The Prize Giving Ceremony for our inaugural Poetry Competition was held on Saturday morning in our Fringe Venue, De Akker. A packed audience was squeezed into the venue to hear the good news. We were delighted that a number of finalists were able to make the journey to McGregor to be with us for this wonderful event.
Two sections were available in the competition. The first was aimed at High School pupils, and the second at adults. Hundreds of entries were received, and the judges’ decision was not an easy one. We are delighted to announce the winners in each section. In the schools’ section we decide to make a runners’ up award as well as a winner, and this went to Onele Rolobile, who won a Gift Voucher for R2000 from Exclusive Books for her poem I’m at War. The winner in this section was a local girl from Bonnievale, Mia Beukes, for her delightful piece entitled Namiblied. Mia won herself an I Pad for her efforts.
In the adult section the winner was Louise Westerhout for her wonderfully descriptive poem entitled, I Simply Left.
Special thanks to Leila Witkin for her generous sponsorship of the prizes, and to the Worcester Standard and the Breede River Gazette, for their support in the competition. This has been a wonderfully stimulating exercise and was richly satisfying for us all. Thanks to everyone for their support!
