Tuesday, April 08, 2014

Brian Turner Wins Caselberg International Poetry Prize 2014

Otago poet Brian Turner has been awarded the $500 first prize for his poem ‘Mulching’, in the annual Caselberg Trust International Poetry Competition.
Second prize ($250) went to Dunedin-based writer Annelyse Gelman for her poem ‘Auden,’.
Poems by Mary Macpherson (Wellington), Lynley Edmeades (Dunedin) and Jessica le Bas (Nelson) were highly commended by this year’s competition judge, the distinguished poet Sue Wootton. Another entry from Brian Turner was also highly commended.
In her report, Ms Wootton said that each of the winning entries was ‘adeptly tuned, attentive to itself at every turn.  What is said is inseparable from how it’s said.’
Over 200 entries were received for this year’s Caselberg Trust International Poetry Competition, from writers working in several different countries. Entries are judged ‘blind’, with the judge being completely unaware of the author’s identity until after the final decisions have been made.
The prize-winning poems and the judge’s report will be published in the May issue of Landfall, and together with the highly commended entries, will be posted on the Caselberg Trust web-site next month. Awards will be presented at a function at the University Book Shop in Dunedin, in April.
Past winners of the Caselberg competition include Mary McCallum from Wellington, and Tim Upperton from Palmerston North (who won two years in succession). Previous judges have been poets Bernadette Hall, James Brown and Gregory O’Brien.
The Caselberg Trust was established seven years ago to buy and renovate the former home of writer John Caselberg and his wife, the painter Anna Caselberg. The Caselberg house is now a residence for writers and artists of all descriptions, and the Trust runs residencies, workshops, exhibitions, and innovative arts events for the wider Dunedin community.

 Robert West    
 Secretary Caselberg Trust

PO Box 71 Portobello Dunedin

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