Winners Announced for the 2025 Knighton Writing Prize!
The winners of the inaugural Knighton Writing Prize have been announced, celebrating creativity, storytelling, and local talent as part of the Knighton Festival.
This year’s Prize Ceremony took place on Friday 10th October at 6pm, bringing together writers, readers, and festival-goers to enjoy an evening of congratulations at Knighton Community Centre/Y Comm.
Congratulations to the three winners:
Adult Poetry: David Shields – The Size of Wales
The judges loved the careful wittiness of this poem, the fun wordplay, and profound final stanza. Additionally, the precise structure, professional formatting and extended, thoughtful metaphor led to a clear winner.
Adult Short Story: Carolyn Kennard – Dad’s Last Walk
An emotive and visceral short story, Carolyn’s excellent reading held the room captive at the Prize Ceremony, and her beautiful explanation of her writing journey with this piece brought it all together.
Under 18s Short Story: Nora Baumgartner – The Highly Horrific Life of Molly Davis
The judges loved the unique formatting and funny storytelling– very Tom Gates/Diary of a Wimpy Kid. This young writer has a great future ahead – keep on creating. We expect to see Molly Davis on Knighton Library shelves one day!
Each winner received a cash prize, a certificate and had the opportunity to read their work aloud during the ceremony. Our wonderful Poetry Judge, Anna Dreda, introduced and read the Adult Poetry winner. The winning works are published here and on the StoriPowys website, Powys’s online cultural hub.
During the festival, a display of winning and runner up entries was displayed in Knighton Community Centre, showcasing the creativity of everyone who took part.
And for those inspired to keep writing, a new Writing Club will soon be launching at Knighton Library. It’ll be a friendly space to share ideas, swap tips, and enjoy writing together. Keep an eye out for details coming soon!
We must lastly take a moment to thank the Prize coordinator and Head Judge, Emily Berry, who read all the poems and stories, and with the help of an amazing panel, whittled them down to our ultimate set of three prize winners.
Emily wrote –
‘A big thank you to everyone who sent in an entry to the Knighton Writing Prize. I’m so pleased you shared your work with us. The range and volume of submissions was surprising, and the quality very high. All entries were judged anonymously & read several times.
I wanted to enable other writers, who like me might be too shy to share their work with people they know, so find sending it to an anonymous panel much easier. I want these writers to know that they are talented & valued, and to realise that they can also be brave and share their work with the world & each other!
The purpose of this prize to was celebrate Knighton, and the wonderful community I have become a part of as Knighton Librarian. We were looking for pieces with imagination, flair, originality, technical skills, and strong emotional impact, and I’m so proud of our 3 winners – congratulations!’
Full details of the festival’s events and activities can be found at www.knightonfestival.wales or on Facebook at @knightonfestival. Check out Knighton Library on the StoriPowys website.
For further information about the Prize, please contact:
Knighton Festival Team
📧 knighlib@powys.gov.uk
🌐 www.knightonfestival.wales
📱 @knightonfestival