Winners of the East Riding Poetry Prizes, organised as part of the East Riding Festival of Words 2019, were announced at a prize-giving ceremony at Bridlington Library on Saturday 25^th January. The four judges, poets James Nash , Wendy Pratt and Matthew Hedley Stoppard, together with James Booth, Literary Adviser to The Philip Larkin Society, presided over 800 entries, a record number for the event. The quality of entries was such that the judges decided to award additional commendations and special mentions in addition to the main prizes.Commentating on his first experience of judging the competition, James Booth described it as ‘a tough but exhilarating exercise’ with so many good poems to decide between.

The Larkin Prize, sponsored by the Philip Larkin Society was awarded to Chris Sewart from Beverley.

Chris’s poem, ‘Fencing Project – 1975’, will be published in the next edition of About Larkin together with all the other winning entries.

The full list of prize winners is as follows:

Primary School Prize

Winner: Milly Hall

Highly commended: Declan Prophet

Secondary School Prize

Winner: Luca Goaten

Highly commended: Django Bennett-Clarke

The Philip Larkin Society Prize

Winner: Chris Sewart

Second:  Abigail Flint

Third: Penny Boxall

Highly commended: Deborah Harvey, Susan Szekely, Shona Johnson

Special mentions: Lucy Crispin, Robert Raynor, Sarah James

All of the winning entries can be read by clicking here. They will also be published in the next edition of About Larkin