RESULTS
POETRY COMPETITION 2025
GRAHAM BURCHELL AWARD FOR
SOUTHWEST POETS
POETRY COMPETITION 2025
GRAHAM BURCHELL AWARD FOR
SOUTHWEST POETS
We are delighted to announce the results of the 2025 Graham Burchell Award for Southwest Poets.
Winners:
1st: 'In MacLeod Country' by Andrew Robinson
2nd: 'Eating The Laughing Buddha' by Annie Fisher
3rd: 'The Museum of Emptiness' by Jonathan F J Taylor
Highly Commended:
'Autopsy: Northern Fulmar' by Jackie Taylor
'Dawn Prayer For Cows' by Sarah Walsh
'Feather Time' by Susan Taylor
Shortlisted:
'This 59 year old man killed last night in Odessa' by Sara Cheesman
'Grey White' by Dominic Fisher
'Easter Sunday in the Bird Hide' by Jan Nicholls
'Shoal' by Vivienne Tregenza
'The Boy Who Waited for the Sun' by Sam Bovey
'To the Foraminifera of Plymouth Sound' by Lesley Curwen
Many Congratulations to our winners, highly commended poets and shortlisters.
We have had an outstanding response, receiving 366 poems, and the quality of work received has been very high. We can be very proud of the poetry in our Southwest region.
There will be a live event and prizegiving to celebrate the competition in the Teign Heritage Centre Teignmouth on Saturday 20th September from 3pm when winning, highly commended and shortlisted poets will be reading their poems followed by a reading by judge Andy Brown. There will also be an Open Mic, so we hope many of our friends and followers will come along.
Winners:
1st: 'In MacLeod Country' by Andrew Robinson
2nd: 'Eating The Laughing Buddha' by Annie Fisher
3rd: 'The Museum of Emptiness' by Jonathan F J Taylor
Highly Commended:
'Autopsy: Northern Fulmar' by Jackie Taylor
'Dawn Prayer For Cows' by Sarah Walsh
'Feather Time' by Susan Taylor
Shortlisted:
'This 59 year old man killed last night in Odessa' by Sara Cheesman
'Grey White' by Dominic Fisher
'Easter Sunday in the Bird Hide' by Jan Nicholls
'Shoal' by Vivienne Tregenza
'The Boy Who Waited for the Sun' by Sam Bovey
'To the Foraminifera of Plymouth Sound' by Lesley Curwen
Many Congratulations to our winners, highly commended poets and shortlisters.
We have had an outstanding response, receiving 366 poems, and the quality of work received has been very high. We can be very proud of the poetry in our Southwest region.
There will be a live event and prizegiving to celebrate the competition in the Teign Heritage Centre Teignmouth on Saturday 20th September from 3pm when winning, highly commended and shortlisted poets will be reading their poems followed by a reading by judge Andy Brown. There will also be an Open Mic, so we hope many of our friends and followers will come along.
JUDGE - ANDY BROWN
ANDY BROWN is a poet, novelist and Professor of Creative & Critical Writing at Exeter University. His many books of poetry include the forthcoming collection, THE BIG RIP (Worple Press, 2025); three collections with Salt Publications; several collaborative poetry books with John Burnside, David Morley and Marc Woodward; and the major edited anthology A BODY OF WORK: Poetry & Medicine (Bloomsbury). His recent novel THE MIDNIGHT MECHANIC (Sea Crow, USA) revisits the underbelly of Victorian London, while his study THE TREE CLIMBING CURE (Bloomsbury) looks at the figure of the tree climber in poetry, fiction and art. He is also a prolific singer-songwriter in the SW scene.