We are delighted to reveal the shortlist for the Eighth Annual Poetry Competition.

Read the fifteen shortlisted poems on the theme of ‘connections’ below in our online gallery. Then click on ‘VOTE HERE’ to complete the voting form. You MUST select a FIRST, SECOND and THIRD choice for your vote to be valid. You must pick THREE DIFFERENT POEMS to make your vote valid. Strictly one vote per person. Every voter will be entered into a prize draw to win a signed print.

Online voting will take place between Saturday 5th December and midnight Saturday 12th December. Strictly one vote per person.

The awards ceremony will happen at 8pm on Sunday 20th December on our YouTube channel. Subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-PYLoI03iGKBSsSRF3uudA/

All shortlisted and winning poems will be available to read in issue 13 of The Bangor Literary journal, which you can download for free from midnight on 20th December.

The Eighth Annual Bangor Poetry Competition Shortlist

1          Charlie Bowrey                                   Seizure

2          Caroline Bracken                                The Bed

3          Jane Burn                                            These are the Rules of Indurated Fruit

4          Sharon Flynn                                      The Unlikely Intimacies of Airport Security

5          Elizabeth Gibson                                Something happened

6          Robin Holmes                                     As If   (A Reflection on Whin Blossom)           

7          Angeline King                                    Ballysnod

8          Geraldine O’Kane                               My Girl – Where the River Flows

9          Eilín de Paor                                       Nurses’ Station, St. Agnes’ Ward     

10        Mary Ringland                                   Staying Back

11        Benjamin Sears                                      Shells

12        Stephen Smythe                                  Good at Games

13        Geraldine Snape                                 Antibiotics

14        Elizabeth Wilson Davies                     You used to breathe

15        Christine Valters Paintner                  Field Notes on Being an Orphan

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Additional poems that made the Longlist

1          Nicola Heaney                                                Shipping Forecast

2          Mary Ringland                                               Half Full

3          Trish Bennett                                                  The Massacre Of Dead Man’s Lane

4          Lauren Kendall                                               Murmuration Near An Interface

5          Stephen Smythe                                              Pulling Teeth

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Poetry Shortlist Gallery

Vote for your first, second and third choice

Please select THREE DIFFERENT POEMS for your vote to be valid: You cannot select the same poem for your three choices, nor just select a first choice. All criteria must be met to make the competition fair.