英國劍橋大學經濟系 19 歲香港學生 Eric Yip，在英國國家詩詞比賽（National Poetry Competition）中從 7,000 多人的作品中脫穎而出獲得冠軍，成為該獎項最年輕得主。他的得獎作品《Fricatives》透過語言探討殖民主義、種族、歸屬感及離鄉別井的內疚感。
Eric 的作品詩名《Fricatives》，指的是摩擦音，Eric 以語言特性成詩，當中以「three」及「free」為例，與港人難克服的「f」和「th」等發音有關。
評審 Fiona Benson 向外媒形容，此詩極具雄心且成就非凡（immensely ambitious and beautifully achieved），亦是令人難以置信、剛柔兼備的故事，闡述政府監視及同化的不安情緒（powerful, vulnerable story of an uneasy assimilation, and of government surveillance）。
Eric 在接受英媒《衛報》訪問時，表示對於獲勝感到驚訝，「我才19歲，我想未來還有很多詩要看、要寫。我視得獎為一種鼓勵我繼續寫作和進步的開始。」
以下為 Eric Yip 的得獎詩作：
Fricatives by Eric Yip
To speak English properly, Mrs Lee said, you must learn
the difference between three and free. Three men
escaped from Alcatraz in a rubber raft and drowned
on their way to Angel Island. Hear the difference? Try
this: you fought your way into existence. Better. Look
at this picture. Fresh yellow grains beaten
till their seeds spill. That’s threshing. That’s
submission. You must learn to submit
before you can learn. You must be given
a voice before you can speak. Nobody wants to listen
to a spectacled boy with a Hong Kong accent.
You will have to leave this city, these dark furrows
stuffed full with ancestral bones. Know
that death is thorough. You will speak of bruised bodies
skinnier than yours, force the pen past batons
and blood, call it fresh material for writing. Now
they’re paying attention. You’re lucky enough
to care about how the tongue moves, the seven types
of fricatives, the articulatory function of teeth
sans survival. You will receive a good education
abroad and make your parents proud. You will take
a stranger’s cock in your mouth in the piss-slick stall
of that dingy Cantonese restaurant you love and taste
where you came from, what you were made of all along.
Put some work into it, he growls. C’mon, give me
some bite. Your mother visits one October, tells you
how everyone speaks differently here, more proper.
You smile, nod, bring her to your favourite restaurant,
order dim sum in English. They’re releasing
the students arrested five years ago. Just a tad more
soy sauce please, thank you. The television replays
yesterday on repeat. The teapots are refilled. You spoon
served rice into your mouth, this perfect rice.
Steamed, perfect, white.
