CONGRATULATIONS to Poetry Society Member Sarah Wimbush, this year’s winner of the PBS & Mslexia Women’s Pamphlet Prize for Bloodlines. Sarah said “This particular group of poems is something I’ve been working on for years; each poem drawn from fragments of my own heritage, so it’s incredibly rewarding to have them judged as ‘good enough’ […]

Congratulations to Poetry Society Members Ellora Sutton, Eithne Cullen and Wendy Holborow who finished first, second and third in the Pre-Raphaelite Society Poetry Prize. The results: 1. Ellora Sutton: First Prize: The Branding of Elgiva 2. Eithne Cullen: Second Prize: Dear Miss Morris 3. Wendy Holborow: Third Prize: The Order of Release 1746 4. Karl […]

The Moth Poetry Prize shortlist has been chosen by the American poet Claudia Rankine and includes Poetry Society Member Claudia Daventry for her poem ‘I do not appear in photos’. Each year, a different poet is asked to judge the prize blind. This year Rankine chose a shortlist that takes in Canada, the UK and […]

Poetry Society Member Claudia Court is this year’s Barnet Open Poetry Competition winner for her poem ‘Miscarriage’, judged by Maggie Butt. Maggie: “It felt rather daring to choose such a short poem as winner in a national competition, but I felt Claudia Court’s poem ‘Miscarriage’ was a rare accomplishment as it managed to be understated, […]

Magma Poetry have announced the winners and commended poets for its 2019/20 Poetry Competition for both the Judge’s Prize (judged by Caroline Bird) and the Editors’ Prize. All three prizes in the Judge’s Prize (poems of 11 to 50 lines) go to Poetry Society Members. Mark Russell is the winner for ‘Hospitality’, Victoria Richards is […]

Poetry Society Member Michaela Coplen has won this year’s Jon Stallworthy Poetry Prize on the theme of ‘Plastic’. The prize is worth £1,000 and judged by poetry faculty Bernard O’Donoghue and Alice Oswald.  The Jon Stallworthy Poetry Prize, first awarded in 2016, was set up in memory of the late Professor Jon Stallworthy (1935-2014), poet […]

Congratulations to Poetry Society Member Anthony Watts, winner of the Bedford International Prize for poetry for The Land of Epilogue. Nick Everett, the judge, also announced the Bedford Prize for poetry winner as Sophie Rainbow for Coda. Poetry Society Members on the shortlist include Estelle Price, Molly Underwood, Sharon Black, Caroline Maldonado, Georgina Titmus and […]

Poetry Society Member Jenny Pagdin is winner of the Benedicts Gate poetry competition (organised alongside the National Centre of Writing). Benedicts Gate is new student accommodation, due to open in Norwich in autumn 2020. Jenny’s poem will be on permanent display and will be incorporated into 12 specially designed panels showcasing the entrance of the […]

Poetry Society Members Elena Croitoru (for ‘Things That Are Green’) and Thomasson Taylor (for ‘Y Cwrwgl/The Coracle’) are among 13 poems to be shortlisted for the inaugural Wales Poetry Award, hosted by Poetry Wales, sponsored by the Department of English and Creative Writing at Aberystwyth University, and judged by Katherine Stansfield.  Elena has an MSt […]

The Aesthetica Creative Writing Award for Poetry has been presented to Poetry Society Member Audrey Molloy for her poem ‘On Reaching 45 the Poet Realises She Is Only 23’. Based in Sydney, Australia, Audrey has been widely published, most recently with The Moth, The Irish Times and Mslexia. In 2019, she received the Hennessy Award […]

Poetry Society Member Kathryn Bevis from Winchester was selected from a very strong field of writers from all over Hampshire who applied for the sought-after post of Hampshire Poet 2020. The appointment of the Hampshire Poet takes place every two years and this time has been led by Hampshire Cultural Trust and the Winchester Poetry […]

Poetry Society Member Vanessa Lampert has won the 2019 Cafe Writers Open Poetry Competition, judged by Zaffar Kunial, for her poem ‘Canada’. Vanessa wins £1000. She was previously Highly Commended in the Bridport and Troubadour prizes and came second in the Yeovil prize. She works as an acupuncturist in Wallingford, Oxfordshire. Her poem opens… Nights […]

Congratulations to Jane Burn, winner of the Wolverhampton literature festival poetry competition. The competition was run in conjunction with Write Out Loud and judged by Roz Goddard. Jane’s poem ‘Cantabank’ won £400 first prize with R M Francis as runner-up. Joint third place went to Jacqueline D’Auban, Colin Little, and Catherine Edmunds. There were plenty […]

Two successes for Poetry Society Member Audrey Molloy! Audrey’s poem ‘Salt Rain’ was awarded the Listowel Writers’ Week Poem of the Year 2019. Fellow Member Paul McMahon was Commended. Audrey also won second prize in the Fool for Poetry International Chapbook Competition for for her manuscript Satyress. Audrey’s chapbook will be will be published by […]

The Poem for Europe competition is a national competition to find the most thoughtful and inspiring poem about Europe. It has two age groups, Young Person’s category: 16-25 years old (judged by Vanessa Kisuule), and Open Category: 26+ years old (judged by Gillian Clarke). There are two 1st prizes of £500 in both the Young […]

Poetry Society Member Rosie Jackson has won Hedgehog Poetry Press’s ‘Conversationally Speaking’ prize in a joint venture with Dawn Gorman. The idea of the prize was to look for a conversation in verse where two poets choose a topic and collaborate to produce a body of work where each poem is a response to the […]

CONGRATULATIONS to Poetry Society Member Peter Iveson, winner of Winchester Poetry Prize 2019 for his poem ‘Mother’s Milk’,  judged by Helen Mort. Second prize and Third prizes went to fellow Member Maria Isakova-Bennett for ‘Subcutaneous’ and Lewis Buxton for ‘Boy Sees A Ghost’. ​Among the Highly Commended poets were Society Members Penny Boxall, Simon French, […]

Congratulations to Poetry Society Members Emma Must, winner of the Environmental Defenders Prize, and Joanna Guthrie, one of the runners-up. Among the Highly Commended were fellow Members Tim Kiely, Joanna Guthrie (for a second poem), and Hannah Lowe. The Ginkgo Prize is a major international award for ecopoetry, funded by the Edward Goldsmith Foundation and […]