I was delighted to hear that I was highly commended in the Gregory O’Donoghue poetry competition. It’s one of the biggest single poem competitions in Ireland with a huge international entry. Of the nearly 2,000 entries, my poem came in the top 30. I was delighted to see fellow Doire Press poet, Stephanie Conn in the list too as well as other familiar faces from Ireland.
Patrick Cotter, the judge announced on Facebook: Yesterday I completed the gargantuan task of judging the Gregory O’Donoghue International Poetry Competition, there were 1995 poems entered and many very good poems which would have shone in a different context just did not make the top list of 28 this year… Among my Facebook friends who shone (anonymously) in the competition were Eleanor Hooker, Marie Coveney, Stephanie Conn, Simon Lewis, Paul Mc Mahon, and Jennifer Militello. James O’Sullivan came third. Leila Chatti has confirmed she will be coming to the Cork International Poetry Festival to collect her prize, give a reading, take the Deryn Rees-Jones Masterclass etc. The winning and highly-commended poems will be published next April in Southword Literary Journal.