Competition Judges

A former winner of the Wales Book of the Year competition for Wanting to Belong (Seren), Mike Jenkins is a former editor of Poetry Wales and a long-term co-editor of Red Poets. He taught English at Radyr Comprehensive School in Cardiff for nearly a decade and Penydre High School, Gurnos, Merthyr Tydfil, for some two decades before that. At the end of the 2008–2009 academic year, Jenkins took voluntary redundancy. He now writes full-time, capitalising on experiences gleaned from former pupils.

Two of his most recent books are collaborations: From Aberfan t Grenfell (with Alan Perry) and Anonymous Bosch (with Dave Lewis). He is a prolific writer and a much sought-after performance poet. He has judged both the Welsh Poetry Competition and this competition before.

Sheila Aldous is a North London girl with Devon in her soul. Living on the banks of the River Teign she is inspired by life generally, but also the natural landscape, river life, local history and love & loss. She has worked in Bermuda on the national newspaper, The Royal Gazette, and in London at the BBC. Sheila gained a BA in combined English and Media Studies from the University of East Anglia and an MA in Creative Writing from Exeter University. She has been published in anthologies and judged contests for the Teignmouth Heritage Centre.

Her first collection, Paper Boats, the Burning of Teignmouth and Shaldon 1690, was published by Indigo Dreams. A chapbook, Patterns of All Made Things, was published by Hen Run, an imprint of Grey Hen Press. She has also published While I Was Sleeping, a story of forced adoption, and her latest publication is a certain magic, both with CloseToTheEdgeBooks.

She is a former winner of the Welsh Poetry Competition, the Yeovil Prize, the NAWG, Riptide Journal, and Happenstance 20. She was also shortlisted for the Bridport Prize 2018.

Mick Evans grew up in rural Hertfordshire. He read English at Oxford, where he gained a Violet Vaughan Morgan Prize. He pursued a teaching career in Kent, Cheshire, and finally Carmarthenshire. The move to Wales was prompted by the desire to re-establish the family’s Welsh roots.

He is published in a number of anthologies and was a runner-up in the Cinnamon single poem competition. He is a former winner of the Welsh Poetry Competition and has also judged the contest a few times. His debut pamphlet with Cinnamon Press was Burlesque. Light Airs was a long-overdue first full collection. His compelling collection of short prose pieces, Short Cuts, was published in 2022. His layest collection is Songs for Later, which was published by Cinammon Press in 2025.

Mick also judged the Maya Poetry Book Awards in 2024.

David J. Costello lives in Wallasey. His work is widely published, including by Prole, Orbis, Magma, Dream Catcher, Envoi and Poetry Scotland. David has been a prize winner in numerous competitions, including The Troubadour Prize, the Welsh Poetry Competition and the Grist Poetry Competition. David’s pamphlets are Human Engineering (Thynks Publishing 2013) & No Need For Candles (Red Squirrel Press 2016). 

His full collections are Heft (Red Squirrel Press, 2020) and Witness (Red Squirrel Press, 2024). Heft was placed 3rd in the inaugural Poetry Book Awards in 2020.

David is currently working on his third collection with Red Squirrel Press, which is due in 2028/2029.

Mark Lewis now works freelance in the museum, heritage, and art gallery sector after 30 years as the first professionally qualified curator at Tenby Museum & Art Gallery. 

Mark is also a creative writer and published author, with several of his dramatic pieces having been performed at various events over the years. His poetry books include Erimos, longlisted for the Poetry Book Awards, and Anchor & Wing: Poems from the Periphery, published by The Seventh Quarry Press.

In 2025, he won the Welsh Poetry Competition. His new collection of poetry, Mirror - Erimos Returns, has been praised by Patrick Jones and Peter Thabit Jones.

Robert McKain lives a quiet existence on the hillside above Pontypridd in the Welsh valleys with his faithful whippet, Bonnie. Always in demand, Robert is a prolific poetry performer throughout Wales and the West Country.

He is also a successful novelist writing as R.M.Kain, and has just released a prequel to Jock of the Bay, his debut, hard-boiled crime thriller featuring retired special forces soldier Jock McLean.