Alsager Town Council chair and poet, Cllr Philip Williams, has won the Cheshire Prize for Literature for the second time. 

Cllr Williams, who runs a creative writing group in the Potteries, won the 2021 prize on the theme of 'sustainability' for his poem 'Pale Blue Dot'.

He used an environmental theme based around the Voyager space probe in the 1970s with a clever twist.

But Cllr Williams isn't the first Alsager councillor to win a writing award this year. In May, Alsager Nub News told how Cllr Jane Smith won the Feminist Futures award in the United States.

Cllr Smith won her prize with "Salt Water", as detailed here https://alsager.nub.news/news/local-news/alsager-town-councillor-wins-top-us-writing-award-for-her-story-about-rising-sea-levels-and-climate-change-134476 which imagines a female survivor navigating a world of rising sea levels as a consequence of climate breakdown.

Cllr Williams submitted a poem based on US astronomer Carl Sagan's description of the earth as a 'pale blue dot' and the phonograph recording and images sent into space with the Voyager space probe in the 1970s. 

"The idea was that if there was intelligent life in outer space they would get some idea of what we were like by playing the recording and looking at the pictures," he said.

"It always struck me that this relied on the idea that aliens would have 1970s-style record players.

"What if they had cassette recorders or completely different sensory perception to ourselves?

"The sound recording included music from a range of cultures.

Cllr Williams receiving his prize with other winners

"I toy with this idea in the poem, wondering which music style the aliens might like best, how they might be able to absorb and process sound and images and whether they would be attracted enough to pay us a visit.

"There's a sting in the tail as I imagine what they might find when they get here from deep space.

"What are we doing to our planet, this beautiful 'pale blue dot' we boast of to our interplanetary neighbours?"

Cllr Williams was presented with a certificate as winner of the over-25s poetry category at an event at the Storyhouse arts venue in Chester.

A cash prize and a place in the competition anthology will follow with a launch of a publication containing winning and short-listed entries in November.

Philip won the High Sheriff's Cheshire Prize in 2013 for his poem 'The Elvis Shed' when the award was presented by Merseybeat poet and BBC Radio 4 'Poetry Please' presenter, Roger McGough.

He said: "The poetry category used to come round every three years and I have been shortlisted several times since 2013 but not won again until now.

"As far as I am aware I am only the second person to win the poetry prize since the competition was established in 2003.

Cllr Williams is active on the regional poetry and spoken-word open-mic scene and his poems have appeared in poetry publications such as Poetry Wales and the Welsh 'internationalist' magazine Planet.

Alsager Town Council chair and poet, Cllr Philip Williams, has won the Cheshire Prize for Literature for the second time.

The talented wordsmith, who runs a creative writing group in the Potteries, won the 2021 prize on the theme of 'sustainability' for his poem 'Pale Blue Dot'.

Cllr Williams used an environmental theme based around the Voyager space probe in the 1970s with a clever twist.

He said: "There was an environmental theme this year and I submitted a poem based on US astronomer Carl Sagan's description of the earth as a 'pale blue dot' and the phonograph recording and images sent into space with the Voyager space probe in the 1970s. 

"The idea was that if there was intelligent life in outer space they would get some idea of what 2e were like by playing the recording and looking at the pictures.

"It always struck me that this relied on the idea that aliens would have 1970s-style record players.

"What if they had cassette recorders or completely different sensory perception to ourselves?

"The sound recording included music from a range of cultures.

"I toy with this idea in the poem, wondering which music style the aliens might like best, how they might be able to absorb and process sound and images and whether they would be attracted enough to pay us a visit.

"There's a sting in the tail as I imagine what they might find when they get here from deep space.

"What are we doing to our planet, this beautiful 'pale blue dot' we boast of to our interplanetary neighbours?"

Cllr Williams was presented with a certificate as winner of the over-25s poetry category at an event at the Storyhouse arts venue in Chester.

A cash prize and a place in the competition anthology will follow with a launch of a publication containing winning and short-listed entries in November.

Philip won the High Sheriff's Cheshire Prize in 2013 for his poem 'The Elvis Shed' when the award was presented by Merseybeat poet and BBC Radio 4 'Poetry Please' presenter, Roger McGough.

He said: "The poetry category used to come round every three years and I have been shortlisted several times since 2013 but not won again until now.

"As far as I am aware I am only the second person to win the poetry prize since the competition was established in 2003.

Cllr Williams is active on the regional poetry and spoken-word open-mic scene and his poems have appeared in poetry publications such as Poetry Wales and the Welsh 'internationalist' magazine Planet.