In Praise of the Ordinary – AVBOB Poetry Mini-Competition winners announced

By CityLife Arts Writer

The AVBOB Poetry Project’s first mini-competition of 2026 invited poets to turn, momentarily, from a turbulent world and attend to the textures of everyday life. In response, poets explored the quiet objects and moments that carry memory, sustain connection, and keep hope alive.

First-prize winner Yuwinn Kraukamp Cash prize: R1 000	Second-prize winner Asanda Phikwa Cash prize: R700	Third-prize winner   Busisiwe Annelissa Madikane  Cash prize: R300

The prompt draws on Njabulo Ndebele’s seminal essays, later collected in Rediscovery of the Ordinary: Essays on South African Literature and Culture (1991), whose call to attend to the overlooked remains strikingly relevant today.

The winning poems speak with clarity and emotional precision, revealing how the most unassuming moments can hold profound human truth. Mini-competition judge, Liesl Jobson, notes that many entries shared a quiet turning towards what endures.

“Across the submissions, there was a palpable shift from anxiety and overwhelm towards moments of care, touch and connection. The poems remind us that even in difficult times, meaning is often carried in the smallest, most ordinary gestures.”

First-place winner YuwinnKraukamp is a freelance journalist and columnist living in Bredasdorp. He studied poetry at the University of the Western Cape and placed third in the Diana Ferrus Poetry Prize in 2024. His work has appeared in the AVBOB Poetry Library and on LitNet, and he has been a writing resident at the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study, where he explored the political roles of poetry and short fiction.

“I made a list of ordinary things with poetic potential – emotions, memories, family gatherings – and then landed on a childhood memory of an ordinary weekday morning,” he recalls. “It was raining and my mother reminded me to take my raincoat, which I then forgot. I imagined what she, and every mother, might feel watching their children walk away from parental safety into an unpredictable world. That thought stayed with me until I wrote the poem.”

Dry Clothes
Yuwinn Kraukamp

It wouldn’t be hard to convince you that mothers
carry the hearts and the kidneys, the night terrors
and the birthday candles of their children
in the sleeves of their sweaters
under their kitchen aprons
pinned to the buttons of their jerseys.

Mothers take them out, lay them flat on still-warm ironing boards,
feed them, shelter them,
and when we rush out of the house into the outside world,
barely clothed, barely at the borders of adulthood,

the mothers run after us – guardians, always –
and offer our hearts back to us
the way the sky offers rainwater to the earth
from its own body.

And she’s still running after you
to places no parent can follow,
still offering you everything she’s holding
in her arms: dry clothes, clean socks, vegetable soup,
sunscreen, cough syrup – all the many, many
shapes of love,
not enough to save the world
but enough to convince you that your life is a miracle
for which you no longer have to audition.

Second-place winner Asanda Phikwa is a student from Ntabankulu in the Eastern Cape, now living in Johannesburg. Previously shortlisted in the Nal’ibali Story Writing Competition, she sees poetry as a way to express thoughts and emotions rooted in everyday experience.

“I entered this competition to challenge myself creatively and to share my voice. This challenge gave me the opportunity to explore my old towel – an ordinary item used daily without much thought. Although worn and reaching the end of its usefulness, it still holds personal value, memories, and a sense of comfort.”

My Old Towel
Asanda Phikwa

My old towel hangs behind the door.
It used to be deep blue.
Now it is the colour of a cloudy sky.

One corner is thin as paper.
Loose threads curl like tired hair.
It smells faintly of soap,
even when it is dry.

After a bath,
I reach for it without looking.
It knows the shape of my shoulders.
It fits around me
without fighting back.

On cold mornings,
it presses warmth into my skin.
On hot afternoons,
it wipes sweat from my neck.

It has fallen on wet tiles.
It has dried in weak sunlight.
It has travelled in bags to sleepovers
and come back heavier with sand.

No guest would choose it.
It would not impress anyone.
Yet it is the one I look for
when I need comfort.

One day, it will be cut
into cleaning rags.

But tonight,
it hangs in its place,
quiet and ready,
waiting for water
and my tired hands.

Third-place winner BusisiweAnnelissaMadikane is a police official living in Mthatha. Although she has not previously won a poetry competition, she has long turned to poetry as a way of expressing her thoughts, emotions and experiences.

“I entered The AVBOB Poetry Competition because it creates a powerful space to reflect on and give meaning to everyday experiences, especially through the theme ‘Rediscovering the Ordinary’,” she shares.

“My poem was inspired by the quiet strength, sacrifices and unconditional love that mothers show through their daily actions. It is a tribute to the often unseen ways in which they nurture, protect and shape our lives.”

My Mother’s Hands
Busisiwe Annelissa Madikane

My mother’s hands
are always busy.

In the morning,
they boil water,
test the heat with one finger,
and pour it into a cup
without spilling a drop.

They know the shape
of every pot,
every spoon,
even in the dark
when the power is gone.

Her hands do not rest.
They wash,
they scrub,
they rinse the day away
from plates and clothes
that will be dirty again tomorrow.

There is a small scar
on her left thumb.
I have never asked about it,
but it has always been there,
like part of her name.

When she laughs,
her hands come together,
soft and quick,
like they are clapping
for something only she can see.

At night,
they move slower.
They fold blankets,
smooth out the corners,
and switch off the light.

Before she sleeps,
she places them
on her chest,

finally still,
as if they too
need to be held.

In celebrating these three poets, we are reminded that attention is a form of care. YuwinnKraukamp, AsandaPhikwa and BusisiweAnnelissaMadikane transform fleeting, easily overlooked moments into language that endures. Their poems affirm that the ordinary is never merely ordinary. It is where we locate tenderness, resilience and meaning.

The annual AVBOB Poetry Competition opens on 1 August 2026 and offers a cash prize of R10 000 in each language category. Visit www.avbobpoetry.co.za for details on how to participate.