We are delighted to announce the winners of the 2025 Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook Student Poetry Competition in celebration of Phantom Billstickers National Poetry Day.
Year 11
First prize
Sabrina Li, ‘Venice Syndrome’
‘When I first arrived on the islands —/I felt like I was at home./gondolas / vaporettos/with fingerprint-carved oars/pushing apart waves/passing by, greeted me/elated/as if to welcome — benvenuto’
Judge’s comments: This was a deeply accomplished piece, its cadence instantly transporting. Its lyrical voice felt contemporary, fresh, fluent, direct, involving and its lines were alive with sensory detail
Second prize
Grace Cameron, ‘Big People Don’t Cry’
‘When I was four, I was told, ‘big people don’t cry’/That crying was a reaction only seen in little kids/The ones who wrinkled their nose at strange-smelling food/Who grazed their knees on hard concrete floors’
Judge’s comments: The searching vision & emotional depth of this piece held strong appeal; it framed the fragilities of childhood with sustained & resonant focus, with a tone that was open-hearted & tender, yet tightly controlled
Third prize
Jessica Hurrell, ‘Foxglove’
‘No aroma, no alluring scent/No sound, no searing noise/to draw me in, and others like me/But your colour, your galvanic purple/painted across your/tubular frame, lucid lilac’
Judge’s comments: The vivid, sensory, tactile language of this piece rippled with energy, bringing a simple flower to dynamic life, with sound choices showing a real poet’s ear
Highly commended: Dan Nguyen, ‘the car ride home’, ‘heaven is downstairs’; Katrina Wallis, ‘A cacophony of silence’; Jessica McIntosh, ‘Cleft and Cherub’; Madison Valerie, ‘summer is a mirror’; Aahana Mundamattam, ‘This is not a poem about stars’; Aether Bos, ‘THE ORANGE SEASON’; Tom Heiler, ‘Fish on / fish off’; Zac Wakelin, ‘The Voice Beneath’; Chloe Lee, ‘Malaise Memory’; Daniel Naidoo ‘Static Brain’, ‘Silence in Stars’
Year 12
First prize
Alvia Farooqui, ‘Relapsing’
‘There can be love and hate in the exhale of cigarette smoke/In the breath laced with the sweet toxins of an addict./I smell your allure, grey ash in your hair; I can almost picture how you’d grow old.’
Judge’s comments: The intensity of voice in this striking piece vibrated instantly; it locked on with emotional force & led the reader through a dark encounter with compelling tone
Second prize
Jeremy Guy, ‘On the Seventh Day’
‘‘Leonard Rawlings?’/Nurse reads the medals on my chest then smiles,/‘Room 214./Just down the hall, left side.’/I say thanks./She says,/‘No. Thank you.’’
Judge’s comments: This piece made highly-original use of poetry to unfold a dynamic, moving tale; its voice crackled with character, its focus was sharp, its narrative smooth & skilled
Third prize
Jane Doyle, ‘Today and tomorrow and other types of nonsense’
‘The days sink like lukewarm sand/They soak in soap and choke. They’re bland/Saturate themselves with thoughts and feelings/Desperate for the sweetness of blue and white ceilings’
Judge’s comments: This piece showcased a poet with a honed ear, whose lines were vividly sound-aware, using sensory imagery, beat and stress to deliver vibrant impact
Highly commended: Eleazar Kenese, ‘Something Set Free’; Yang Zhang ‘the night I saw them last’; Zeta Ronquillo ‘komorebi’; Angel Wang, ‘FLOWERS’; Rachel Kim, ‘Hidden in the Hollow’; Uma Reid ‘Native Tongue’
Year 13
First prize
Ava Dilly, ‘Aeneas’
‘As Venus begins her ascent,/he prepares to abandon this burning battlefield./To flee the walls of his ashen city,/this crackling casket.’
Judge’s comments: The dramatic voice of this persona-poem commanded immediate attention, maintaining tight tonal control over its striking mythic imagery. Its awareness of the sensory power of sound & line tension lured me in.
Second prize
Siena Thomas, ‘Dear Corporation,’
‘I would like to complain about the bodies in your basement./The bones of those that you twist into ladders to climb your summit./That you trade lives for paper and plastic and numbers on a chart./That there are children in your pantries, stored away so you can consume their flesh.’
Judge’s comments: This piece had a knockout opening that got instant attention, & registered its political unrest with hard-edged vocal kick. It’s anti-capitalist attack resonated with me!
Third prize
Aidan Clarke, ‘Poem 3’
‘Is Poem 3 a reference to Song 2 by Blur?/A form of creative expression followed by a number./I’m just reading in between the lines.’
Judge’s comments: Wit, bite, & flair stood out in this sharp piece, that plays with the brain-leaps of paranoia cleverly, moving with lively energy
Highly commended: Brianna Smith, ‘The tackle I never took’, ‘Things I've learned from the sky’; Emily Ng, ‘Applicant F’, ‘Ode to Marjorie Taylor Greene’; Izzy Ford, ‘the sixth day of may’; Sylvie Alsop, ‘Otherwordly greatness’; Talia Barnett, ‘From Sappho, With Love’; Thomas Beaglehole-Smith, ‘In my head’, ‘red and orange. pink and purple.’
Congratulations once again to these budding poets and to all who entered; we received many incredible entries. We can’t wait to see what the amazing ākonga of Aotearoa produce next year!
Thanks to Phantom Billstickers National Poetry Day and Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato the University of Waikato for their support.
Read the rest of the winning poems here.