons
- Janet Dean
- Jayne Stanton
- Jeanette Burton
- Kath McKay
- LB Jørgensen
- Nairn Kennedy
- Penny Sharman
- Regina Weinert
- Ruth Sharman
- Vanessa Napolitano
-
‘Christmas Walk’
- Winners
- Annie Kissack – ‘Winter Gathering’
- Aoife Mannix – ‘Walk With Me in December’
- Bill Adair – ‘Intimate Pavements’
- Charlotte Oliver – ‘Unboxed’
- Giles Watson – ‘The Caldon Canal’
- Jane Burn – ‘The Snow, the Path, the Moon, the Leaf’
- Kerry Darbishire – ‘Christmas Landscape’
- Marie-Louise Eyres – ‘Christmas Walk – A Snow Cento’
- Martyn Crucefix – ‘Fleecy Disney Christmas snowflakes’
- Miriam Wei Wei Lo – ‘Quick Trip to the Beach Before the Early Service’
- Penny Sharman – ‘Boxing Day walk when Lili loved us all, 2001.’
- Valerie Bence – ‘A low owl at Christmas’
-
‘Wonky Animals’
- Winners
- Leah Larwood – ‘The zoo in my cellar’
- Linda France – ‘Sighting’
- Rob Miles – ‘To listen for a mouse’
- Sophia Argyris – ‘Fox names the world’
- Highly Commended
- Amber Rollinson – ‘Who could see a tiger’
- Carole Bromley – ‘Curiosities and Cavorts’ and ‘Smitten’
- Hannah Stone – ‘Lessons for late-brood hoglets’
- Johnnie Sparkle – ‘Red dog blues’
- JLM Morton – ‘Love Song for Ewe’
- Mel Pryor – ‘What the herdsman said’ and ‘Sanctuary’
- Nora Nadjarian – ‘Snailology’
- Sarah Ziman – ‘Little Wing’
- Victoria Gatehouse – ‘Conversation with the Mole’
-
‘Kindness’
- Winners
- Olga Dermott-Bond – ‘small change’
- Zoë Green – ‘Some Words from my Imaginary Friend, Jeff’
- Shortlist
- Ali Rowland
- Chitra Kalyani
- Frances Thompson
- Harriet Truscott
- Jane Burn
- Jennifer Clark
- Louise Greig
- Michelle Diaz
- Paul McDonald
- Phoebe Robertshaw
-
‘Almanac 2023’
- Winners
- Laura Theis – ‘Ode to June’
- Liz Kendall – ‘Samoa, October’
- Rae Howells – ‘February Song Thrush Repeats’
- Sam Goundry Butler – ‘Mrkgnao’
- Sarah Ziman – ‘Cam Ceiliog’
- Victoria Gatehouse – ‘The Hawthorn Bride’
- Shortlist
- Ben Wilkinson
- Caroline Gill
- Dale Booton
- Jen Feroze
- Kerry Darbishire
- Lucy Dixcart
- Lucy Ingrams
- Marie-Louise Eyres
- Nicolette Golding
- Regina Weinert
- Sue Burge
-
‘Christmas Stories’
- Winners
- Stephanie Norgate – ‘Christmas Present’ (Postcard Prize)
- Victoria Punch – ‘While the three wise men dreamed’ (Pamphlet Prize)
- Highly Commended
- DA Prince – ‘Hearth’
- Louise Greig – ‘Conversation between a fox and a fir tree’
- Meghan Kemp-Gee – ‘Christmas Eve in the Fox Fur Nebula, 2700 lightyears away’
- Nicola Healey – ‘Imprint’
- Sarah Dale – ‘A Christmas tree’s story’
- Shortlist
- Alex Josephy
- Amlanjyoti Goswami
- Annie Kissack
- Helen Bowell
- Jeremy Wikeley
- Katherine Venn
- KS Moore
- Laura-Jayne Ireton
- Liz Kendall
- Margaret Adkins
- Marian Griffin
- Mary Mulholland
- Sara Boyce
- Steve Page
- Sue Norton
- Victoria Pickup
-
‘Together for Christmas’
- Winners
- Bill Adair – ‘The Carol of the Stable’
- Christina Buckton – ‘Born This Happy Morning’
- Corinna Keefe – ‘Christmas Dinner’
- Jeanette Burton – ‘Boxing Day at My Grandparents’ House’
- Robert Hamberger – ‘Playing Love Hangover While Washing Up’
-
‘Getting Older’
- Winners
- Alasdair Paterson – ‘Hop’
- Elvire Roberts – ‘Kintsugi’
- Mark Granier – ‘Colonoscopy’
- Highly Commended
- Cheryl Pearson
- Clint King
- Jacquie Shanahan
- Marianne Jones
- Tina Cole
- Shortlist
- Akwe Amosu
- Alison Campbell
- Anya Trofimova
- Ben Wilkinson
- Bernie Crawford
- Bob Cooper
- Christine Macfarlane
- Consuelo Marshall
- DA Prince
- Darrell Hugueley
- Deborah Harvey
- Fiona Ritchie Walker
- Gita Ralleigh
- James Heaney
- Jeffa Kay
- Jill Sharp
- Jo Field
- Julian Turner
- Massey Armistead
- Michael Ray
- Olga Dermott-Bond
- Pamela Butler
- Robert Hamberger
- Sarah Grout
- Stephen Keeler
- Vanessa Lampert
- Vic Pickup
-
‘Snow’
- Winners
- Lucy Jeynes – ‘Snow Day’
- Joanne Key – ‘for the love of snow’
- Meda AA Stamper – ‘The Symmetry of Snow’
- Highly commended
- Kerry Darbishire
- Gill McEvoy
- Jill Munro
- Shortlist
- Beliz McKenzie
- Claire Lynn
- Christopher James
- Hannah Stone
- Hilary Robinson
- Jeanette Burton
- John Foggin
- Nicola Warwick
- Pat Childerhouse
- Polly Walshe
- Rhiannon Hooson
- Sarah Ziman
- Tom Sastry
-
‘Breakfast’
- Winners
- Catherine Edmunds – ‘Breakfast with Mother’
- Olga Dermott-Bond – ‘Toaster’
- Phil Houghton – ‘Before the Lark’
- Shortlist
- Christopher James
- Claire Lynn
- Hannah Stone
- Hilary Robinson
- Jeanette Burton
- John Foggin
- Nicola Warwick
- Pat Childerhouse
- Polly Walshe
- Rhiannon Hooson
- Sarah Ziman
- Tom Sastry
-
‘Clouds’
- Winners
- Lesley Saunders – ‘Hazy, Massed, Dappled’
- Sarah Westcott – ‘Flight’
- Highly Commended
- Caroline Hammond – ‘Cloud Content’
- Christopher James – ‘The Cloud Collector’
- Jeanette Burton – ‘Musings on Board Spacecraft Oasis 1’
- Jonathan Davidson – ‘Clouding Over’
- Louise Greig – ‘Cloud Souls’
- Michael Brown – ‘Cloud Break’
- Miriam Calleja – ‘8.04pm’
- Shirley Anne Cook – ‘Nudging Clouds’
-
‘Micropoem’
- Winner
- Roz Goddard
- Highly Commended
- Maria Taylor
- Matthew Paul
- Runner-ups
- Jeanette Burton
- Karen Jane Cannon
- Polly Atkin
- Maree Jaeger
- Stephen Daniels