Mountain Writing Competition 2001

by Kevin Howett

The Judges this year were President John Donohoe, National Officer Kevin Howett, Editor of ‘Climber’ magazine Bernard Newman, and past Vice President and Teacher Ingrid Parker. There were 13 entries for the prose category and 12 submitted for the poetry section. Both categories were closely contended with several entries vying for first or second place.

In the Prose category ‘Munro-Bagging’ won by a length, with a depiction of a day out that everyone will identify with. Second place was shared by two quite different articles; ‘Pastimes’ is a reminiscent repeat of a winter route which reflects on the changes in the climbing scene in the intervening time, ‘The Wendy House’ is almost a ghost story, but with a twist. Just missing out was a story of a ‘Club Meet’ by Lynda Woods of the Capricorn MC and a description of a meet in The Cuillin by Duncan Walker entitled ‘Coruisk is a wonderful Place’.

In the Poetry category the judge’s views were quite apposite and as a result there were several that came close to winning; the descriptive poems of ‘A Day on Stob Coir’an Albannaich’ by Clifford Healy and ‘Benighted’ by Ian McCabe just missing out. ‘The Lost Treasure of the High Sierra’ by Lynne Long and ‘Eight Thousand Meters’ by Helen McLaren delved deeper into “why?” and were also very close contenders. he winner was 'Kirsty' by Hamish Brown, who gains a ‘grand slam’!