For this year’s New Zealand Society of Authors Kevin Ireland Poetry Competition, well over 100 pseudonymous entries were received and from these a final list of 12 poems were shortlisted.
Kevin Ireland commented that the final cut had made for tough decisions. Siobhan Harvey and Bernard Brown were runners-up.
The outright winner was Riemke Ensing’s poem on love and loss called ‘A different kind of Hemingway episode’.
Kevin Ireland judged that “every word was crafted, poignant and precisely right. There is not even a shadow of a comma to spare. We are delighted to have this entry.”
Riemke received $250, an engraved plaque and a certificate.