Rhoda Bulter Award winner

Joyce Reid wins 2015 Award

The winner of this year’s Rhoda Bulter Award is Joyce Reid from Quarff. The award, now in its second year, is presented by the Bulter family in memory of Rhoda Bulter, one of Shetland’s most important dialect writers. The 2015 competition was for a dialect poem of no more than 40 lines, on the theme of Joy.  Joyce Reid expressed delight at winning: 'I'm thrilled, absolutely thrilled, and humbled too.'

Speaking on behalf of the Bulter family, who judge the competition, John Bulter said, 'We received 21 poetry entries, and judged without knowledge of who each writer was. We were greatly impressed with the high standard and novel ideas used, and enjoyed every one.'  The winning poem, he said, 'exploded with joy!'

The competition is administered by  Shetland ForWirds.  Convener Mary Blance says,  'It’s been lovely ta be pairt o encouragin new writing in dialect.'

The winning poem will be published in the Yule issue of the New Shetlander magazine.