Previous Years

Shortlist and winners

Best Collection

• WINNER: Jason Allen-Paisant, Self Portrait as Othello (Carcanet)
• Mary Jean Chan, Bright Fear (Faber & Faber)
• Jane Clarke, A Change in the Air (Bloodaxe)
• Kit Fan, The Ink Cloud Reader (Carcanet)
• Elisabeth Sennitt Clough, My Name is Abilene (Salt)

Best First Collection

• Susannah Dickey, ISDAL (Picador)
• Rowan Evans, A Method, A Path (Bloomsbury)
• Safiya Kamaria Kinshasa, Cane, Corn & Gully (Out-Spoken Press)
• WINNER: Momtaza Mehri, Bad Diaspora Poems (Jonathan Cape)
• Kandace Siobhan Walker, Cowboy (Cheerio Publishing)

Best Single Poem – Written

• Kathryn Bevis, ‘My body tells me that she’s filing for divorce’ (Second Light Poetry Competition)
• WINNER: Malika Booker, ‘Libation’ (The Poetry Review)
• Kizziah Burton, ‘Oh do you know the Flower Man’ (Mslexia Women’s Poetry Competition)
• Breda Spaight, ‘The Curse’ (Southword)
• Eric Yip, ‘Fricatives’ (National Poetry Competition)

Best Single Poem – Performed

• Zena Edwards, ‘Human : This Embodied Knowledge’
• Michael Pedersen, ‘The Cat Prince’
• WINNER: Bohdan Piasecki, ‘Almost Certainly’
• Roger Robinson, ‘The City Kids See the Sea’
• Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe, ‘And our eyes are on Europe’

Judges

Collections

• Bernadine Evaristo (CHAIR)
• Karen McCarthy Woolf
• Andrés Ordorica
• Kate Fox
  Jessica Traynor

Single Poems

• Joelle Taylor (CHAIR)
• Caroline Bird
• Chris Redmond
• Khadijah Ibrahiim
• Sue Roberts

Shortlist and winners

Best Collection

• Kaveh Akbar, Pilgrim Bell (Chatto & Windus)
• Anthony Joseph, Sonnets for Albert (Bloomsbury)
• Shane McCrae, Cain Named the Animal (Little Brown)
• WINNER: Kim Moore, All the Men I Never Married (Seren)
• Helen Mort, The Illustrated Woman (Chatto & Windus)

Best First Collection

• Mohammed El-Kurd, Rifqa (Haymarket)
• Holly Hopkins, English Summer (Penned in the Margins)
• Padraig Regan, Some Integrity (Carcanet)
• Warsan Shire, Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head (Chatto & Windus)
• WINNER: Stephanie Sy-Quia, Amnion (Granta)

Best Single Poem – Written

• Louisa Campbell, ‘Dog on a British Airways Airbus’ (Perverse)
• Cecilia Knapp, ‘I’m Shouting I LOVED YOUR DAD at my Brother’s Cat’ (Perverse)
• WINNER: Nick Laird, ‘Up Late’ (Granta)
• Carl Phillips, ‘Scattered Snows, to the North’ (PN Review)
• Clare Pollard, ‘Pollen’ (Bad Lilies)

Judges

• Fatima Bhutto (CHAIR)
• Rishi Dastidar
• alice hiller
• Nadine Aisha Jassat
• Stephen Sexton

Shortlist and winners

Best Collection

• Kayo Chingonyi A Blood Condition (Chatto and Windus)
• Tishani Doshi A God at the Door (Bloodaxe Books)
• Selima Hill Men Who Feed Pigeons (Bloodaxe Books)
• WINNER: Luke Kennard Notes on the Sonnets (Penned in the Margins)
• Stephen Sexton Cheryl’s Destinies (Penguin Poetry)

Best First Collection

• WINNER: Caleb Femi Poor (Penguin Poetry)
• alice hiller Bird of Winter (Pavilion Poetry)
• Cynthia Miller Honorifics (Nine Arches Press)
• Holly Pester Comic Timing (Granta Poetry)
• Ralf Webb Rotten Days in Late Summer (Penguin Poetry)

Best Single Poem – Written

• Fiona Benson ‘Androgeus’ (Times Literary Supplement)
• Natalie Linh Bolderston ‘Middle Name with Diacritics’ (National Poetry Competition)
• John McCullough ‘Flower of Sulphur’ (Poetry London)
• Denise Riley ‘1948’ (Poetry Ireland Review)
• WINNER: Nicole Sealey ‘Pages 22-29, An excerpt from The Ferguson Report: An Erasure’ (Poetry London)

Judges

• James Naughtie (CHAIR)
• Tristram Fane Saunders
• Leontia Flynn
• Pascale Petit
• Shivanee Ramlochan

Shortlist and winners

Best Collection

• WINNER: Caroline Bird The Air Year (Carcanet)
• Natalie Diaz Postcolonial Love Poem (Faber & Faber)
• Vicki Feaver I Want! I Want! (Cape)
• David Morley Fury (Carcanet)
• Pascale Petit Tiger Girl (Bloodaxe Books)

