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The winners and judges of the 2020 Dunedin UNESCO City of Literature Poetry Competitions
 
Photo by Kay Mercer

Congratulations to the Winners of the Dunedin UNESCO City of Literature Robert Burns Poetry competitions

Kay Mercer —

Your chance to read the winning poems

The winners of the 2020 competitions were announced on Monday 25th January - Robert Burns' birthday, and we are proud to celebrate with our winners by publishing their poems here. Click on the respective links to enjoy this year's outstanding winning poems.

With thanks to our judges Jill O'Brien and Donna Young (Youth Competition - Rap Like Robbie) and Kay McKenzie-Cooke and John Newton (Adult Competitions). Also thanks to our generous sponsors who fund the prize money for the first place winners: Dunedin-Edinburgh Sister City Society, the Otago Scottish Heritage Council, and the Dunedin Public Libraries Association (Friends of the Library). 

With gratitude for their support, we also thank our partners Dunedin UNESCO City of Literature, Dunedin Burns Club, Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies at the University of Otago, and the Otago Daily Times.


Rap Like Robbie Competition
for high-school aged young people

1st place: Oshadha Perera  "Lighting Matchsticks"

2nd place: Laura Canton  "Reign of Glory"

3rd place: Aliya Drake  "The Beach"

Highly-commended: Oshadha Perera  "1000 Piece Jigsaw"


Winner of the Unpublished Poets Category Dunedin UNESCO City of Literature Robert Burns Poetry Competition 2020 — Image by: Kay Mercer


Dunedin UNESCO City of Literature Robert Burns Poetry Competition
for published and unpublished adults

Unpublished Poets

1st place: Mark Sanford "To Burns: For a' That and All That, the Ploughman's Bard"

2nd place: James James  “In the Boneyard Where the Quietest Thing is Human”

3rd placeClare Lind  "1858"

Highly Commended: Stephen Estall  "Freedom at the Water's Edge"

Winner of the Published Poets category of the Dunedin UNESCO City of Literature Robert Burns Poetry Competition 2020 — Image by: Kay Mercer

Published Poets

1st place: Sophia Wilson  "The Captive's Song"

2nd place: Iona Winter and Jilly O'Brien  "Ōtepoti Edinburgh o the South"

3rd place: Jilly O'Brien  "Rhythm & Krill"

Highly Commended: Michelle Elvy  "Shadows, or: Freethinking Ourselves Away When the World is Grey"


Congratulations to all our winners and thank you to all those who entered the competition. The 2021 competition opens on 1st September.