Kerry Rawlinson Wins The International Welsh Poetry Competition

PONTYPRIDD, Wales - Aug. 11, 2026 - PRLog -- The winners were as follows:

1st Kokanee, Spawning – Kerry Rawlinson, (British Columbia, Canada)

2nd Refugee Song – Gareth Roberts (Aberystwyth, Wales)

3rd Gazcue – Jose Buera (London, UK)

Kerry Rawlinson is the recipient of awards in the genres of poetry, flash fiction, art and photo art. An autodidact & bloody-minded optimist, she was nibbled into her current shape by a Zambian gestation & Canadian maturation. After a long career in Architectural Technology & Design whilst raising her family, she now pursues Literature & Art's Muses around British Columbia's beautiful Okanagan Valley.

"I chose this poem for the scale of its themes and its potency of language: assured, confident, without strain. This is a contemplation of unsolicited joy in the midst of decay and struggle, like many great poems drawing the universal from the personal. The poet is forced to confront mortality, watching their children, who have become lost in fascination and wonder, and are as yet ignorant of the implications of what is before them," said this year's judge, Welsh poet Mick Evans.

Competition organiser, Dave Lewis said: "Once again we had a lot of very strong poems, from all over the world, with five Welsh writers amongst our Top 20! But it's a bittersweet moment because after many years of being the most respected poetry competition in Wales, the 2026 contest will be our last. We hope to publish a fourth anthology of winners in the autumn, and poetry fans can still find our previous three online."

Judge, Mick Evans also noted, "I can only express my gratitude and admiration to all poets who entered. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to spend this time in the company of such great writers."

Winning poems, highly commended and judge's comments can be viewed on the competition website.

www.welshpoetry.co.uk