Congratulations to Angus Barrett (Magdalen College), who has been awarded this year’s Lord Alfred Douglas Memorial Prize for his poem, ‘Second Sight’.
Angus commented: "I'm delighted and very grateful to the judges for this recognition. 'Second Sight' is a poem about shortsightedness and it means a lot to think that the way I see the world, literally and otherwise, resonated with others".
The judges also highly commended Clara Bykvist (The Queen’s College) for ‘Secretariat’ and Jasmine Elworthy (St Hugh’s College) for ‘A Worn-Out Easter Sunday Dialogue of John and Mary’.
Clara commented: "I am delighted for my sonnet to have been given a special commendation by the judges. I know nothing about horses or horse racing, but I was so transfixed by the haunting prospect of ‘the rare honour of being buried whole’ that I felt compelled to write a poem about it".
Jasmine commented: "In the period after Easter I found myself returning again and again to the scene described in John's Gospel where Mary Magdalene shows John and Peter the empty tomb, considering the final moments of grief and confusion which must have occupied them before Mary encounters Jesus again in the garden. In this Gospel there is no angel to tell Mary immediately what has happened, but I felt that the presence of one was necessary, although the speakers struggle to have anything communicated to them — they are aware for those moments of the immanence and incomprehensibility of the divine." You can read more of Jasmine’s work on her Instagram writing page, @matsurika.writer.
The Lord Alfred Douglas Memorial Prize is awarded annually for the best sonnet or other poem of between 14 and 28 lines, written in English in contemporary diction and strict rhyming metre.
Many congratulations to Angus, Clara, and Jasmine on their outstanding achievements.
