tut OPEN POETRY COMPETITION Judging for The Ugly Tree poetry magazine's Open Poetry Competition 2007 is now complete. Many thanks to all of you who entered. The competition was judged by respected poets Jackie Hagan (author of Shut Your Eyes and Put Out Your Hand [Citizen32 Books, 2006] ) and conor a (Holy Church of the Improvised Word / Per Verse / former co-editor of The Ugly Tree). With hundreds of entries, all of which were judged anonymously, their job was not easy. The winners are: 1st Place (£50): Between the Slide and Library by Matthew Stoppard, Leeds 2nd Place (£15): Missing Cousins by Nigel Humphreys, Aberystwyth 3rd Place (£10): Nest Near The Spire by Matthew Stoppard, Leeds So, congratulations to Matthew for his double whammy and also to Nigel for his highly commended runners-up placement. All three poems will appear in issue 15 of The Ugly Tree, due 1 June 2007. "It was actually quiet hard between first and second but the repeated connections and wideness of the imagery won over the very good pacing and sparseness of the second place poem. Third...did have a little battle with one other poem but it was more solid and complete than the other one." conor a 04:05:07 The Ugly Tree poetry competition runs every 2 years, so it will return in 2009. For guidelines on how to enter Ballista magazine's 2008 Short Story Competition, please click HERE Back to: The Ugly Tree