These are the winning and commended poems from our Ballads for Reading Gaol poetry competition. Click on any poem to open it in a new window.
Thank you to everyone who entered our competition and to Stephen Moss, former literary editor of The Guardian for being our judge. We will publish video recitations of the two winning poems in due course.
Ballads for Reading Gaol logo copyright Sally Castle
The Winners (adult and under 18)
The Ballad of Reading Gaol Resurrection by Ros Hatt
To Escape by Lilly Bell
Commended entries
Not the Ballad of Reading Gaol: The Lament of reading jail by Katie Gumbrell
The Life of Oscar Wilde by Saru Ganesh
Exposed by Vic Pickup
Love letter to a dead poet by Amy Sandiford
Clinking by Colleen McDonnell
The Gift by John Froy
The Ballad of Reading Gaol 2022 by Kathy Tytler
Hope Abandoned by Gill Learner
