Liverpool Lennon Poet Competition

THE FIRST winner of the Liverpool Lennon Poetry competition was announced at a glittering ceremony.

Rachael McGladdery, from Garstang, in Lancashire, scooped the award on Saturday in an evening attended by Britain's poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy.

The "poetry slam", in which poets battle it out on stage, was staged at the packed Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts founded by Sir Paul McCartney.

It formed part of the city's Liverpool Lennon Season running until Thursday, December 9.

Rachael, who read two poems, was chosen from a shortlist of twelve finalists because of the quality of her writing and performance.

She received £1,000 - the largest ever prize for a free entry poetry slam competition in the UK.

The runners-up were Liverpool's Tim Stone, who took second place, and Mab Jones, from Cardiff, who came third.

A parallel competition to find the Liverpool Lennon Paper Poet was won by Jaki McCarrick for her work The Selkie of Doranish. Bob Haselton was runner-up in second place and Kim Moore came third.

Poet laureate Carol said: "This competition was a fitting tribute to John Lennon and a demonstration of the love that the city of Liverpool has for him."

The competition, sponsored by The Beatles Story and organised in conjunction with Event Poets, attracted hundreds of entries from across the world. It is set to become an annual event.

Managing director of The Beatles Story Jerry Goldman said: "We were all bowled over by both the numbers of poets responding to the Lennon Poetry competition and the sheer calibre of the work they submitted."

Mr Goldman added: "It is clear from all our shortlisted entries that Lennon and The Beatles are very much a prism through which people can look at their own lives."