The
best 2006 Fish International Poetry Prize
Summary - The Rules - Entry Fees - On-Line Entries - Postal Entries
Competition Summary
DETAILS OF 2007 COMPETITION COMING SOON
LAST YEARS DETAILS
Opens: 1 January 2006
Closing date: 31 March 2006
Results: 30 April 2006
Judges - Leanne O'Sullivan & Michael McCarthy
Winners of the 2006 Fish International Poetry Prize
The winner of the inaugural Fish International Poetry Prize is Richard
Rudd with The Siren Lovers. Richard is from
Totnes, Devon in England. He wins €1,000 plus publication in the
2006 Fish Anthology.
The four runners-up are:
Terry McDonagh, Swinford, Co Mayo, Ireland – Three Nuns In A Pickup
Mary O’Gorman, Clonmel, Co Tipperary, Ireland – We Stared
At Stars
Breda Sullivan, Streete, Co Westmeath, Ireland – Retired
Sue Wood, Halifax, West Yorks, England. – After Vermeer
They will each receive €100 plus publication in the Anthology and
five free copies of the book.
The Judges Leanne O’Sullivan and Michael McCarthy said: "The
Siren Lovers was chosen for its mythical dimensions. It is visually
and descriptively rich. The judging was stimulating and interesting
and the poems were terrific”.
The standard was very high. Congratulations to the winners and thank you to all who entered. There were just over 600 entries from all over the world.
All winning authors will be invited to read their work at the launch of the 2006 Fish Anthology. This will take place during the West Cork Literary Festival at Bantry House on 3 July 2006.
Short List
The following is the Short List. The authors are listed in alphabetical order:
Sophie Bowles - Night Man
Claudie Daventry - The Doll's House of Petronella Dunois, 1676
Margaret Eddershaw - Souliot Danse Macabre
Eira Long - In Between
Sandra Lloyd - Island
Terry McDonagh - Three Nuns In A Pickup
Terry McDonagh - An Address Somewhere In Pye
Helena Nolan - Having It All
Karen O'Connor - If I Was Your Wife
Hugh O'Donnell - A Brief History of Being Somebody
Mary O'Gorman - We Stared At Stars
Anne O'Malley - Grace
Jan Petersen - Bluegrass and Bluebells
Richard Rudd - The Siren Lovers
Frank Russell - Persephone's Rake
Breda Sullivan - Retired
Michael Swan - Ronsard: Notes for a Sonnet
Sue Wood - After Vermeer
Long List
Here is the Long List for this competition. The following poems made it through the first round of judging. It is a commendable achievement to have reached this far and all the authors are to be congratulated. The standard of entry is very high. The authors are listed in alphabetical order.
Denise Grace Bethel - A Slender Ivory Fan
Denise Blake - Calling, Calling
Todd Boss - Bedtime Story
Simone Mansel Broome - Legato (poem)
Nico Brown - Ferns
Sophie Bowles - Night Man
Maureen Boyle - The Rabbi and the Queen
Benjamin Buchholz - Night Movement, One Rope Bridge
Elizabeth Carey - My Funny Valentines
Mark Carson - 1.20 North
Daniel Roy Connelly - Not Now, Gertrude!
