Candlestick Press

Competitions

Competition Closed

‘Holidays’

Thank you to all the poets who entered our competition – judging is now in progress.

The winners will be notified by email by 18th December 2023 and announced via social media on or before 3rd January 2024. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram or X to keep up to date with developments.

Photo by Heather McKean on Unsplash.

Previous Results

‘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