At last we have a result!

Do remember that we had a final total of 12,500+ submissions worldwide; take a minute to think about that... more than twelve thousand five hundred submissions worldwide... some of the finest poets writing today entered the erbacce-prize for poetry which we take as a resounding vote of support for our determination to dispatch to the dustbin of history those hundreds of phonies who set-up poetry-competitions as a money-making enterprise and charge poets extortionate sums by way of a 'submission-fee' or a 'reading-fee'.

The erbacce-prize for poetry is FREE TO ENTER and that is how it will remain!!!

Just a reminder; all the selections were read BLIND; none of the selection panel members knew the name or anything at all about the poets; all they were sent was the poetry in files identified only by a number.

After more than three weeks of debate and discussion, often heated, (I spent this morning mopping up the blood) the selection team have arrived at a decision which is as follows:

WINNER of the 2021 erbacce prize:

Petra Hilgers of Mühlheim an der Donau, Germany

Petra wins a contract to publish a very high quality perfect-bound copy of her selected work with

'Winner of the 2021 erbacce-prize for poetry' on the front cover. We will supply free copies and will carry all

expenses for purchasing the ISBN and bar-code, designing the cover, typesetting, editing, printing, registering the book with

major libraries, registering with Nielsen etc.

Runner-up:

Art Allen of Edinburgh, Scotland

Art also wins a contract to publish a very high quality perfect-bound copy of his selected work. We will supply free

copies and will carry all expenses for purchasing the ISBN and bar-code, designing the cover, typesetting, editing, printing, registering

the book with major libraries, registering with Nielsen etc.

Four featured poets:

Elena Croitoru of Kent, UK

Stephen Holden of Preston, UK

Holly Harrison of Armoy, N.Ireland 

Kierstin Bridger of Placerville, USA

Each of the above poets will be published as 'featured-poets' in our 66, 67, 68 & 69 journals over the coming year; their work will be presented prominently and will be accompanied by an interview conducted by a member of the selection panel who particularly liked their work. The work of other poets who made the long list will also be included in the next four journals; to see who these are please read on

But first, he team have asked that I say something about a submission made by Holly Harrison. We presume that if poets send their submission to a competition whose prize is the publication of a substantial perfect bound book of their work, that they will have enough poetry to fill such a book. Initially Holly was under consideration as a possible winner or runner-up; the panel found her poetry original, fresh, rejuvenating and all-round exciting, there is a flare in her work which is exhilarating... However we discovered later that she is a new, young poet with only a small portfolio of work available. SO; we have decided to offer her, in addition to her 'prize' as a 'featured poet', the opportunity to have her work published by erbacce in her own book, possibly a chap-book but maybe a perfect-bound, when she has had time to add to her portfolio; we believe that she is a tremendously talented poet and look forward to working with her in the future. BUT there is a lesson here for poets submitting in the future isn't there?

We will also publish in our erbacce poetry journal many of the poets below who made our long-lists and of course they will be sent a copy of our new perfect-bound journal (published bi-annually) which their poetry appears in. The team have already made selections for Journals 66 & 67 to be published at the end of this year and these are indicated below with 'J66' or 'J67' following their names... we are also preparing those poets selected  for inclusion in Journals 68 & 69 and will add these later... as always we recommend you bookmark this page.

Finally; there are no losers in the erbacce-prize for poetry because there is no entrance fee, so book-mark our site and start preparing a submission for the next year; we open for submissions on January 1st 2022 ...our heartfelt thanks to all who support our co-operative and we do hope that many of you will take out a subscription to the journal; full details HERE. Please do take a look at the special offer we have to subscribe to the erbacce-poetry journal and of course by reading the journals you'll become more aware of the style of poetry the selection-panel favour.

The others whom we discussed and debated about over the past weeks are listed below. We can't emphasise enough that ALL these poets are very talented and special, after all they were selected, blind, from 12,500+ submissions from virtually every country in the world. We consider ALL these poets to be 'highly commended'.

