Congratulations, Vanessa!

I can't resist talking about my very talented friend, especially since she is offline right now at a writing retreat... so it's up to me to say

CONGRATULATIONS

to Vanessa Gebbie, already a prize-winning short story writer and novelist, for winning FIRST PRIZE in the Troubadour Poetry Competition! Is there no end to her talents? I suspect there isn't! I'm so proud of her, she's only been writing poetry for a few years, and this prize comes with a very nice cheque for £2,500, which will buy quite a bit of cake when she and I next meet for a writerly chat! She's a true inspiration, I'm raising a glass! Cheers! Read her winning poem here.

Here's the full list of prizewinners, congratulations to all!

• First Prize, £2500: ‘Immensi Tremor Oceani’, Vanessa Gebbie, East Sussex
• Second Prize, £500: The Teenage Existential, Paul Stephenson, London
• Third Prize, £250: Explaining the Plot of ‘Blade Runner’ to my Mother who has Alzheimer’s: C.J. Allen, Notts

and, with prizes of £20 each:

• Horse As Accordion, Nicky Arscott, Powys
• A Tale from the Town Maze, Mike Barlow, Lancaster
• East 17th Street or How I Met My Husband, Mara Bergman, Tunbridge Wells
• The Third Umpire, Judy Brown, London
• The Ledge, Miles Cain, York
• Brood, Claudia Daventry, St. Andrews
• The Language of Memory (The Bees), Gerrie Fellows, Glasgow
• Lost, Rebecca Goss, Liverpool
• When Jesus Played the Piano, David H.W. Grubb, Henley-on-Thames
• Woman on a Cliff, Peter Gruffydd, Bristol
• X-Ray Vision, Alex Josephy, London
• Woolpit Child, Gillian Laker, Kent
• October 1962, Shelley McAlister, Yarmouth
• Burning the Clocks, John McCullough, East Sussex
• HazMat, Dawn McGuire, Orinda, California
• A Psalm for the Scaffolders, Kim Moore, Barrow in Furness
• The Mercedes, Helen Overell, Surrey
• The Scarlet Lizard, Caroline Smith, Rickmansworth
• Underworld, Judi Sutherland, Berkshire
• Peter Doig’s Studio, Betty Thomson, Co. Wexford