Every competition needs its judges and we were fortunate to have some very experienced, and brave, people on board.

The initial round of judging involved separating the poems that were suitable for publishing from those that were not, since the primary aim of the competition was to offer Southern African poets a chance to have their work published. The poems that were selected went through to the second round. The next stage involved deciding on our three Poems of Choice – in other words, our favourite top three entries – the writers of which would also be our cash prize winners.

So what were we looking for in our top three choices? Frederick De Jager, editor of the anthology, addresses this very question in his foreword to the book: "The answer was unanimously that choice poems – over and above conveying a convincing and unique voice, and also style of penmanship – must somehow matter and be compellingly relevant, ironically, to most of us, as poets and writers, as commentators on and from Africa, as intellectual and emotional as well as physical beings."

In addition to our three Poems of Choice, we awarded a special commendation to ten other entries. We would love to have highlighted many more but, as is the nature of competitions, there can regretfully be only so many. Our selectors were impressed, and pleased, by the entries submitted and we are certain that you will enjoy the fruits of our collective labour – the first edition of what we hope to be an ongoing project, The Ground's Ear – Contemporary Verse from Southern Africa.

The judges

Dr. Dosia Reichardt (B.A., B.A. Hons., M.A., Ph.D.) is the poetry editor of the Tropical Writers Anthology and the accredited journal Literature in Northern Queensland. She lectures in several literary disciplines for James Cook University, has given talks on Poetry in Exile at the Cairns Festival, and has judged poetry and short story competitions for the Cairns Post and for the Nestle “Write Around Australia” competition. She has recently been a fellow at the Folger Shakespeare Library, and she currently writes on Keats’ sources.

Dr. Frederick De Jager (B.A., U.P.L.M., M.M., M.A., Ph.D.) is an academic in several varied areas of cultural interest – gender studies, music, and literary arts. He has published articles and presented many lectures internationally on interdisciplinary theory, particularly in relation to Western ideologies of the 19th and 20th centuries. His articles have appeared in accredited, peer-reviewed journals, including Literary Theory and Criticism, Samus, Musicus and LiNQ.

He has been interviewed on ABC radio in Australia, and called a “connoisseur on the Romantics” in France (La République, 2004). Frederick De Jager is a member of www.bizafrica.biz, his family’s trust, which continues after almost five decades to initiate and develop community and social upliftment programmes.

Mr. Mhlobo Jadezweni (B.A., B.A. Hons., M.A.) accepted a lectureship position in 1983 at Stellenbosch University, after completing his academic studies at Fort Hare and at Stellenbosch Universities. During his tenure at Stellenbosch, he was invited – as professor – by the Universities of Leipzig and Bayreuth to teach isiXhosa and Southern African literature. He has been published in various accredited journals, and has had some of his works translated into isiZulu, Afrikaans, Portuguese and Swedish. His poetry anthology – Umdiliya Wesihobe – has recently been published by Oxford University Press.

Ms. Deidre Donnelly (B.A., B.A. Hons., M.A.) is the senior features writer and books editor at O, The Oprah Magazine South Africa. Her position includes compiling the monthly book-review pages, interviewing local and international authors, and keeping an eye out for up-and-coming writing talent. In the five years that she has been with the magazine, she has both sourced and overseen the selection of theme-specific poems and quotes that are a regular feature in the magazine.

Ms. Vanessa Wilson, founder and general manager of QuickFox Publishing, has worked within the publishing industry for over two decades as a production specialist. She has contributed to well over two hundred titles spanning all genres and has success­fully published her own book which continues to be a popular seller in the South African market. She established South Africa’s first independent publishing resource site, www.publisher.co.za, and is co-founder of www.indiebooks2go.com, an online bookstore promoting and selling independently-published books in South Africa. She occasionally gives talks to aspiring authors' and writers’ circles on all aspects of book production and publishing.