Winners from left: Oshadha Perera, Tunmise Adebowale, Elaine Li, Daniel O’Brien.

The Winners of the Robert Burns Poetry Competitions

An opportunity to read the winning poems.

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, Dunedin UNESCO City of Literature, and the Dunedin Public Libraries Association (Friends of the Library).

We also thank our partners Dunedin Burns Club, Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies at the University of Otago, and the Otago Daily Times.

From left: Dunedin-Edinburgh Sister City Society committee member Ali Carruthers, Youth competition winner Elaine Li

Rap Like Robbie
First:
Elaine Li Man in God’s Clothing

Second: Vuyo Tshepo Mei Success by Tides o’ Time

Third: Vuyo Tshepo Mei Success at What of Clock

Read the Rap Like Robbie Judge's general comments

From left: Dunedin Public Libraries Association President Linda Geddes, Unpublished Poet competition winner Oshadha Perera

Unpublished
First:
Oshadha Perera Night Stars

Second: Tunmise Adebowale Solstice

Third: Daniel O’Brien Whakaarohia atu e te taniwha (think about it, taniwha)

Highly Commended: Cal May Gates A New Year

Commended: Hannah Dodds Fragments of Youth

Published
First:
Elizabeth Morton To the ghost of Robbie Burns on New Year's Eve in Aotearoa

Second: Siobhan Harvey (Mary C. McCall Jr.)In Pieces, A Poet's Lament Upon a Child Leaving Home

Third: Sophia Wilson depending on the angle

Highly Commended: Alice Fairley To Myself, Some Time Ago

Commended: Michelle Elvy Octet, or two women walking in the sun

Read the Robert Burns Judge's general comments