LEDBURY Poetry Festival has announced the adult winners of its 2017 poetry competition.

And the international scope of the competition is revealed by the fact that two or three winners hail from the USA.

The first prize has gone to American poet Jonathan Greenhause, who wins a prize of £1000 and a week-long residential writing course at in Wales.

Mr Greenhause's poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in The Dark Horse, The Interpreter’s House, New Walk Magazine, Popshot, Pushing Out the Boat, The Rialto, and Stand, among others. His second chapbook, “Secret Traits of Everyday Things,” was published by Encircle Publications in September.

The second prize went to Anna Woodford who is currently poet in residence at the Co-Motion research project based at the Universities of Newcastle and York. She recently received an Award from the Society of Authors towards the development of her second poetry collection. Her first collection Birdhouse (Salt, 2010) won the Crashaw Prize and was included in the Guardian’s round up of the best poetry books of the year. Her pamphlets Party Piece (Poetry Business, 2009); Trailer (Five Leaves 2008) and The Higgins’ Honeymoon (Driftwood, 2001) won the Poetry Business Award, a PBS Pamphlet Choice and an Eric Gregory Award.

And another American poet has taken third prize.

Dana Alsamsam is a Syrian-American poet from Chicago who is currently an MFA candidate at Emerson College in Boston. She is the assistant poetry editor at Redivider and senior editorial assistant at Ploughshares. Dana's poems are published or forthcoming in Hooligan Mag, After Hours Chicago, L'Ephemere Review, Daphne Mag, Blood Orange Review, Bad Pony Mag and others.

All the 2017 winners will be perform at a special Ledbury Poetry Competition event

at Ledbury Poetry Festival, 2018, hosted by Fiona Sampson.