Isabel’s poem, ‘Milk and Eggs’ won a supplementary award in the Bridport Prize, making it four-in-a-row for the University’s English Department, which has a rich tradition of success in the annual writing competition.

Issie, who wrote the poem on Stephanie Norgate’s Year Two undergraduate Poetry module, said that she burst into joyful tears after learning that her work had beaten off competition from about 4,000 poems to finish in the top 12.

Her award follows hot on the heels of success in the same competition for Chichester lecturers Jane Rusbridge, Meredith Andrew and Dave Swann, whose work won prizes from the Bridport judges in 2003, 2004 and 2005.

Issie lives and writes from the makeshift office of her Victorian home in Chichester. She grew up in a provincial seaside village on the south coast of England, from which she now draws many of her creations, including the runner-up poem, ‘Milk and Eggs’, her first award for poetry.

Having spent 15 years working for companies such as Virgin and The Body Shop, Isabel left her job in senior management to pursue her literary ambitions. She shares her life with her carpenter husband and two young children.

She explained the origin of the poem: “English tutor Stephanie Norgate set us an unusual writing exercise, in which we wrote continuous prose, before going through and circling the words that would form the start of the poem.

“As the poem emerged, Stephanie felt that the imagery was strong, and encouraged me to work on the structure and physical layout of the poem. As a result, the poem became sharper and more spare – it was just the feedback I needed.”

The key theme to the poem is that of the perception of beauty, real or imagined. It is about a beautiful young girl on a bus, who encounters a man with a facial deformity, and is disturbed and ashamed by her own response. The story comes full circle, when many years later, in the domesticity of womanhood she again encounters the man, and the momentary exchange of their eyes unburdens her of a previous guilt.

“What I loved about writing this poem,” said Issie, “was the sense of affirmation at the end.

“Over the Christmas holidays last year I decided it was time to start submitting my work to competitions and publications. I sent off about ten submissions and forgot about them – until the phone call from Bridport to tell me I had won a shortlist prize in the poetry category!

“This is my first piece of writing in print and I am thrilled that it is in a respected publication such as the Bridport Prize Anthology. It is just the encouragement I need to stick to my goal, which is to notch up further publications, eventually working towards a career in the English and creative writing sector.”

Issie says that the award would have meant a lot to her late father, who was a lecturer on the Bishop Otter Campus for 16 years, until his early death in 1990: “My father loved writing, so I like to think he'd approve of what I'm doing now.”