Nov 05 - Poetry Competition Sparks Interest in Young Teens
The Ministry of Culture’s annual Poetry Competition was hailed for receiving a record number of entries, yesterday, as the winners, runners up and highly commended candidates were awarded their prizes of a trophy and cash prize, or certificate and pen donated by the Gibraltar Chronicle.
Adjudicator Charles Durante observed that, much to his delight, the School years 8 – 11 category had seen a remarkable rise in entries. He added that it was also encouraging to see those using Spanish in their creative writing, ‘despite pessimistic predictions that Spanish is dying out in Gibraltar’. He touched upon one entry, a Japanese haiku, that impressed him, although the author did not win a prize. Mr. Durante added that many of the poems touched upon the First World War. He explained that poems are ‘ the result of moments of reflection, of meaningful thinking, and they provide us with an oasis of peace and quiet. It would be beneficial for all of us if we took poetry more seriously.’
For his part, Minister Linares insisted that the competition added another dimension to culture, alongside theatre, music and art. He went on to thank those involved in the judging and organisation of the competition.
Winners of the adult category included, runner up Rebecca Faller with her piece ‘the Flood’, and Overall Winner Jackie Anderson, with her poem ‘Between the Land and Sea’. Elena Sciatiel’s ‘Bud the Clown’ received a Highly Commended prize.
In the Spanish Language category, James Gracia received the runner up prize for him poem ‘Fea’ and Bathsheba Peralta won overall winner with her piece, ‘Diego Rivera’.
School Years 4 – 7 saw Guy Coope-Vickers take the first prize for ‘Those who fight for us’, Shannon O-Toole win runner up with ‘Seasons; and Tim Rodionov and Millie Devlin win a Highly Commended certificate for their poems ‘War Fields’ and ‘Aldorf Bottomly’.
In the School Years 8 – 11 category David Anderson of Bayside Comprehensive won first prize with his piece ‘Over the Bridge’. The runner up prize was awarded to Enna Esther Ibgui of the Gibraltar Girls High School for her poem ‘The Storm’. Highly Commended certificates were awarded to Miriam Bayles and Sascha Chocron Attias, both of the Gibraltar Girls High School, for their poems ‘Britain Cannot Lose’ and ‘Hurt Feelings’.
