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Poetry Ireland and Trócaire are delighted to announce the winners of the 2021 poetry competition, which this year had the theme ‘Pathways to Peace’.
The winners and runners-up are across six categories: adult published, adult unpublished, primary junior, primary senior, post-primary junior and post-primary senior.
Jane O’Hanlon from Poetry Ireland said: “With winners from nine counties again this year, we’d like to thank everyone who entered and to those who helped and encouraged them.
“This has been a difficult year, particularly for schools which had to close again for part of the year. We really appreciate everyone – teachers, parents and young writers – for their continued interest and support for the Trócaire Poetry Ireland Poetry Competition. The adult categories this year feature Mary Turley-McGrath – a previous winner in 2014 – and the quality of the poetry is, again, superb.”
The annual poetry competition raises awareness about current global citizenship, justice, ecological and equality issues. This year’s theme explored the effects of conflict on people’s lives and how, with pathways to peace and the support of others, people can try to put the pain of conflict behind them and rebuild their lives.
As a physical awards ceremony is not possible due to Covid-19 restrictions, Trócaire and Poetry Ireland will celebrate the winners of the competition with a streamed video event, while a booklet of the winning poems is due to be published in 2022. The event will be streamed on Poetry Ireland’s YouTube channel on Culture Night (Friday, September 17th) at 6pm.
Poetry Ireland and Trócaire would like to thank the judges of this year’s competition: Catherine Ann Cullen (Poetry Ireland Poet in Residence), Aidan Clifford (retired former director of the Curriculum Development Unit) and Joanne McGarry (Campaigns and Volunteer Manager at Trócaire). Many thanks also to our TY Remote Placement, Sinéad O’Reilly, a previous winner and runner-up, who provided admin support this year.
Adult Published Category – Winner: ‘As We Were Leaving’- Attracta Fahy. Runners-up: ‘Omar’s Song’- Mary Turley-McGrath; ‘Toll Road’- Jean O’Brien.
Adult Unpublished Category – Winner: ‘The Table’ – Sinéad Griffin. Runners-up:
‘Féileacán’ – Gormfhlaith Ní Shíocháin Ní Bheoláin; ‘The Winding Path’- Caroline Bracken.
Primary Junior Category – Winner: ‘Every little helps’ – Preksha Utekar.
Primary Senior Category – Winner: ‘Journey to Peace’- Liam York. Runners-up: ‘Peace on the Horizon’ – Hannah Murphy.
Post-Primary Junior Category – Winner: ‘Forgiving the past’ – Naomi Wall. Runner-up: ‘Running’ – Cara Maguire.
Post-Primary Senior Category – Winner: ‘Hold me, my friend’ – Essie Toyo Wuddah. Runners-up: ‘Under Construction’ – Sarah Fitzgerald; ‘Living for Light’ – Varshika Mecheri; ‘I mbróga no mbochta’ – Aedamar O’Callaghan.
