Thai Female Elvis Singer and Glasgow Former Punk Scoop Poetry Awards

Hugh McMillan, who judged this year’s award, said: “The International Prize produced the usual stunning range of work, pouring into the Machars from all parts of the world.

“It was so difficult to compile a shortlist, and then to produce from a wonderful shortlist the winner and runner up was almost impossible. However, I'm confident that the quality is as high or higher than ever.”

Molly is an emerging poet and is also working on her first novel and a debut poetry collection.

Elvis' Little Sister

In addition to working as a teacher and writing poetry while caring for elderly parents she also appears on stage doing an Elvis tribute act under the name of Elvis’ Little Sister.

Her Elvis act started when she was six and she became a child TV star, continuing to perform professionally today and running her own YouTube channel.

The prize-winning poem, however, reflects on a family’s memories of a Scottish miner and recollections of the strike.

She said: “It’s been a long journey for me. I have travelled all the way from Bangkok, about 6,000 miles to get to here and every bit of it has been just fantastic and wonderful.”

The Wigtown Poetry Prizes are Scotland’s international awards, celebrating work in English, Scots and Gaelic. They include prizes for the best collection and for the best emerging poet from Dumfries and Galloway.

The prizes are awarded as part of the annual Wigtown Book Festival.

This year’s Alastair Reid Pamphlet Prize, for a collection of poems, went to another musician – Roger West, a poet, songwriter and performer who divides his time between Glasgow and France. The former punk singer (who also sang in a variety of pre and post punk bands) nowadays concentrates on poetry, electronic soundscapes and live music which he performs at festivals around the world.

The winner has their poems published in a pamphlet set by Gerry Cambridge.

Roger’s collection, Be That As It May, was praised by Hugh McMillan: “The pamphlet competition was very popular this year and no wonder, the prize being such an exquisitely designed product. The subject matter was wide-ranging: some collections were themed, some not, all shared the same quality of being beautifully crafted, vibrant and contemporary. In such a gifted field it was hugely difficult to find a winner.

Isle of Skye poets win Gaelic Poetry Prizes

Roger spoke briefly about the importance of poetry and praised the work of Wigtown saying: “This festival keeps poetry and literature generally going throughout the year - onwards and onwards.”

Mairi Macleod from Carbost, Skye, won the Gaelic Prize for Cuairt Sgudail. The runner up was 2024 winner, Rody Gorman, also from Skye for Glìtheag nam Faoileag air Alman.

Judge Elissa Hunter-Dorans said: “Bha e na urram dhomh a bhith nam bhritheamh aig Farpais Bàrdachd Wigtown, agus tha na dàin a fhuair sinn a’ taisbeanadh cho ioma-nàdarrach agus cho dathail ’s a tha saoghal nan Gàidheal an-diugh. Chunnaic mi dealbhan beòthail de na h-Eileanan agus de na cathair-bhailtean cuideachd - le seallaidhean pearsanta bhon latha an-diugh agus on àm a dh’fhalbh. Tha e deatamach gum bi guthan na Gàidhlig air an taisbeanadh à diofar àrainneachdan, bailteil agus dùthchail.

“Bha dlùth-aithne nan dàin mar gum biodh na sgrìobhadairean ag innse dhomh fhèin mu chiad ghaol aig cèilidhean, cuimhneachain mu bhàtaichean agus mu mhuir, agus beachdan air taibhsichean, deoch làidir agus call - 's iad uile ann an Ghlaschu gu Inbhir Nis gu Leòdhas... Bha feadhainn eile a’ rannsachadh nam pàirtean uaigneach dhen chultar againn tro na mòintean, eòin is clann, inbhean bòidhchead is crìonadh, agus eadhon eagal, trauma agus Dante fhèin. Abair bliadhna, mealaibh ur naidheachd uile!”

