Literature, Lyric Works, Open
| Date | 29 July – 14 August 1948 | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Olympic | |
| Location | Victoria & Albert Museum, London | |
| Participants | 16 from 9 countries | |
| Judge | Bill Adam |  GBR |
| Judge | Eric de Normann | GBR |
| Judge | Alan Herbert | GBR |
| Judge | John Hay Beith | GBR |
| Judge | Bernard Darwin | GBR |
| Judge | Sigfred Pedersen |  DEN |
| Judge | Max Wildi |  SUI |
There is no known list of entrants for the 1948 literature competitions, although it is known that Austria, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Finland, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Poland, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Uruguay sent a total of 44 entries. However, with few exceptions, only the prize winners are known in each category.
Aale Tynni continued the high rate of success for Finnish artists at the Olympics. Only nine Finns have entered Olympic art competitions, but five of them won a medal, and two more received an honorable mention. Her work “Hellaan laakeri” (Laurel of Hellas), had earlier won a poetry contest at the Finnish Sports Games of 1947. Her performance is notable, as she is the only woman to win an Olympic art competition. The silver medal for Ernst Van Heerden is also remarkable as he is – as far as we’ve been able to trace – the first openly gay Olympic medal winner.
| Pos | Catalogue Number | Competitor | NOC | Translated Title | Original Title | Title in Olympic Report or Catalogue | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | – | Aale Tynni |  FIN | Laurel of Hellas | Hellaan laakeri | Laurel of Hellas | Gold | 1 | |
| 2 | – | Ernst Van Heerden |  RSA | Six Poems | Ses gedikte/Six Poems | Six Poems | Silver | ||
| 3 | – | Gilbert Prouteau |  FRA | Rhythm of the Stadium | Rythme du Stade | Rythme du Stade | Bronze | ||
| – | Heikki Asunta | FIN | Endure and Win | Kestä ja voita | Endure and Win | ||||
| – | Eleuter Iwaszkiewicz |  POL | Olympic Odes | Ody olimpijskie | Olympic Odes | ||||
| – | Walter Roberts | GBR | Greetings to the Olympians | Greetings to the Olympians | Greetings to the Olympians | ||||
| – | Geraldine Wright |  CAN | The Skater | The Skater | – | ||||
| – | Gérard Bessette | CAN | The Runner | Le Coureur | – | ||||
| – | François Hertel | CAN | Little Poems to the Glory of Sport | Petits Poemes à la Gloire du Sport | – | ||||
| – | Stanislaus Lynch |  IRL | With Hounds in the Hills | With Hounds in the Hills | – | ||||
| – | Flora Vere O'Brien | IRL | A Song of the Road | A Song of the Road | – | ||||
| – | Giorgio Caproni |  ITA | The Bicycles | Le biciclette | – | ||||
| – | Michele Caballo Galleano | ITA | The Five Rings | I cinque cerchi | – | ||||
| – | Benoît Bickel | SUI | – | – | – | ||||
| – | Ferdinand Schell | SUI | – | – | – | ||||
| – | René Borchanne | SUI | – | – | – |