FSP is delighted to announce the winners of the Single Poet 2019 and New Poets 20 competitions.
The Single Poet 2019 Competition was won by Benjamin Adams for his collection A Synonym for Sobriety with commendations going to The Laureate Poems by Suzanne Verrall and The Underside Of Bark by Gaetano Aiello.
Single Poet 2019 Judge David Adès gave great insight into his process for selecting the winning and commended manuscripts. His feedback on the level of professionalism and the little mistakes made by those submitting for the competition, which can mean the difference between becoming a published poet or not, was very constructive and will help those poets not just in future competitions, but with their submissions to publishers.
The New Poets 20 Competition was won by Alys Jackson for Wolf Ghost, Sharon Foulkes for Finding Their Voices and Julia Wakefield for Shifting Viewpoints with commendations going to Isabel Oliver for Sustenance and Inez Marrasso for Smile in White.
New Poets 20 Judge Steve Evans referenced several quotes about poetry by icons from the past which resonated strongly with the audience and his stats on the popularity of arts and culture over sport was greatly appreciated: people often fail to realise more people attend arts and cultural events than the footy and cricket.
FSP thanks David Adès and Steve Evans for judging these competitions. Their feedback will help not just these poets, but any who follow their advice when submitting for competition or publication.
We also thank the Committee of Friendly Street Poets, past and present, for helping to resurrect these two wonderful opportunities for South Australian poets to see their ambition realised to become published poets in respected books.
Finally, and most importantly, thank you to everyone who submitted to these competitions. We hope you continue to put pen creatively to paper, read often to audiences, and succeed in your future submissions.
Keep an eye out for further announcements on when and where these exciting new publications will be launched.
Click here to read FSP Convenor, Nigel Ford’s full report of the announcements.