A list of the winners of the 2019 UNESCO Dunedin City of Literature poetry competition.

Click the titles to read the full poems.

With sincere thanks to our judges, Carolyn McCurdie and Emily Duncan (Adult Poets Section), Jill O'Brien and Donna Young (Young Poets Section). Our thanks also to the competition sponsors: Royden and Lee Somerville, The Otago Scottish Heritage Council, The Dunedin-Edinburgh Sister City Society, and the Dunedin Public Libraries Association.

Young Poets Category: Rap Like Robbie

Sponsored by the Dunedin Edinburgh Sister City Society

1st place Poppy Henderson, Columba College, with “The Bonny Fields o’ Heather”

2nd place Neve Darlington, Queens High School, with “Sea of Green”

3rd place Megan Pritchard, Bayfield High School, with “Ted”

Highly Commended Emma Kinney, Columba College, with “Ode Tae a Thistle”

Highly Commended Jack Peter Hollis-Wilson, Bayfield High School, with “From (Rocket) Ship to Sky…”

Unpublished Adult Poets Category

Sponsored by the Dunedin Public Libraries Association (Friends of the Library)

1st place – Lily Knox “Migrating”

2nd place – James James “Ingress/Egress”

3rd place – Karen Judge “Under a Grey Misting Sky”

Published Adult Poets Category

Sponsored by Royden and Lee Somerville and the Otago Scottish Heritage Council

1st place – Siobhan Harvey “The Dead: A Migrant Life in Two Parts”

2nd place – Emer Lyons “coming home”

3rd place - Sophia Wilson “In-Flux”

Highly-commended - Sarah McDougall "Last Time Home"