We are delighted to announce the winners of this year’s Ashdown Forest poetry competition!

The judges were blown away by both the number of entries, their quality, and the many different ways in which Ashdown Forest clearly inspired the poets. In all, the judges received nearly 200 entries from across the UK, covering topics such as love, loss, childhood and history. The common theme throughout was nature’s ability to reach into the soul and create rich memories and emotions.

From this bounty of riches, winners had to be chosen for our Adults and Teens categories. The judging panel, which included Ashdown Forest’s Poet in Residence Siân Thomas, novelist Sanjida O’Connell, and best-selling author Kathryn Aalto, selected two wonderful poems.

In the Teens category, the winner is Bethany Hilton’s poem, Pause, which impressed the judges with “its call to stillness, this poem urges the reader to take time away from the stresses of contemporary life to appreciate the calm of Ashdown. Its simplicity is its power”.

Pause.
Listen to the silence,
Time feels distant
Everything is calm.

The bustle of life stilled,
Ending the loop
Of constantly scrolling.
Tapping of empty words stopped.

Heather decorates the land
Could I always think this clearly?
Spread your wings
Fly.

In the Adults category, the winner is Kevin Scully’s The Family Tartan, described by the judges as “a beautifully constructed elegy that uses everyday imagery to contemplate human frailty. We loved this poem for its delicately wrought celebration of life and the lasting power of love”.

i

Picked up in a charity shop, I flapped it out
for our first picnic in the forest:
a risk, I thought, a first date en plein air
but as it turned out, we clicked.

We always kept it in the Vauxhall, found
new places to go with our sandwiches
and retro Thermos. We’d read poetry
— ‘The Windhover’—and look at the view.

As we got to know each other, the rug
became our groundsheet. I think
our first was conceived on it
after our hippy wedding in the woods.

We kept using it, bringing the kids,
building family rituals with one of us
tugging each corner before laying it out
and calling Time for a little something!

ii

After the first round of chemo
I would drive you to Gills Lap,
support you as we walked,
unfold a chair and cover you with the rug.

We would watch the passing parade
of families, now with Disney toys,
making their pilgrimage to end
with Poohsticks from the bridge.

You can’t bury me here, I’ve asked.
You can get permission to scatter
ashes, but I’m no cigarette butt.
Bury me, but somewhere in a wood.

Which is exactly what we did.
It was the kids who said
we should use the rug as a shroud.
I’m the only one who knows

I cut a piece from it,
keep it in the glove box,
take it in my hands and walk
as we go off together

like we did that first time
with no idea how it all might end.

 

The Runner Up in the Teens category is Jesser Rodriguez with Somewhat Real, and in the Adults category is Jennifer Garrett with The King.

With thanks to publishers Farshore for their kind donation, the winners will receive copies of A.A. Milne’s Complete Works of Winnie-the-Pooh, as well as When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six. The Runners Up will each receive a copy of When We Were Very Young.

As there were so many strong entries, the judges decided that the following entries should all be Highly Commended:

Teens

Our Own Forest by Sophie Feeney

Fairy Tales by Lennon Mackley

The Hill of Æsca by Charlotte Harrison

Ashdown, I Give You My Love by Mischa Mistry

Adults

Badger by Rachel Treacher

When We Grow In A Fractal World by Flo Au

Woodland Tales by Emilie Lauren Jones

I Am Forest by Mark Price

 

An enormous thank you to everyone who took part in the competition, and to our esteemed panel of judges: Siân Thomas, Kathryn Aalto, and Sanjida O’Connell.