Kerry Loughrey repeats Doris Leadbetter Poetry Cup win
Forty poets descended upon the stage of Trades Hall’s Bella Union bar to see whose poetry would reign supreme and claim the 2012 Doris Leadbetter Poetry Cup.
In the first round all forty competitors hammered out a poem in sixty seconds or less, and the ten best moved on to a final round where they each performed a poem in two minutes or less. While the night was hosted by MC Michelle Dabrowski, the three judges to impress were the esteemed Alicia Sometimes, Matt Hetherington and Sean M Whelan.
After much sweat, tears and spittle, it was a second poetic victory in as many years for Kerry Loughrey, engraving her name onto the cup once again after her win in 2011. Impressing not just the judges but also winning the acclaim of the audience, Kerry deservedly took home the first place prize of $2000. Second place and $300 went to Juliana Qian and the recipients of the encouragement awards, Tobias Manderson-Galvin and Emily Humphries, took home $100 each.
The Cup is generously supported by Ron Smooker and Pam Davison, and Writers Victoria extends a huge thank you to them for making such a glorious event possible. We look forward to another fearsome bout of competition next year, as rival poets look to deny Kerry a threepeat.
Doris Leadbetter Cup 2012 results
First place: Kerry Loughrey
Second Place: Juliana Qian
Encouragement awards: Tobias Manderson-Galvin and Emily Humphries
See photos of all the finalists on Facebook.
Read the winning and second-place poems.
— 17.09.2012