The highlight this afternoon was to be the announcement and presentation of the awards for young poets who had entered the corresponding competition.
We began with some works by the Principal Adjudicators. Christine opened with the theme of the ‘wilderness’ from Exodus, but innovatively related this in a contemporary way: times where we can yet find streams of water in what seems like a desert. Robert Crawford’s composition ‘The Writer’ drew on the text of Jesus writing on the ground; the next was based on the acceptance of the Canaanite woman. But as beautiful as all the poetry was, it would have been fairly inaccessible to a Fringe audience, presupposing an awful lot of in-depth biblical knowledge.
Overall, the prelude simply didn’t fuel the drive, momentum and energy needed in order to build up to a joyful prize-giving. While the items of spoken word were interspersed with musical pieces on the fiddle – these were fantastic to listen to – unfortunately, due to some problem with the sound, we couldn’t hear from the performer what they were all about.
Following a brief time for questions and answers to the judges, we got to the presentation proper. The young poets, for sure, all produced absolutely superlative works.
Hannah Scholz won 5th with ‘Insinnerate’ (cf. Psalm 68): a cry to God against the exploitative actions and commonplace acceptance of injustice, versus the struggle for the fire of love to win through. In a similar way, in joint 3rd came Aryana Petrosky, with ‘We are but clay’ – an imaginative reflection based on Jeremiah’s visit to the ‘potter’s house’, capturing the idea that we can all be remade and remoulded. The language used was succinct, direct, and most crucially controlled – just like the actions of the potter’s wheel. (One of Aryana’s good friends was a ceramicist!) Also receiving a third prize was Nafsica Ladas, with ‘Mater Dolorosa’. Coming from the Orthodox tradition, Nafsica’s composition was not so much based on text, but on visual iconography… in this case, how a physical damaged item can serve as a wider metaphor for human brokenness.
Viktor Kardell won second prize – his poem was written in Gaelic (which we heard read), but sadly no translation was provided, and it seemed that the hastily arranged & read Google-translate version failed to do the piece justice. The first prize went to Mary Kalinski with her ‘All-Night Vigil’ – a work with much emotion invested, focusing movingly on how Christ can come to us personally.
The performance finished at 2.20pm.
Religious Poetry Competition Final, Wednesday 13th August 2025, Canongate Kirk