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Dear writers, readers and friends,

We are delighted to announce the winners of our first ever Autumn Writing Prize. These four pieces have been selected from an astounding 279 entries:

WINNERS

T18.0XXA – Breathing Obstruction by K Roberts
Head judge, Preti Taneja, says: “It is very hard to use this device of forward slashes without them distracting from the feeling of the piece, instead becoming part of its focus, language and its drama. But the piece’s marriage of content and form, and its response to the image, its play with time, trauma and with ways of representing emotion is moving and accomplished and in the true spirit of Visual Verse.”

Liebe Radioaktive Damen und Herren by Clio Velentza
Preti says: “The everyday made extremely vivid, gothic and strange, yet populated with everyday fears of being made responsible, feeling ridiculous, being invisible and hypervisible – and being special but also normal. This writer understands loneliness and desire for connection that cities can offer. I loved the sudden turning point and yet the central protagonist continues her refrain. Ambitious and achieved.”

Movement by Mitra Visveswaran
Preti says: “I chose this for its imagery and its onomatopoeia – an art difficult to master – and its handle on the circularity of things gives it a self-reflexivity. Another piece about falling through wormholes, but very distinct from the other one.”

Stunted by Benedict Welch
Preti says: “I liked this one for its sense of a person coming to terms with their own strangeness, their own story – refusing to give up childhood habits but adapting them to a new self. I thought the nesting of characters and mother-child relationship well achieved; the child locked inside the poem while the reader is strung along in the narrative.”

SHORTLIST

Congratulations also to the shortlisted writers (in no particular order) whose work greatly impressed the judges:

Pandora by Corinne Lawrence
Why I Kept Losing My Keys by Hannah Whiteoak
A Mechanism Far Too Finely-Wrought by Ankh Spice
The Day of the Hanging Key by K. J. Watson
The Key to it All by Marilyn A. Timms
The Art of Looking by Emma Hynes
Putting the Tin Lid In It by R. J. Kinnarney
Anamorphosis by Ella Skilbeck-Porter
Fob by Sarah-Jane Crowson
Family Recipe by Jude Higgins
Little Lena by Sallie Anderson
Separate Floors by Ceinwen E. C. Haydon

Special mention to Marion Clarke for the very punny Fishy Tale–A Haibun, which gave us a belly laugh.

The judging process was anonymised and our committee applied the same principles that guide our selections on Visual Verse each month. That is, unearthing pieces that hit these three characteristics (what our editors call “the Golden V”):

1. Accomplished, high-quality writing
2. Masterfully evokes the image
3. Innovative and/or brave

Our four winners and our shortlist hit the Golden V, but so did many of the other submissions. In fact, we started to compile a “Special Mentions” list but it became far too long. There were so many wonderful moments and beautiful interpretations among the submissions. So, this is to say, congratulations to every writer who submitted to this competition. We hope that you surprised and impressed yourself, just as you did us, and that you will continue to write in extra-ordinary ways.

The October issue is now open for submissions. A selection of entries from the competition will be published throughout October so please do not re-submit. For those who did not enter the competition, you know what to do: the image is the starting point, the text is up to you.

With thanks and congratulations from the VV Editorial team and judging committee:
Preti Taneja (Head Judge) with Kristen Harrison, Isabel Brooks, Lucie Stevens, Tam Eastley and Nahda Tahsin.

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