Trim Poetry Competition 2021-22

In view of the current situation as regards Covid-19 it has been decided to cancel Trim Poetry Festival 2022. Trim Poetry Competition, which is currently accepting entries, will however go ahead as planned and the closing date for the competition has been extended to 31 December 2021.

Competition Rules

Entries are only accepted online by email to this address: trimpoetry@gmail.com

Competitors will pay by PayPal on this blog. Entry Fee: 5 euro per poem or 10 euro for three poems.

You can also send an entry fee by your own PayPal account to trimpoetry@gmail.com

Please type Trim Poetry Competition in the subject line of the email.

The body of the email must include the PayPal transaction number, the entrant's name, address, phone number, and title/titles of the entered poems.

The poem/poems must be attached as a single Word document. The poems should be in Times New Roman, 12 point, single spacing and must not exceed 50 lines (excluding title and stanza breaks). The name of the entrant must not appear on the poems themselves.

All poems must be the original work of the entrant, written in English. Poems must not have been previously published, self-published, published online in any format, or broadcast.  Entrants must be 18 years or over.

All poems are judged completely anonymously, and judges read all entries. The judges’ decisions are final and no correspondence can be entered into regarding those decisions. Current members of Boyne Writers Group are not eligible to enter.

The prize for the winner is 500 euro.  Two runners-up will receive 100 euro each.

The judge is poet Patrick Lodge.

The judges’ shortlist of ten will be announced in February 2022 and included on this blog. Shortlisted poets only will be notified by email. The prize winners will be announced in March 2022. It is hoped to have an online presentation at that stage, details later. 

Submission of a poem implies the competitor’s acceptance of the conditions set out above.

Trim Poetry Festival 2021 - Saturday 13 March.

This was the third annual Trim Poetry Festival and the second virtual festival. 

Thanks to all the performers and participants at Saturday's Trim Poetry Festival. We look forward to seeing some of you in person in Trim at next year's festival on the week-end of 11/12 March 2022. 

 7pm: Poetry Reading by Orla Fay from her chapbook “Drawn to the Light”.

Orla Fay, a member of Boyne Writers, edits Drawn to the Light Press, a new online magazine of poetry. Her chapbook Drawn to the Light was published in October 2020, and her first full collection is forthcoming from Salmon Poetry. She edited Boyne Berries for six years. 

6pm: Poetry Reading by Jean O’Brien.

4pm: Results of Trim Poetry Competition 2021: Introduction and comments by the judge, Jean O’Brien, with readings by the winner, the runners up and some of the shortlisted poets.

 3pm: Readings by members of Boyne Writers Group.

 A Reminder that most of the events of Festival 2020 are still available to view below on this blog.

Trim Poetry Festival 2021 : Saturday 13 March.

This is the third annual Trim Poetry Festival and the second virtual festival. As last year it will be a mixture of live Zoom events and pre-recorded videos on YouTube with links here and on Facebook.

Here is the programme.

10am: Live Online Poetry Workshop by Anne Tannam.

            Anne Tannam is a Dublin poet with two published collections: Tides Shifting Across My Sitting Room Floor (Salmon Poetry 2017) and Take This Life (WordOnTheStreet 2011). Her third, Twenty-six Letters of a New Alphabet, is forthcoming from Salmon Poetry this summer.

Workshop will take place on Zoom starting at 10 am on Saturday 13 March. The cost is 20 Euro and it is limited to 15 participants. Book using the PayPay button on the right..

 3pm: Readings by members of Boyne Writers Group.

 4pm: Results of Trim Poetry Competition 2021:

Introduction and Comments by the judge, Jean O’Brien.

Readings by the winner, the runners up and some of the shortlisted poets.

6pm: Poetry Reading by Jean O’Brien.

Jean O’Brien has five poetry collections to her name; The Shadow Keeper (1997), Dangerous Dresses (2005), Lovely Legs (2009), Merman (2012) and Fish On A Bicycle: New & Selected Poems (2016 & 2018). Her Awards include the Arvon International Poetry Award, and the Fish International Poetry Award. She holds an M. Phil in Creative Writing from Trinity College, Dublin, and tutors in Creative Writing.

 7pm: Poetry Reading by Orla Fay from her chapbook “Drawn to the Light”.

Orla Fay, a member of Boyne Writers, edits Drawn to the Light Press, a new online magazine of poetry. Her chapbook Drawn to the Light was published in October 2020, and her first full collection is forthcoming from Salmon Poetry. She edited Boyne Berries for six years. 