Judge Elissa Hunter-Dorans said: “It was an honour for me to be a judge at the Wigtown Poetry Competition this, and the poems we received did well to display the colour and variety of the Gaelic world today. I saw strong images of the Islands and of the cities too - with personal glimpses from both the present and the past. It is crucial that Gaelic voices be represented from different environments, both urban and rural.

“The intimacy of the poems felt as if the writers were telling me personally of first love at cèilidhs, the reality of the Gaelic link between memory and the sea, and reflections on ghosts, alcohol and loss - all taking place between Glasgow, Inverness, Lewis... Others explored the elusive parts of our culture through the peatlands, birds and children, beauty standards and decay, and even fear, trauma and Dante himself. What a year, mealaibh ur naidheachd uile!”

The Gaelic Prize is supported by The Gaelic Books Council whose Director, Alison Lang, said: “The Comhairle nan Leabhraichean toilichte taic a chumail ris an fharpais chliùitich seo a-rithist, agus tha sinn air air brosnachadh leis na dàin a chaidh a chur a-steach agus gu bheil ùidh mhòr aig sgrìobhadairean san fharpais. Meal-a-naidheachd do Mhàiri Nic Leòid, a bhuannaich na duais Gàidhlig am-bliadhna, agus gu Rody Gorman agus na bàird eile air a’ gheàrr-liosta.”

The Gaelic Prize is supported by The Gaelic Books Council whose Director, Alison Lang, said: “The Gaelic Books Council is delighted to support this prestigious prize once again, and we are greatly encouraged by the poems that were submitted and by the level of interest writers have shown in the competition. Our congratulations go to Mairi Macleod, the winner of this year’s Gaelic prize, and to Rody Gorman and the other shortlisted poets.”

New Zealander Jilly O’Brien took the Scots Language Prize with The Scaum o Sky an Sowl and the runner up was Glasgow’s Keeks Mc for Wisp.

Living embodiment of a centuries-long journey

Scots Language Prize judge, Lesley Benzie said: “The Scots language is the living embodiment of a centuries-long journey and all the migratory influences that have come to make up the range of Scots we speak. Writing in Scots therefore brings greater depth, a distinctive musicality and often a profound emotional resonance to a piece of writing or poetry.

“It was wonderful to read through the range of well utilised Scots represented in the poems submitted for the Scots language prize. It was a real challenge to whittle them down to a shortlist, let alone to settle on a winner and a runner up.

“My shortlist reflects that wide range of beautifully used Scots and a breadth of subject matter with deftly used poetic techniques. One is a touching poem that asks us to celebrate the courage it takes for a person to declare themselves transgender; another is a tongue in cheek critique of the ‘poet’s ego’; a couple of poems reflect on nature and how integral it is to us with the hope and nurturing it can bring; and one encompasses the complexity and profound sense of loss born of a fading relationship.

“Huge congratulations to the very worthy winner, Jilly O’Brien from Dunedin in New Zealand, with her poem: The Scaum o Sky an Sowl; and runner-up, Keeks Mc with her poem, Wisp.”

Author Mairi Kidd, CEO of sponsors the Saltire Society, added: “This year’s shortlist showed the strength of Scots poetry in different dialects and modes with a worthy winner in The Scaum o Sky an Sowl reassuring us of the vitality of the form. We were delighted to support and congratulate all the winners, runners-up and shortlistees.”

The Dumfries & Galloway Fresh Voice Award, which is designed to nurture talent from within the region was awarded to Carey Coombs from near Holywood, Dumfries, for Taskscapes.

Judge, the renowned poet Tom Pow, said: “The shortlisted poets in the Fresh Voice Award all submitted accomplished and engaging work. The poems drew on the history and folklore of the region: there was a strong sense of a storytelling tradition behind several poems. The poems were also quiveringly alert both to the natural heritage of rural Scotland and to what threatens it. Taken together, the poems represent a rich cross section of lives lived in the present and in the past and of what poetry, uniquely, can make of them.”