Geraldine Cummins - The Usefulness of Maths
Davina Curoopen - Dea Syria
Tommy Curran - The Year In May
Claudia Daventry - The Doll's House of Petronella Dunois, 1676
Margaret Eddershaw - Offbeat Concerto
Margaret Eddershaw - Souliot Danse Macabre
Josh Ekroy - Barracks Snorers
Maria Gahan - Parisian Panache
Maria Gahan - Moorish Peindora
Sarah Gibbons - Solitary Swan
Judith Goldhaber - Mea Culpa
Kerry Hardie - Travelling
Emma Henderson - The Old Man Is Snoring
Colin Howcroft - Fascinating Fish
Paul Ings - Easy Pickings
R Jackson - Ask me a Question
Paul Jeffcut - Deserts
Rohan Kar - The Colour of Food
Susan Keith - Debbie Reynolds and Me and the Giant Squid
Shari Kocher - Loneliness
Sandra Lloyd - Island
Eira Long - In Between
Lothar Luken - Sullen Ships
Janice MacKay - At Red
Pat Maddock - Another Life
Brian Mallon - Blue Legacy
Angela Malone - Fisherman's Reel
Terry McDonagh - Three Nuns In A Pickup
Terry McDonagh - An Address Somewhere In Pye
Cecilia McGovern - Eye-dream
Winifred McNulty - New Year
Geraldine Mills - Word Stitching
Irene A. Mosvold - Patriot Act
Irene A. Mosvold - Fair Trade
Roland Mugford - Wheel of fortune
Helena Nolan - The Deluded One
Helena Nolan - Having It All
Karen O'Connor - If I Was Your Wife
Hugh O'Donnell - A Brief History of Being Somebody
Laurence O'Dwyer - I Dream of Being a Robot in Labrador City
Laurence O'Dwyer - The Horse
Helen O'Flynn - Velvet Midnight
Mary O'Gorman - Fleur
Mary O'Gorman - We Stared At Stars
Niamh O Leochain - Waiting
Anne O'Malley - Grace
Jan Petersen - Bluegrass and Bluebells
S.R. Ramakrishna - Bhaja Govindam Hamlet
Anne Ring - Memento Mori
Fiona Rintoul - Bray Burial
Fiona Rintoul - Rail lover
Ben Robson - Counting down the hours
Mark Roper - Cut
Richard Rudd - The Siren Lovers
Frank Russell - Persephone's Rake
Matt Shoard - My Cyborg Agent
Saba Siddique - Ode to Avadh
Elizabeth Simpson - Evacuee
James Stafford - By The Grave of a Nursing Orderly, Northern France
Penny Stanway - Ten Thousand Dragons
Breda Sullivan - Screensaver
Breda Sullivan - Retired
Michael Swan - Ronsard: notes for a sonnet
Philip Townsend - Cat-cam
Mary Turley-McGrath - Landscape With Light
Joyce Walker - Frost
Edith Ward - Weekend Away
Lynne Warham - Underwater Love
Malcolm Wilson - Stay Away
Malcolm Wilson - Not Here
Kendra Wiseman - Ray in Distance
Sue Wood - After Vermeer
Rosie Woodward - Granny
The following poem is by Michael McCarthy, who will be giving the Poetry Writing Workshop at the West Cork Literary Festival. We hope it inspires you. It appears in his collection of poetry, Birds' Nests & Other Poems, published by Bradshaw Books. Leanne O'Sullivan will be giving a Youth Poetry Workshop at the Festival.
In Memoriam by Michael MCarthy
Let's say the year is twenty-one-sixteen.
The headstone says I died in twenty-thirty-six.
Though I've been dead these eighty years
I'm pleased to see I lived to ninety one.
The graveyard perched
above an S of sea where boats can rest
along a lonely curve of shore
where tourists no longer come.
Beneath my name: the dates of birth and death,
some long-forgotten lines I haven't written yet,
Beside my grave a grass-grown gravel path
unused except by fishermen at night.
I see a woman, pushing back the grass.
She's twenty-five or so,
Researching for her PhD, her subject:
Forgotten Irish Poets.
She found some poems of mine on micro-disk
buried in the archives of a library
in Edmonton Alberta, where
I was almost famous once.
She stands among small raindrops
as I once stood
in the graveyard at Drumcliff,
She weeps as I wept over Yeats.
A strand of hair clings to her face.
A briar sways in unnoticed wind.
Far below the waves say hush.
Close by a blackbird sings.
The Rules
• No entry form is needed.
• The Prize is open to writers of any nationality writing in English.
• There is no restriction on theme or style.
• There is no restriction on length - but if someone sends in The Rime of The Ancient Mariner , they probably won't win.
• The winning poems must be available for the Anthology and, therefore, must not have been published previously.
• Copyright remains with the author.
• Notification of receipt of entry will normally be by email.
• The judges' verdict is final.
