Rebecca Calderon has taken the first prize in this year’s Autumn Poetry Competition.

The annual competition, organised by Gibraltar Cultural Services (GCS) and the Gibraltar Chronicle, attracted a total of 225 entries.

The awards were presented by the Minister for Culture, Prof John Cortes, this afternoon at the Mario Finlayson National Art Gallery.

The winners are as follows:

Overall Winner: Rebecca Calderon – “Elizabeth Newnam’s Lodger”.

Adult Winner: James Edward McNally – “Lot’s Wife”

Runner Up: Natalie Anne Massetti – “Hide and Seek”

Highly Commended: Levi Josef Attias – “Ukraine”

Best Spanish Poem: Samuel Baena Sanchez – “La golondrina que quería ser mama”

Runner Up: Mark Montovio – “El Duende y La Musa”


Highly Commended: Elena Scialtiel – “Tú”

School Years 11 – 13


Winner: Angelika Jane Bosco – “The wild child of Donegal Bay” Runner Up: Kyrene Wink – “Self Love”

School Years 8 – 10


Winner: Lyra Jane Cant – “Bricks and Mortar”


Runner Up: Ayanna Gordillo – “Alone”


Highly Commended: Siddharth Lakhiani – “Honourable Encounter”


Highly Commended: Noor Menghnani Segui – “The day you decided to end it”

School Years 6 – 7


Winner: Lucas Posso – “Fearless Flying”

Runner Up: Krishaa Lakhiani – “The struggle is real”

Highly Commended: Sofia Ratajczak – “My Prophecy”

School Years 4 – 5


Winner: Amabel Carruthers – “Red, White and Blue”


Runner Up: Anna Marie Salmon – “How I love Autumn”


Highly Commended: Sienna Morello Reyes - “In October’s golden light”

All winning entries will be published in the Gibraltar Chronicle and on www.culture.gi.


Ms Calderon received a £1,000 cash prize and a trophy donated by Ministry of Culture. The winners and runners up in each category also received trophies from the Ministry of Culture.

The competition was sponsored by The Gibraltar Chronicle, who kindly donated a 6-month online subscription to the winners in the Adult and Spanish Language categories, as well as vouchers and pens for the winners of the school categories.

Finally, there were also several Highly Commended entries, each awarded with a certificate and a pen donated by GCS.