The Patrick Kavanagh PoetryAward 2007
The Annual Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Awards, Sponsored by KPMG, were presented at the Patrick Kavanagh Weekend in Inniskeen, Co. Monaghan. The 2007 Award was presented to Conor Carville who resides in London. His family orginate from Castleblayney in Co. Monaghan and Keady in Co. Armagh.
Second place went to Connie Roberts a native of Tullamore, Co. Offaly who now resides in New York. Third place went to Grace Wells from Nine-Mile-House, Carrick-on-Suir, Co. Tipperary.
The Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award has been given in the past to many poets who have gone on to make considerable reputations for themselves. It is in many ways the most crucial award in Irish poetry, since it honours and recognises a poet at the beginning of her/his career.
Terence O'Rourke of KPMG presented the prizes. Judges for the 2007 competition were distinguished poets, Paula Meehan and Theo Dorgan. A selection of poems by all previous award winners, entitled Dancing with Kitty Stobling, published by the Lilliput Press, Dublin, is available from the Patrick Kavanagh Centre, Inniskeen, Co Monaghan at Telephone 042 9378560 or email infoatpkc@eircom.net
Patrick Kavanagh Schools Poetry Competition
Also presented on the same weekend, were awards for Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Competition for second-level students. The competition, sponsored by Monaghan VEC, is open to students in Counties Louth, Meath, Cavan, Monaghan, Fermanagh, Tyrone and Armagh, and each year attracts a large number of entries in both the Junior (under 15) and Senior (15 years and over) sections. Themes and length of poems vary and the adjudicator, Leland Bardwell, a professional poet, has often commented on the excellent quality and imagination of the work produced.
Co. Monaghan VEC has published Borderlines 4, a collection of 100 poems by young people in the border region, edited by Leland Bardwell. The poems are taken from a number of years' entries to the annual Patrick Kavanagh Schools Poetry Competition. Copies are available at §10 each from Co. Monaghan VEC, Administration Offices, Market Street, Monaghan. Telephone 047 30888.
In this year's competition, Counties Tyrone and Armagh produced the winning poets. Poems by first prizewinners are printed below.
RESULTS
Junior Section
1st Mark Gallagher, Christian Brothers Grammar School, Omagh, Co. Tyrone, 'Pompeii'; 2nd Niamh Mulrine, Loreto Grammar School, Omagh, 'My Room' and 3rd Lara Shannon, Loreto Grammar School, Omagh, 'Nature's Simplicities'.
Senior Section
1st Conor Murray, Christian Brothers Grammar School, Omagh, 'Inspiration'; 2nd Pearce Cullen, St. Patrick's Academy, Dungannon, 'A Walk Home' and 3rd Cal Douglas, St. Michael's Grammar School, Lurgan.
SENIOR SECTION
1ST PLACE
Inspiration
By Conor Murray
Age 18
Christian Brothers Grammar School, Omagh
That golden bird, singing ever so loud,
Devoid of youth, devoid of age,
Towering on that lofty pedestal
And singing immortally aloud.
That farmer man with his trusty spade,
Digging with his pen, digging with his eyes,
His image of farm and heroic lad
Will never again be so honestly made.
Who am I to follow in their wake?
The literary heroes of a time past
Are studied but forgotten
By a generation that is not awake.
I had a dream, that golden bird appeared so freely
He sang his song so dearly. He sang his song to me.
JUNIOR SECTION
1ST PLACE
Pompeii
By Mark Gallagher
Age 14
Christian Brothers Grammar School, Omagh
Looming large over the town, the once sleeping volcano,
Panic in the streets as hot ash rushes down.
Running for their lives, through blackness deeper than the thickest night,
All fall down, suffocated by hellish fumes,
Holding cloths across their mouths, looking more asleep than dead,
Buried in hot ash, frozen in time…
Behind bars now, so tourists cannot touch.
Here, the still barking dog tied to his post.
There, a man clutching his gown shroud-like about him.
Face down cowering, one man covers his eyes.
Dead on his feet, a guard stands forever vigilant,
And a loving mother shields her child in vain.
The graveyard of so many, preserved seemingly unharmed.
Their bodies decayed yet they remain, relics of the past.
With empty eyes, they watch tourists wander through the ruins of their lives.