New poets win UniVerse awards

24th April 2014

Student poets from across the region have had their work celebrated at a special awards ceremony for the winners of Sheffield Hallam University's annual poetry competition.

Award-winning poet and honorary doctor of the University, Dr Debjani Chatterjee MBE, honoured the Sheffield Hallam students and sixth form pupils who took part in the University's annual UniVerse poetry competition. Dr Chatterjee read some of her own work before presenting the competition winners with their prizes, including a canvas of their poems. The award-winning poem will be displayed in the University's Adsetts Centre as part of the Art in Adsetts exhibition, and each poet received vouchers to spend in bookshop Waterstones, the competition sponsor. MA Writing student Rosemary Badcoe's poem, Fall of the Cards, claimed the top spot. The poem was recognised by the judging panel as an 'inventive and powerful piece of writing'. Rosemary said: "Winning the UniVerse competition is a marvellous way to finish the MA. Entering the competition is always fun and the event has got bigger and better. "I'm looking forward to seeing my poem on the wall of the Adsetts Centre - it's a great place to have the poems, and having a wall of poetry is a wonderful testament to the writing courses and the talents of the students." Dr Harriet Tarlo, course leader for creative writing at Sheffield Hallam, said: "We're looking for content that works really well with the form - the sound of the poem, the way it's crafted on the page, the imagery that people are using and the way they're using language. And something in the poem that grabs your attention. "The careful reading of other people's work makes you look back at your own work and think about your own work seriously and try different things. So it's inspiring supervising talented students who are incredibly committed."