With over 80 entries, we can now announce the winners of our first Kirkstall Art Trail Poetry Competition. Matthew Davenport’s In The Same Room has won the national prize, while Alex Callaghan’s Chippy Tea has won the Leeds prize.
Both winning poems will feature in a booklet collection alongside work from our other finalists. Copies will be available during Kirkstall Art Trail, and at our spoken word event, ‘Painting With Words’, 7pm to 9pm, Saturday 18 July 2026, at the Cardigan Arms. Come along and hear the winning poems read aloud!
Judge Jim Corah, Treasurer of the volunteer-led Kirkstall Art Trail, said: “All of the submitted poems were inspiring in a way I hadn’t anticipated when we launched the competition. Covering both the local Leeds scene and the national poetry scene, the quality and variety of the entries was remarkable, and hugely encouraging for the art form.”
About the winners
Matthew is a Lancashire poet who “writes about the emotions we recognise but rarely know how to name, exploring love, loss, grief, mental health and the quiet work of surviving them.”
Alex is a non-binary poet from Yorkshire, organiser of the outdoor poetry event Bone Down, and author of the collection For All The Winter Through.
All finalists
Matthew Davenport
National winner
Alex Callaghan
Leeds winner