Poem Wins International Award - Otago Daily Times

https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/queenstown/poem-wins-international-award

Queenstown poet Leila Murton Poole has won an international award for her comedic poem Minnie and Dick’s Gender Reveal - Take Two.

Murton Poole’s piece, about "ghoulishly cheerful" expectant parents, who would not let casualties stand in the way of their big announcement, was selected from more than 5000 entries world-wide in the Wergle Flomp Humour Poetry Contest, for which she won $US2000 ($NZ3150).

Final judge Jendi Reiter said she appreciated entries made serious points about social change while keeping a "light touch". "Here, when the cringe-worthy couple’s pink-or-blue explosion goes wrong, they wind up contented with the realisation that children’s identities are not so simple."

Murton Poole, a ski instructor, said she could not believe she had won. "I’m so grateful to Winning Writers for giving Minnie and Dick, and my sense of humour, a platform.

"I can’t imagine a better place for it than as a Wergle Flomp winner."

Second prize went to Hillary Smith, of Washington State, for Delilah, My Boss, and the third to Alex Barr, of Fishguard, Wales, for Catalog Capers.