 8pm: Poetry Open Mic on Zoom with Rachel Coventry as MC.

Five minutes each. Use this link to join the Zoom Opem Mic. The room opens at 7.45pm and people can register to read by adding their names to the chat in Zoom. Readers will be chosen on a first come basis. Maximum five minutes each.

 https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5340756676 : Meeting ID: 534 075 6676

Rachel Coventry’s poetry has appeared in many journals including Poetry Ireland Review, The SHop, Cyphers, The Honest Ulsterman and The Stony Thursday Book. She has just completed a PhD on Heidegger’s poetics at NUIG. Her debut collection, Afternoon Drinking at the Jolly Butchers, was published by Salmon Poetry in 2018.

 A Reminder that most of the events of Festival 2020 are still available to view below on this blog.

Trim Poetry Competition 2021 - Results

Here is the result of the Trim Poetry Competition 2021.

Winner:

to make a doll  Angus Strachan England

Runners-Up:

Echolocation Marian Oxley England

The Invisible House Brian Kirk Dublin

Congratulation to those poets, to those who are listed in the short and long lists below and thanks to all who entered. We had a total of 360 entries this year.

A special thanks to our judge, Jean O’Brien, for carrying out her task in such an efficient, professional manner.

We hope to have a virtual prize-giving reading at our virtual Trim Poetry Festival 2021 in mid-March. More details later.

Trim Poetry Competition Shortlist 2021

This is the short list of ten in alphabetical order. 

The winner and two runners-up will be revealed on Sunday next 24 January. 

Echolocation                                                  Marian Oxley              England          

hunter, gatherer                                              Mary Mulholland        England          

In the Republic of Nuns                                 Karen McDonnell       Clare               

Je ne regrette rien                                           Siobhán Flynn             Dublin            

Normal People                                                Frank Murphy             Meath             

The Conspiracy of Silence                             Ojo Taiye                    Nigeria                       

The Edge of the State                                     Trish Bennett              Fermanagh     

The High Garden                                            Caimin Rooney           Dublin            

The Invisible House                                        Brian Kirk                   Dublin           

to make a doll                                                 Angus Strachan           England

Competition Long List

 Below we reveal the titles (in alphabetical order) of the thirty poems which have been selected by judge, Jean O’Brien, as a long list from the over 350 poems entered in the 2021 Trim Poetry Competition. 

Congratulation to the poets whose poems are here but also to all who entered. Jean commented on how high the standard was and how difficult her task was. We would like to thank Jean for her efficient judging of the competition. The long list is a tribute to her familiarity with and appreciation of the wide variety of poetic possibilities with poems of many and varied styles and forms included. 

Longlist

Census         Clare O'Reilly Kildare

Chalk Circle         Máirín O'Grady Dublin

Chang Cheng         Amy Barry Westmeath

Day Room Days         Lynda Tavakoli Down

Echolocation         Marian Oxley England

Excision                 Daragh Byrne Australia

Flints         Anna Forbes Scotland

hunter, gatherer         Mary Mulholland England 

In the Republic of Nuns  Karen McDonnell Clare

Je ne regrette rien         Siobhán Flynn Dublin

Jocelyn Bell Burnell Speaks ... Derek Sellen England

Leaning In         Peggy McCarthy Waterford

Learning to Smoke and Other Things Bernie Crawford Galway

Love         Bernie Crawford Galway

Normal People         Frank Murphy Meath

Ode to My Vocation Boswell Partridge USA

Plague Years         Peter Branson England

Poem for my Grand-daughter David Punter UK

River Bird, Know Your Place Ojo Taiye Nigeria

Rock Pool         George Hopewell England

Season of Brigid         Anne Casey Australia

Sing It         Peadar O'Donoghue Wicklow

the ABCDery of mother’s gardening Angus Strachan England

The Conspiracy of Silence Ojo Taiye Nigeria

The Edge of the State Trish Bennett Fermanagh

The High Garden         Caimin Rooney Dublin

The Invisible House Brian Kirk Dublin

The New Math         Boswell Partridge USA

to make a doll          Angus Strachan England

Wishbone         Sighle Meehan Galway

Trim Poetry Competition Update

Our judge, Jean O'Brien, is finalizing her selections of listed and winners in the 2021 Trim Poetry Competition. We hope to be able to announce a long list of twenty by 10 January and then the short list in a week or two after that. The exact format of a prizegiving is still uncertain but obviously there won't be any physical Trim Poetry Festival or prizegiving at the end of March 2021.