Poets Abound!
It’s at long last time to announce the winners of the 2025 Magpie Award for Poetry! Working from our shortlist, here’s what final judge Renée Sarojini Saklikar had to say about this year’s batch of poems: From a shortlist of eleven well written poems, a bumper crop this year! I loved how each of the shortlisted poems for this year’s Magpie poetry contest represented a range of poetic styles, techniques and subject matter.
Winner: 
Pattie Palmer-Baker with ‘Widening Circles‘
‘Widening Circles’ a sixteen-line elegy with a well-structured, sustained metaphor (the speaker in the poem speaks to a Canadian goose, no less, about loss), that is both nuanced and poignant: strong evocative lines breaks, and a depth of emotion (grief, longing, beauty) encased and compressed in a well written poem.
1st Runner-up: Angela Rebrec with ‘Shutter speed‘
‘Shutter speed’ is a powerfully moving, ambitious poem, blending the personal with the political for a depth-charge of emotion; the poem risks tackling the difficult intersection(s) between/among war, trauma, and photo-journalism with a sustained point of view. Full props for bravery!
2nd Runner-up: Elizabeth Cockle with ‘Unread Books Air Their Complaints‘
A funny, topical list poem, rich with precise details and well-constructed couplets that both entertain and enlighten.
With so many striking poems in this year’s batch, final judge Renée Sarojini Saklikar also cited three Honourable Mentions.
1st Honourable Mention: Greer Stothers with ‘An Argument for Time Travel’
2nd Honourable Mention: Kaile Shilling with ‘Dahlia‘
3rd Honourable Mention: Elizabeth Cockle with ‘Incomplete List of Things I’ll Never Have to Do Again‘
Congratulations to all of these poets! Thank you again to judge Renée Sarojini Saklikar and to Pulp Literature poetry editors Daniel Cowper and Emily Osborne for selecting this year’s shortlist.
Thank you as well to all submitting authors for sharing your words and for supporting Pulp Literature!
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