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2012 International Poetry Competition

We are delighted to announce that the 2012 Poetry Competition was won by Andrew McMillan for his poem 'Jacob With the Angel'. The Borough Prize was won by Lorraine Mariner for her poem, 'Millbank Penitentiary'.

The prize-giving event and performance was a joyous event. You can see a gallery of photos on our facebook page.

We are honoured to have performed and published the 24 shortlisted poems, which make an extraordinary collection of contemporary work:

London (East), Graham Goddard

Autumn Most Amorous, Geraldine Clarkson

Weather, Mark Cooper

Thus Our Eyes are Behind Us (how to make a chain), Stephen Tysome

The Invention of Chicken Marengo, Tim Richardson

Verse for the Marshes, Tim O Leary

The Library would like to speak of war, Anna Kisby

One-Thing, Gus Simonovic

How to be Irish from a Distance, David Nash

The Pyschology of Paths, David Underdown

Millbank Penetentiary, Lorraine Mariner

Two Weeks of Snow, Rosamund Taylor

American Road, Mark Huband

The Equinox Separation, Isabel Rogers

Accidental, Mick Delap

The New, Mark Leech

The Mutineer Drowns, Penny Boxall

The afternoon will begin, said the Master, Robbie Burton

Inner Cities, D Shanahan

Domestic Gods, David Clarke

Viganella, Rob Miles

Witness, Andrew George

Descendant of the Minotaur, William Doreski

Jacob with the Angel, Andrew McMillan

All these shortlisted poems will be published in our 2012 Prize Anthology, which promises to be a rich selection of work by outstanding contemporary poets. You can pre-order a copy from our online shop, here.

On 21st October at 3pm at Greenwich Theatre, Crooms Hill, all the shortlisted poems will be performed by the Live Canon ensemble. Guest Judge, Antony Dunn will announce the overall winner, and winner of the Borough Prize and present the cheques. If you would like to attend this event, please email us at livecanon [at] btinternet.com

The 2011 poetry competition, judged by Glyn Maxwell, was won by Kirsten Irving for her poem 'Hissing Cockroach'.

Kirsten commented:

Winning the Live Canon competition was an amazing surprise and I am hugely grateful to the judges, organisers and actors for the opportunity to enter, to have my work considered and also to see my poetry performed on stage. It is very easy to get disheartened with competitions, and to feel that perhaps what you write is too odd to win, or does not fit into a perceived 'prize-winning' style. I'm ecstatic to be proved wrong. Live Canon are a really approachable, innovative organisation.on, focused on bringing poetry out into the spotlight, and I'm really glad I entered.

2012 Prize Anthology

All the shortlisted poems are published in our 2012 Prize Anthology. You can buy a copy from our online shop, here.

GUEST JUDGE, Antony Dunn

Antony Dunn was born in London in 1973 and lives in Leeds. He won the Newdigate Prize in 1995 and received an Eric Gregory Award in 2000. He has published three collections of poems, Pilots and Navigators (Oxford University Press 1998), Flying Fish (Carcanet OxfordPoets 2002) and Bugs (Carcanet OxfordPoets 2009).

Antony is a regular tutor for The Poetry School and the Arvon Foundation. He has worked on a number of translation projects with poets from Holland, Hungary, China and Israel, and was Poet in Residence at the University of York for 2006 and at the Ilkley Literature Festival in 2010. He also writes for the theatre and his plays include Dog Blue, Goose Chase and Shepherds’ Delight.

He is Director of the Bridlington Poetry Festival and an Artistic Associate of Nottingham-based Useful Donkey Theatre Company.

Visit Antony's website here