• No correspondence will be entered into once work has been submitted.
• Poems cannot be altered or changed after they have been entered.
Entry Fees
The cost of an On-line entry is fixed in Euro and the translation into your local currency will be done automatically by your credit card company according to the current exchange rate.
The cost of Postal entry will be at a fixed rate in Euro, Pounds Sterling and US Dollars.
On-Line Entries
On-line entries will only be accepted
if entered through our website.
Please do not send poems as email attachments.
PLEASE ENSURE THE TITLE OF THE POEM APPEARS AT THE BEGINING OF THE FIRST PAGE. PLEASE DO NOT PUT YOUR NAME ON THE POEM. YOUR POEM IS AUTOMATICALLY LINKED TO YOUR NAME.
| On-Line
Entry € |
|
| Per Entry | €12.00 |
| Entry + Critique (Optional) | €37.00 |
| 2006 Fish Anthology (Optional) (Inc. p. & p.) |
€10.00 |
Postal Entries
Poems entered by post must be submitted with a min. 12pt font, minimum 1.5 spacing and printed on one side of the paper only. PLEASE DO NOT PUT YOUR NAME ON THE POEM. INCLUDE ALL CONTACT DETAILS ON A SEPARATE SHEET. Include email where possible. Poems will not be returned unless a Critique is required.
Include a cheque, made payable
to 'Fish Publishing', in your local
currency to cover the cost of all
your requirements. We also accept
postal orders from Ireland and the
UK.
| Postal
Entry € |
Postal
Entry £ |
Postal
Entry US$ |
|
| Per Entry | €12.00 | £10.00 | $15.00 |
| Critique (Optional) | €25.00 | £18.00 | $38.00 |
| 2006 Fish Anthology (Optional) (inc p. & p.) |
€10.00 | £10.00 | $15.00 |
Postal entries should be sent to:
Fish Publishing,
Durrus,
Bantry,
Co. Cork,
Ireland.
(There is no postal or ZIP code).
If receipt of entry, notification
of results, or response to any other
enquiry is required other than by
email, then please send a Stamped
Self-Addressed Envelope if posting
from within Ireland, or International
Reply Coupons if writing from any
other country.
Judges
Leanne O'Sullivan, still in her early twenties, has already won most of Ireland's main poetry competitions and had poems published in many magazines. Her first collection Waiting for my Clothes, was published by Bloodaxe 2004.
Michael Mc Carthy was born in 1945 and grew up in the Parish of Caheragh. He began to write poetry in the 90¹s and won the Patrick Kavanagh Award in 1997. His collection, Birds' Nests and Other Poems , was published by Bradshaw Books. He has also written two books in verse for children, The Story of Naoh and the Ark , and The Story of Daniel in the Lion's Den, both published by Barefoot Books. He is currently working on his second collection of poetry, and also memoir and fiction. His work has been translated into sixteen languages and published world wide. His poem Noah has been translated into about fifteen (at the last count) including Irish, as well as U.S. and Australian editions. Daniel is about to come out in Chinese.
Short Stories to read online
Read online some of the winning entries from previous Fish Anthologies. These are examples of the calibre that win the Fish Short Story Prize. Short Stories to read online
Writing Short Stories
Our new Writing feature provides some suggestions on the art of story writing. The page is designed to provide writers with on-going, constructive information about how other authors achieved success with writing short fiction. For more information visit our Writing Short Stories page.
Online Book Shop
You can buy Fish Publishing's Anthologies of short stories on-line in our online book shop – The Fish Shop.
Online Entry
Our Fish-On-Line online entry system provides a convenient way to enter our contests on the web. Register as an online Fish author and you can enter current and forthcoming Writing Contests. Writers may also enter any of our competitions by post. See our Writing Contests page for full details
Writing Contests - Assistance
Fish Publishing offers an Editorial Consultancy and Critique Service. designed to provide writers thinking of entering writing competitions with constructive feedback on their work, whether it is a complete novel or just the beginnings. The Service is available to writers prior to entering the Fish writing competitions.