POET and chair of the Poetry-next-the-Sea Festival, Caroline Gilfillan has won £150 book tokens to spend in Jarrolds after being announced the winner of the Café Writers’ Jarrold Norfolk Prize. The prize was presented by Director, Anita Hanley at Jarrolds The Jarrold Norfolk Prize was a local strand of the Café Writers international poetry competition, judged by renowned poet Penelope Shuttle.

The judge’s report for the winning poem Cousins’ is as follows: “Here is a narrative poem existing …on the edge, and way out of the comfort zone. The cousins of the title are vividly present, in their shared life experience, apparently safe in a village culture, holding hands 'in the shade of the banyan tree'...the build-up of events, and the poem's denouement, so well achieved, owes much to the poet's sense of the dramatic, and her close sympathetic observation of life in another culture. Use of a rhythmically strong ballad-line four line stanza pattern makes this a formidable poem.”

The happy prize winner said 'I'm delighted that my poem has been selected as the winner of the prize for the best poem by a Norfolk poet. The poem arose out of a short article I read while travelling through South India in 2007.'

No stranger to winning competitions, Gilfillan was a winner of the North West poetry pamphlet competition in 2000, and her poem The Painter was put forward for best individual poem for the 2006 Forward Poetry Prize.

The Café Writers competition was established by the Norwich-based writers network to encourage poetry writing both locally and internationally. Café Writers supports writers of all genres and at all stages of their development from beginners right through to well established names, and are grateful to Jarrolds for this important local contribution. Café Writers holds monthly live literature events at Jurnet’s Bar, Wensum Lodge. The next meeting will be held on Monday February 9^th at 7.45pm. Judge Penelope Shuttle will introduce some of the winning and shortlisted poets, including winner of the international competition, Victoria Poolman. Shuttle will also read from her own work, and will be joined by new Faber poet, Emma Jones. See www.cafewriters.org.uk for more information about our forthcoming events.