Culture Perth and Kinross are delighted to announce the winners of the William Soutar Writing Prize for 2020.
The creative writing competition, run by Culture Perth and Kinross, regularly attracts a wide array of writers from across the UK to take part, as well as many local entrants from Perth and Kinross, and this year was no exception.
The winner of the 17 and under category this year was Ahmed Yassen. Ahmed will receive a hamper of books and stationery to support them develop their creative writing skills.
In the over 18’s category, the winner was Ross Mackay. Ross will receive a stay at Scotland’s national creative writing centre, Moniack Mhor when restrictions allow.
The competition was run very differently this year moving to a digital format allowing entrants to submit a short recording of an original piece of poetry, story, or a spoken performance around the theme of Lockdown Insights.
Judge Asif Khan, Director of Scottish Poetry Library, had his work cut out picking the winners. Asif said, “Poetry has been a source of both creative expression and solace during lockdown. It takes courage to write and video record a performance in one’s own home, so I take my bonnet off to all the entrants.”
Over 700 people voted for their favourite entrant to the competition before a final winner was selected from each category by our judge.
Over 18’s winner was Ross Mackay said,
“This is such brilliant news. I read William Soutar’s poetry at school, having come from Perth myself and I feel privileged to have won an award in his name.
I want to thank everyone who voted for me to make the shortlist and to Asif Khan, the judge. This is the first poetry competition I have ever entered so I am delighted to have won. The other entries were fantastic and very inspiring, so I would encourage anyone who has seen my poem to check out their work too.“
On selecting the final winners for each category, Asif Khan celebrated their talents. “I was impressed by Ahmed’s turn of phrase and lyricism. Ross applied a wonderful blend of fable and nautical imagery, which was reminiscent of a devotional chaplet for this extraordinary moment in our life and time.”
The organiser of the competition within Culture Perth and Kinross, Jordan Irvine said,
“We understand the challenges that Covid-19 and the circumstances of 2020 have brought to many writers and authors and are delighted we can celebrate and share some of the exceptional writing talents in this country through the competition. We were thrilled with the imagination and thoughtfulness demonstrated by many of the entrants and look forward to seeing more of their work in the future”.
Performances of their winning entries by both Ahmed and Ross are available to view on the Culture Perth and Kinross YouTube channel.