Annual Competition Winners and Shortlists
Many thanks to all the writers who continue to submit to Superlative.
Here are the fantastic poems that we have selected for publication in our annual competition.
If you would like us to consider your poetry, please submit here.
Enjoy!
Along with his debut novel, Deep River Blues, and four books of poetry, including his latest, ‘Pulling at a Thread’, Tony Morris's work has also been widely published in anthologies and journals. His poems have been awarded the Louisiana Literature Prize, and the Tennessee Writers Alliance Poetry Award along with multiple nominations for the Pushcart Prize.
Erik is a student of social anthropology at the London School of Economics. His poems explore intimacy, loss, and the quiet absurdity of being alive.
I am a designer by trade, who always had an interest in all things creative. In my teens and early 20's I sang in a number of bands in the thriving Dublin music scene, which is where I got interested in a number of creative disciplines including design, writing and photography. I spend most of my spare time travelling to small town all across the world trying to capture the essence of them via words and analogue photography.
Rachael is a Manchester Poet, founder of ‘The Space Poetic’, and an MFA student at The Manchester Writing School. Her work has recently been published by Ink Sweat and Tears, and Ver Poets, and she was awarded by Wirral Poetry Festival in 2024. She writes at ‘Poet Notes’ on Substack, sometimes IG’s at @rhillpoetnotes and is a lover of cats and climbing.
Savannah is a third year English Literature and creative writing student with The Open University. Her work explores darker themes of trauma, predation and grief as well as lighter themes such as childhood, longing and romance.
Jennifer's poetry, fiction, and essays have been featured in literary publications such as Bridge Eight, Funicular Literary Magazine, San Antonio Review, The Texas Poetry Assignment, and Flash Fiction Magazine. Beyond her writing, Jennifer earned an MA in Writing from Johns Hopkins University and a BFA in Writing, Literature & Publishing from Emerson College.
Rebecca Maker is a nonfiction book editor and emerging writer. She is working on poems about family, nature, and her grandparent’s central California ranch. She is published in Poet Lore and is a 2024 Pushcart Prize nominee and a 2024 Bread Loaf participant. She lives in Southern California.
Priya Rajan lives in Bangalore. She is an ex-IT professional, a play therapist and a striving writer. She writes creative non-fiction and poetry, which have been published in Orion, Flocklit, Hinterland, snapdragon, iO literary journal, Gyroscope review and such. She is interested in working with children and words.
Brooklyn Saliba is a 30 something year old poet, writer and photographer, a library assistant by trade, words have always been at the helm of her life and in spare moments of time, she's always scribbling away, trying to capture the fleeting with her lens and pen.