Aaron Saint John; Sheffield, UK   J68

Abdulmueed Balogun Adewale; Oyo State, Nigeria

Adam Phillips; Idaho, USA   J69

Ailish NicPhaidin; Palm Bay, USA

Alan Coombe; London, UK

Albert Pellicer; London, UK

Allison Whittenberg; Philadelphia, USA

Amlanjyoti Goswami; Alaknanda, India

Andrew Shaw; Lincs, UK

Art Allen; Edinburgh, Scotland

Barnaby Smith; Leura, Australia     J67

Basil Aurelian; Milton Keynes, UK  J66

billy cancel; NY, USA      J66

Bruce McRae; Salt Spring Island, Canada

C. T. Holte; Albuquerque, USA

Caitlin Cacciatore; NY, USA

Carson Pytell; NY, USA

Christian Ward; London, UK     J67

Ciaran Dermott; Stirling, Scotland

Claire Thom; Andalucia, Spain    J68   

Claire Wimbush; Leeds, UK     J67

Clive Gresswell; Luton, UK

Clover Peake; London, UK

Coralie Ruston; Salisbury, UK

Cornelia Fick; Maraisburg, S. Africa

Craig Coyle; Wishaw, Scotland  J69

Dasa Kruzlicova; London, UK

Dave Kurley; Leiria, Portugal

David Banks; Plougonvelin, France

David Belcher; Kinmel Bay, Wales   J69

David Ford; London, UK

David Frankel; Kent, UK

David Holper; California, USA

David Lohrey; Green Cove Springs, USA

David Punter; Backwell, UK

Derek Sellen; Kent, UK

Des Mannay; Newport, UK

Dustin Pickering; Houston, USA

Elaine Lambert; Gloucestershire, UK

Eleanor Burleigh; Hampshire, UK

Elena Croitoru; Kent, UK

Eleanor Rai-Johnson; Goring by sea, UK

Elizabeth Chidsey Hulick; NY, USA

Elizabeth Train-Brown; Lancaster, UK    J67

Eran E Eads; Alexandria, USA

Ferida Ducic; Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina   J68

Fiona Sinclair; Broughten under Blean, UK

Frank McMahon; Cirencester, UK    J68

Fred McIlmoyle; Bangor, N. Ireland

Gary Bills; Ledbury, UK

Georgia Louise Luckhurst; Durham, UK     J66

Gerald Nikolai Smith; Alva, Scotland          J66

Ginger K. Hintz; Oakland, USA

Gloria Nixon-John; Oxford, USA

Graham Buchan; London, UK

Graham Pugh; Teddington, UK

Hector McCormick; London, UK

Holly Harrison; Armoy, N.Ireland

Ian McDonough; Edinburgh, Scotland

Iris Lewis; Kempsford, UK

Jake Street; Kent, UK

James B. Nicola; NY, USA

James Fountain; Ilkley, UK

James Penha; Bali, Indonesia

Jane Katherine Angué; Boussagues, France   J67

Jane Newberry; Cornwall, UK

Jareen Imam; Boynton Beach, USA

Jefferson Carter; Tucson, USA

Jennefer York Cole; Kremlin Bicetre, France   J67

Jenny Robb; Liverpool, UK

Jeremy Grant; Leicestershire, UK

Jericho M. Hockett; Topeka, USA    J66

Jessica Sticklor; South Newfane, USA

Jocelyn Simms; St Andre sur Sevre, France

John Baker; Amersham, UK

Josef Krebs; NY, USA

Kathryn Rose Newey; Hertfordshire, UK    J68

Kelly C. Davis; Maryport, UK   J69

Kerry J. Bell; Toronto, USA

Kierstin Bridger; Placerville, USA

Kristan Spencer; London, UK

Lara Frankena; London, UK

Larry Lefkowitz; Modiin, Israel

Lee Waddington; Gomersal, UK

LindaAnn LoSchiavo; NY, USA

Liz Hufford; Phoenix, USA

Louise M. Hart; Birmingham, UK

Lucía Orellana Damacela; Darien, USA

Luc Schneider; Wassenaar, The Netherlands   J68

Luke Bateman; Blackpool, UK

M P Castro; Lake City, USA

Mai Nizar Serhan; Cairo, Egypt

Mantz Yorke; Manchester, UK

Martin Heavisides; Toronto, USA

Martin Rieser; Bristol, UK

Maurice Franceschi; Glasgow, Scotland

Megan Watts; Norfolk, UK

Megha Sood; New Jersey, USA

Miranda Evangelina Alegría Villegas; Sonoro, Mexico

Miriam Mason; Banbury, UK

Nicholas Paparoidamis; Yvelines, France   J69

Noel Sloboda; York, PA, USA   J69

Oliver Keuning; Auckland, New Zealand

Paula Puolakka; Helsinki, Finland

Petra Hilgers; Donau, Germany

Philip Brennan; Reading, UK

Priyanka Kelly Burns; Axminster, UK

Rachel Jung; Surrey, UK

Randy Lee Gross; Pennsylvania, USA   J68

Richard Mullen; Madrid, Spain

Robbie Campbell; Crewe, UK

Roderick Manson; Perthshire, Scotland

Roger Elkin; Biddulph Moor, UK

Roy Duffield; Barcelona, Spain

Ruth Taaffe; Manchester, UK

Samman Akbarzada; Kabul, Afghanistan

Sanjeev Sethi; Mumbai, India    J67

Sarah Davies; Bedford, UK

Sarah Drayton; Cambridge, UK

Sarah Hina; Athens, USA

Senthil Kumaran Raja Kumar; Selangor, Malaysia

Sian Maciejowski; London, UK

Siobhan Logan; Leicester, UK

Sreemanti Sengupta; West Bengal, India

Stephen Holden; Preston, UK

Steve Denehan; County Kildare, Ireland

Stuthi Iyer; Great Falls, USA

Sylvia Anne Telfer; Rutherglen, Wales

Tegan Blackwood; Tatamagouche, Canada

Thomas Davison; Ohio, USA

Tim Tricker; Aberdeen, Scotland

Tom McLaughlin; London, UK

Tracey Hope; Brindisi, Italy   J69

Trevor Kyle Graumann; Winnipeg, Canada   J66

Widaad Pangarker; Cape Town, South Africa

Will Staveley; London UK      J66

William Harold John Reynolds; Southampton, UK