Kenwyn House World Poetry Day Competition

Kenwyn House Gallery held a prize giving ceremony on Monday 21st March, World Poetry Day, for the winners of its first ever World Poetry day Competition.

The competition which ran from the 1st to the 18th of March was open to all ages, and saw some incredible poems come through for all three categories. 

World Poetry Day  was declared by UNESCO in 1999, "with the aim of supporting linguistic diversity through poetic expression and increasing the opportunity for endangered languages to be heard". With it’s purpose being to promote the reading, writing, publishing and teaching of poetry and as the original UNESCO declaration says, to "give fresh recognition and impetus to national, regional and international poetry movements".

In her opening remarks at the prize giving ceremony, Ms. Shama Amesbury, PR and Communications Manager at Gran Kaz said

“We decided to hold this competition, to commemorate the day – to bring awareness to it and its objectives, and in doing so create a forum for the many talented individuals in this country who have chosen poetry as their outlet, but have not yet found a platform to share their work. We hope that this event, has brought together some beautiful minds and that a community of poets will arise out of it, so that poetry will be shared and taught, and others will be encouraged to also put pen to paper and see what magic they can create.”

With participants ranging from teenagers to 50+  the competition was split into 3 categories: the Fountain poets (being under 20 years of age); the Quill Poets being young adults; and the Reed poets being the more mature writers.

“This was the first time we held such a competition so we weren’t quite sure what to expect in terms of participation. We were pleasantly surprised by both the quantity and the quality of the entries, as well as the age range of the participants. Our youngest was only 12 years old. It’s so heartening to see children from such a young age already interested in poetry and writing. Perhaps the most wonderful part was seeing participants who had never written before being so happily surprised by the Fact that they one a prize for their work. This is definitely something we want to continue to encourage and support, which is why we would like to make this an annual event.” Said Ms. Amesbury.

Poems entered varied from contemporary issues, such as war and equal rights, to more personal and intimate issues like family and tragedy.

“Today Poetry takes many forms, from haikus to rap. It is not something that is contained or forced to follow any one structure or form, it is fluid. It is expression. Of thoughts and feelings, things or moment that make us happy or sad, angry or concerned. It can be personal and intimate, or

philosophical, asking bigger questions about community and the world we live in.” Ms Amesbury tells us.

Winners of the competition walked away with some wonderful prizes – gift vouchers from Chanterelle Bookstore, sponsored by Chanterelle, as well as gift vouchers from Giraffe Bookstore and Cash Prizes sponsored by Gran Kaz.

Winners in each category -

Fountain Poets: 3rd Place  - Abigail Elizabeth Gonzalves  - Blue Heart;  2nd Place – Shalini Rajah – The War started in Ukraine; 1st Place – Alicia Bonnelamme  - Sunday Melancholia

Quill Poets: 3rd Place – Audrey Acouche – City in the wind : Victoria; 2nd Place – Kessy Cedras – Madanm Tomas; 1st Place – Ian Vidot – Fanm mon lavi: Lapoezi

Reed Poets: 3rd Place – Stephen Figaro – Les mwan vinn berso ou leker; 2nd Place – Sousila Mellon – Leokri dan en silans lanwit part 2; 1st Place – Sousila Mellon – Leokri dan en silans lanwit part 1