Warm tributes have been paid to Angela Platt, who died on 8 May. Angela was The Poetry Society Stanza Rep for Newport and and had been a Poetry Society Member for many years. Born in Cardiff, Angela attended school in Newport, then worked at the Inland Revenue in Cardiff and Llanishen before a teaching career […]

Poetry Society Member Penny Boxall has been chosen by Michael Rosen for the second prize in the 2019 Charles Causley International Poetry Competition (won by Luke Allan) for her poem ‘The Stays’. Penny won The Poetry Society’s Stanza Competition last year and her debut poetry collection, Ship of the Line, won the 2016 Edwin Morgan […]

Andrew McMillan has chosen Eleanor Penny as the winner of this year’s Verve Poetry Competition with Commendations for Poetry Society Members Natalie Crick, Michael Saunderson, Claire Collison, Hilary Watson, Christopher M James, Tim Kiely, Natalie Whittaker, and Jack Cooper. The results in full: 1st Prize: The Dogs by Eleanor Penny 2nd Prize: Gaylord by Jack […]

Poetry Society Member Emma Neale has received a Lauris Edmond Memorial Award for Poetry – a prize given biennially in recognition of a distinguished contribution to New Zealand poetry. Emma is the author of six novels and six collections of poetry. Her new book of poems is To the Occupant which was published in 2019 […]

Poet Laureate Simon Armitage has chosen Poetry Society Member Jane Wilkinson as the winner of this year’s Guernsey International Poetry Competition. So impressed was Simon with Jane’s entries to the competition that he also picked another of her poems for second place! Jane wins a total of £1500. Jane was recently the winner of the […]

Poetry Society Member David Bleiman‘s poem, ‘The Trebbler’s Tale’, written in a macaronic Scots-Yiddish, won the first prize and the Hugh MacDiarmid Tassie in the Scots Language Association’s Sangschaw competition. David’s poem was described by the adjudicator as a dumbfounerin mixter maxter o Scots and Yiddish. It will be published in Lallans 96 (forthcoming). The poem […]

Congratulations to Poetry Society Members Jo Haslam, Lisa Kelly and Tim Waller who were picked as Hannah Lowe’s top three in the Teignmouth Poetry Festival Poetry open competition.  Jo Haslam’s winning poem ‘The Kiss’ begins When I ask she lifts her head, touches her nose to mine, the way her Arabic grandma has shown her. […]

Adriana Morgan has won Acumen’s first International Poetry Competition, with Poetry Society Members Kerrin P Sharpe and Graham Burchell coming in second and third.  Lots of success for other Poetry Society Members too. Kathy Miles won the Subscriber Prize, Michaela Coplen and Jonathan McMahon were Highly Commended, and Gail Anderson, Maggie Butt, Eve Jackson, Linda […]

Congratulations to Rachel Davies – Poetry Society Member and Stanza rep for East Manchester and Tameside – who has come top out of over 1000 entries to win the Enfield Poets’ Poetry Competition. Rachel’s poem ‘Alternative Mother #1: Naamah, daughter of Lamech’ was chosen by Ruth Padel.  Poetry Society Member Sue Norton‘s poem ‘Night Call […]

Poetry Society Member Heather Moulson has won the Brian Dempsey Memorial Competition for her poem ‘Oh Sarah!’, judged by Paul McGrane. Success too for fellow Poetry Society Members Callum James and Janet Dean who were second and third for their poems ‘Winding up the Clocks’ and ‘However Feminist’. Poetry Society Members Darren Beaney, Eve Jackson and […]

CONGRATULATIONS to Poetry Society Member Pascale Petit for winning the Keats-Shelley Poetry Prize for ‘Indian Paradise Flycatcher’. Pascale: “It’s a deep honour to win the Keats-Shelley poetry prize on the theme of songbirds and climate crisis, in the bi-centenary year of the publication of Keats’ ‘Ode to a Nightingale’, my favourite poem of all time. […]

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 […]