Magma Poetry is delighted to announce the results of the 2023/24 Poetry Competition.
Raymond Antrobus and the panel of Magma Editors read over 3,500 poems. Congratulations to all the winning and commended poets and huge thanks to everyone entering the competition and for your continuing support of Magma.
Read the all winning and commended poems as well as the judging reports here:
Magma Poetry Competition: Winning and Commended Poems
JUDGE’S PRIZE judged by Raymond Antrobus, for poems of 11-50 lines
- FIRST PRIZE: For Palestine by Clara-Læïla Laudette
- SECOND PRIZE: Toussaint L’Ouverture Replies to Wordsworth (March 1803) by Rommi Smith
- THIRD PRIZE: Please Refrain From Speculating by Leyla Çolpan
COMMENDED:
- Anthros by JA Lenton
- Faint by Amelia Loulli
- Brogue by Éadaoín Lynch
- Watching by Linda McDonald
- spell to dismantle the patriarchy by Lynnda Wardle
EDITORS’ PRIZE judged by Magma Editors, for poems of up to 10 lines
- FIRST PRIZE: Scapa Flow by Catherine Spooner
- SECOND PRIZE: Temporary Worker Visa by Anne Rouse
- THIRD PRIZE: The Beauty Here Is Almost Unbearable by Millie Guille
COMMENDED:
- Leaves, Their Whole Lives, Dangle by Sharon Black
- My Unborn by Jo Cornwell
- The Goat in Tehran by Hilary McDaniel
- ache by Kayla Marie Troy
- Transparency by John White
The three winning poems in each competition will be published in Magma 89, Performance and all winning and commended poems plus the judges’ reports online in a downloadable PDF, available when the issue launches this July.
Magma 2022/23 Poetry Competition
We are delighted to share the winning and commended poems from the Magma Poetry Competition 2020/21!
Click on the link below to read the poems:
Magma Poetry Competition 2022/23 Winning and Commended Poems
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Magma 2021/22 Poetry Competition
We are delighted to announce the winners of our 2021/22 Poetry Competition
Read the poems here: Magma Poetry Competitions 2021/22 — Winning and Commended Poems
Winner of the JUDGE’S PRIZE judged by Marvin Thompson:
Gwen Sayers with Archbishop Tutu’s funeral seen from thousands of miles away
Magma Poetry Competition 2020/21
Winning and Commended Poems
We are delighted to share the winning and commended poems from the Magma Poetry Competition 2020/21!
Click on the link below to read the poems:
Magma Poetry Competition 2020/21 Winning and Commended Poems
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Magma Poetry Competition 2019/20
Winning and Commended Poems
We are delighted to share the winning and commended poems from the Magma Poetry Competition 2019/20!
Click on the link below to read the poems:
Magma Poetry Competition 2019/20 Winning and Commended Poems
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Magma Poetry Competition 2019/20 — Winners Announced
Magma Poetry is excited to announce the winners and commended poets for its 2019/20 Poetry Competition for both the Judge’s Prize and the Editors’ Prize.
Many thanks to everyone who entered our annual Competition. Our Judge Caroline Bird and Magma Editors’ have been busy reading thousands of entries and we have had some very tough choices to make, but we now have our list. Congratulations to all the winners and commendeds and huge thanks to everyone for your continuing support of Magma.
JUDGE’S PRIZE
FIRST PRIZE: Mark Russell from Arrochar, Scotland with Hospitality
SECOND PRIZE: Victoria Richards from London with The mothers scream into the void
THIRD PRIZE: Rachael Matthews from New York with Ventriloquism
COMMENDED POEMS in no particular order:
Cameron Brady-Turner from Hemel Hempsted with Animal Crossing
Katie O’Pray from Bedford with Four Kisses
Nicola Daly from Chester with All I know About: J
Sally Baker from Mytholmroyd, W. Yorks with Fear of Arsenical Green
Liam Bates from Wednesbury, W. Midlands with The Protagonist
EDITORS’ PRIZE
FIRST PRIZE: James Pollock from Madison, WI, USA with Goose Neck Lamp
SECOND PRIZE: Paul Nemser from Cambridge, MA, USA with Morning After
THIRD PRIZE: Lydia Harris from Orkney with Muldro
COMMENDED POEMS in no particular order:
Maria Isakova-Bennett from Liverpool with The Alt at Lunt Meadows
John Maguire from Northumberland with The artist responds to criticism
Ian Chamberlain from Teignmouth, Devon with Certificate PG
Dean Gessie from Ontario, Canada with existential deer
Kathy Pimlott from Covent Garden with After the Fall
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The three winning poems in each competition will be published in Magma 77, Act Your Age, and the Commended poems on the Magma website when the issue launches.
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We are delighted to announce the winners of Magma Poetry Competition 2018/19
Judge’s Prize
Judged by Andrew McMillan
First prize: Inua Ellams – ‘Fuck/Boys’
Second prize: Rowena Warwick – ‘Stillborn’
Third prize: Ben Strak – ‘Hangover’
Commended (in no particular order)
Milena Williamson – ‘On our night out’
Catherine Norris – ‘Break the fast with peaches’
Inessa Rajah – ‘Checklist’
Regina Weinert – ‘Sheffield Fox’
*The fifth commended poem for the Judge’s Prize has since been withdrawn by the poet
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Editors’ Prize
Judged by a panel of Magma Editors
First prize: Derek Hughes – ‘A Strange Boulder’
Second prize: Kathy Pimlott – ‘Entertaining Sammy Davis Jnr in St Ives, 1962‘
Third prize: Katie Hale – ‘Lanterns’
Commended (in no particular order)
Ian Patterson – ‘Violin’
Robyn Steely – ‘Still Life with Cigarette’
Ken Babstock – ‘Infinite Jump Glitch’
Claire Gallivan – ‘The Text’
Barbara Hickson – ‘At Logan Botanic Garden’
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We are delighted to be hosting our Prize Winners’ Reading in the beautiful and atmospheric setting of Exmouth Market Centre in Islington, North London. Book your tickets here
Supported by Arts Council England