Wendy Cope and Lachlan Mackinnon were impressed with the quality of the entries so thank you to everyone who took part.
The results are as follows. Apologies for the mis-transcribing of the titles.
NHS 70th Birthday Competition
Judged by Wendy Cope and Lachlan Mackinnon
1st My life reduced to a window; Michelle Diaz
2nd You never forget your first patients; Margaret Adkins
3rd Granddad
Commended
Visiting Helen in the afternoon; Carole Bromley
Widow; John Ling
This Old Doc; Anthony (Tony) Hargreaves
End of a Nightshift on Nightingale Ward; Margaret Adkins
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The work of the organisers goes on. The prize giving and book launch (plus the actual production of the book ) is being organised as we write and since the poems were of such a good standard, we are applying to the Arts Council for funding, which has set us back a little bit because the time scale for acceptance or rejection is 6 weeks from when we make the application. And the hoops we have to jump through were not anticipated. Nevertheless, we want the book to be the best it can be.
Congratulations to everyone who entered and particularly to those above. We will publish the poems online and in the book and we may use extracts for promotional and advertising purposes but when the book launch has passed the copy-rite returns to the writers and we will have to seek permission to reuse them.
Well done all involved! I’d love a copy of the longlist, too, when available.
As soon as the list has been finalised we’ll publish the poets names and the update.
Thank you to poets and organisers. It’s inspirational!
Good luck with the next phase of the work – and keep writing!