The 2011 John Tripp Award for Spoken Poetry came to a head this week as the Grand Final landed in the heart of Swansea city centre. Supporters, writers, literary enthusiasts and those who were just curious flocked to the Swansea Grand Theatre on Tuesday 29 November to see who would be named Wales’ best performance poet.
MC Martin Daws hosted a gripping evening of diverse and original poetry performances from the 15 finalists, all of whom impressed the judges in the regional heats. The hard task of the judging the Grand Final was down to previous Wales Book of the Year shortlisted poets Samantha Wynne-Rhydderch and Ifor Thomas, plus Welsh actress playwright and screenwriter Helen Griffin.
Following much debate and decision making, the judges awarded First Prize and a cheque for £500 to poet and musician Rhian Edwards from Bridgend. A regular to the performance scene, Rhian has delivered over 300 stage, radio and festival performances world-wide. Her first poetry collection, Clueless Dogs, is due to be published by Seren in February 2012.
Both the judges and the audience were in agreement that Rhian’s confident performance of her poem ‘Girl Meats Boy’ was the stand-out performance of the night as she was also announced as the winner of the coveted Audience Prize for which she received a further £100.
After receiving the two accolades a delighted Rhian said: “The standard of poetry and performance throughout the evening was incredible, so to win both the audience prize as well as the judges’ prize was nothing short of amazing…To win the John Tripp Award for Spoken Poetry just before my first collection of poems is due to be published by Seren, is nothing short of a dream come true.”
The Judges chose 18 year old Naomi Alderson, a relative newcomer to the poetry performance scene, as the competition’s Runner-up. Naomi grew up in Reading but moved to Cardiff in September to begin a degree in English and Philosophy at Cardiff University. She has written from an early age and completed NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in 2007, at just fourteen years old.
Following the announcement Naomi, who received a prize of £100, said: “I entered the competition for the experience alone – I wanted to meet other poets, to give my poetry a destination and to learn about my craft through practice – so being awarded the Runner-up prize was a complete shock and truly humbling…It has taught me to take my writing seriously”.
The John Tripp Award for Spoken Poetry is administered by Literature Wales and supported by the John Tripp Trust. For more information on the competition contact Literature Wales on 029 2047 2266 / [email protected]
