The winner of the Barnard Castle Winning Words Open Poetry Competition is Anne Dauber from Upper Teesdale.

 Anne's poem The Great Grey Barn was selected from fifty entries from across County Durham, Redcar & Cleveland, and North Yorkshire.

Entrants were requested to use the Dickens phrase: 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times' to reflect on what 2012 meant to them.  For Anne the words epitomised the Winter months in Upper Teesdale.  One of the judges, Jo Briggs of Mudfog Press, commented that:

'This is a very good poem about the connections and disconnections between human life and the natural world, and about hope coming out of a desolate winter.'

Anne's poem and other shortlisted entries can be viewed at http://www.winningwordsatbarnardcastlenest.wordpress.com

Anne will read her poem during the 'Inspired by Dickens' event at NeST on Wednesday 20th June at 7p.m.  Tickets for the event which features poems and the Nicholas Nickleby play by members of Turrets youth theatre group are on sale at NeST for £2 each.

NeST currently has a display stand of 13 poets from the Mudfog collection including pamphlets by Katherine Banner, Pat Borthwick, Syndou Diarrassouba, Jo Heather, Shirley Hetherington, Felicity Manning, Janice Sinson, Gareth Spark, and Geoff Tomlinson.