Troubadour International Poetry Prize 2023
The following prizewinning poems were chosen by our 2023 judges, Mona Arshi & Tom Sleigh (see judges’ reports & poems below):
- First Prize, £2,000, Traceries, Jennifer Harrison, Windsor, Victoria, Australia
- Second Prize, £1000, A child’s Christmas in alcohol, Simon Walsh, Brattleboro VT, USA
- Third Prize, £500, Zebra haworthia, Jane Wilkinson, Norwich
Commended poems:
- The King’s Raven, Afra Kingdon, Northam, Devon
- The Influencer’s Prayer, Anne Casey, Northbridge NSW, Australia
- Generational Trauma, Bronagh Mallon, Belfast
- Zulu, Catherine Edmunds, Bishop Auckland, Durham
- This is also true, Charlotte Salkind, London
- The Second Law of Thermodynamics, Deb O’Rourke, Toronto, Canada
- Sometimes Life, Deveraux Baker, Mendocino CA, USA
- The Ilium, Diana Valk, Surbiton, Surrey
- Landscape with inner child, Jane Lovell, Lynton, Devon
- Dust, Jane Williams, South Launceston, Tasmania
- hostage situation, Kate Kruimink, Cygnet, Tasmania
- Five Sleep Potions for Troubled Nights, Leah Larwood, Plumstead, Norfolk
- my mother, wearing a pencil skirt, in a meadow, Liz McSkeane, Dublin
- Olly and Pepper are safe, Martyn Crucefix, London
- Calling on the New House, Mick Wood, London
- Sharing a Koch with You, Nicky Melville, Edinburgh
- No More Wind, Peter Ross, Honiton, Devon
- The House Where Benjamin Zephaniah Didn’t Live, Sallie Durham, Lewes, East Sussex
- Mary Shelley’s Babies, Stephanie Green, Edinburgh
2023 judges’ reports
Mona Arshi writes…
Judging an international poetry competition is both a joyful and fretful task – fretful as it’s always filled with some level…
Read full judges' reports, & 2023 prize–winning & commended poems