Prizes presented during south Longford's ‘Poetry at Pallas’ event

The beautiful location was matched by the weather as the winners of the hugely successful Goldsmith Festival Poetry Competition for 2021 were presented with their prizes.

The competition was deferred from 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but attracted almost 250 entries for 2021 from a wide range of countries.

The adjudicator, well known Cavan Poet, Noel Monahan remarked that the poems were of a very high standard.

The competition, in association with the annual Goldsmith Festival, now in its 37th year, was relaunched in 2020, with a major new sponsor in Nally Bros, Ballymahon and a consequent huge increase in prize money. The winning prizes were presented by Robbie Nally of Nally Bros, Ballymahon.

First prize was presented to John Nash of Sandymount Dublin, representing his father Paul, who won the first prize of €500 for his poem, La Haute Borne Delemont, Switzerland. Ca. 1925.

Second Prize of €200 went to Ger Duffy from Co Waterford for her poem My Father’s Hands, while 3rd Prize of €100 also went to Co Waterford, to Peggy McCarthy for her poem Incantation.