The Judges

Kate Newmann was born in Co Down in 1965. Her poetry collection is The Blind Woman in the Blue House (Kilcar, Co Donegal, Summer Palace Press, 2001). She has been junior fellow at the Institute for Irish Studies, Queen's University, Belfast, where she compiled The Dictionary of Ulster Biography (1993). She is a member of the Word of Mouth Writing Collective, and now lives in Donegal.

Joan Newmann is a poet and teacher of Creative Writing. Writer in Residence for: Verbal Arts Centre, Derry and N. Ireland Arts Council; based in Waterside Hospital, Derry, Spruce House, Derry, and Belfast City Hospital. Has read her work in Belfast and at the Atlanta Celtic Festival in 1997, and in 1998 at New York State. Awarded N. Ireland Arts Council Bursary 1995. Has given readings with many poets including Seamus Heaney, Paula Meehan and Medbh McGuckian with venues in Ireland, England, Russia, and a  reading tour in the USA (New York). Joan and her daughter Kate Newmann run Summer Palace Press in Donegal.