Best First Collection

• Ella Frears Shine, Darling (Offord Road Books)
• WINNER: Will Harris RENDANG (Granta)
• Rachel Long My Darlings from the Lions (Picador Poetry)
• Nina Mingya Powles Magnolia 木蘭 (Nine Arches Press)
• Martha Sprackland Citadel (Pavilion Poetry)

Best Single Poem – Written

• Fiona Benson ‘Mama Cockroach, I Love You’
 (Poetry London)
• WINNER: Malika Booker ‘The Little Miracles’
 (Magma)
• Regi Claire ‘(Un)certainties’
 (Mslexia & PBS Women’s Poetry Competition)
• Valzhyna Mort ‘Nocturne for a Moving Train’ 
(The Poetry Review)
• Sarah Tsiang ‘Dick pics’
 (The Moth)

Judges

• Alexandra Harris (CHAIR)
• Leaf Arbuthnot
• Kim Moore
• Roger Robinson
• David Wheatley

Shortlist and winners

Best Collection

• WINNER: Fiona Benson Vertigo & Ghost (Cape)
• Niall Campbell Noctuary (Bloodaxe Books)
• Ilya Kaminsky Deaf Republic (Faber & Faber)
• Vidyan Ravinthiran The Million-petalled Flower of Being Here (Bloodaxe Books)
• Helen Tookey City of Departures (Carcanet)

Best First Collection

• Raymond Antrobus The Perseverance (Penned in the Margins)
• Jay Bernard Surge (Chatto & Windus)
• David Cain Truth Street (Smokestack Books)
• Isabel Galleymore Significant Other (Carcanet)
• WINNER: Stephen Sexton If All the World and Love Were Young (Penguin Books)

Best Single Poem – Written

• Liz Berry ‘Highbury Park’ (Wild Court)
• Mary Jean Chan ‘The Window’ (The National Poetry Competition by the Poetry Society)
• Jonathan Edwards ‘Bridge’ (The Frogmore Papers)
• WINNER: Parwana Fayyaz ‘Forty Names’ (PN Review)
• Holly Pester ‘Comic Timing’ (Granta Magazine)

Judges

• Shahidha Bari (CHAIR)
• Tara Bergin
• Andrew McMillan
• Carol Rumens
• Jamie Andrews

Shortlist and winners

Best Collection

• Vahni Capildeo Venus as a Bear (Carcanet)
• J. O. Morgan Assurances (Cape Poetry)
• Toby Martinez de las Rivas Black Sun (Faber & Faber)
• WINNER: Danez Smith Don’t Call Us Dead (Chatto & Windus)
• Tracy K. Smith Wade in the Water (Penguin UK)

Best First Collection

• Kaveh Akbar Calling a Wolf a Wolf (Penguin UK)
• Abigail Parry Jinx (Bloodaxe Books)
• WINNER: Phoebe Power Shrines of Upper Austria (Carcanet)
• Shivanee Ramlochan Everyone Knows I Am a Haunting (Peepal Tree Press)
• Richard Scott Soho (Faber & Faber)

Best Single Poem – Written

• Fiona Benson ‘Ruins’ (Wild Court)
• WINNER: Liz Berry ‘The Republic of Motherhood’ (Granta)
• Sumita Chakraborty ‘And death demands a labor’ (PN Review)
• Jorie Graham ‘Tree’ (LRB)
• Will Harris ‘SAY’ (The Poetry Review)

Judges

• Bidisha (CHAIR)
• Jen Campbell
• Mimi Khalvati
• Chris McCabe
• Niall Campbell

Shortlist and winners

Best Collection

• Nuar Alsadir Fourth Person Singular (Pavilion Poetry)
• Tara Bergin The Tragic Death of Eleanor Marx (Carcanet)
• Emily Berry Stranger, Baby (Faber & Faber)
• Michael Longley Angel Hill (Cape Poetry)
• WINNER: Sinéad Morrissey On Balance (Carcanet)

Best First Collection

• Maria Apichella Psalmody (Eyewear Publishing)
• Richard Georges Make Us All Islands (Shearsman Books)
• Eric Langley Raking Light (Carcanet)
• Nick Makoha Kingdom of Gravity (Peepal Tree Press)
• WINNER: Ocean Vuong Night Sky with Exit Wounds (Cape Poetry)

Best Single Poem – Written

• Malika Booker ‘Nine Nights’ (Poetry Review)
• Mary Jean Chan ‘//’ (Ambit)
• Harmony Holiday ‘The City Admits no Wrongdoing’ (Prac Crit)
• Ishion Hutchinson ‘Nightfall, Jane Ash Corner, St. Thomas’ (The Well Review)
• WINNER: Ian Patterson ‘The Plenty of Nothing’ (PN Review)

Judges

• Andrew Marr (CHAIR)
• Ian Duhig
• Mona Arshi
• Sandeep Parmar
• Chris Riddell

Shortlist and winners

Best Collection

• WINNER: Vahni Capildeo Measures of Expatriation (Carcanet)
• Ian Duhig The Blind Roadmaker (Picador)
• Choman Hardi Consider the Women (Bloodaxe)
• Alice Oswald Falling Awake (Cape)
• Denise Riley Say Something Back (Picador)

Best First Collection

• Nancy Campbell Disko Bay (Enitharmon)
• Ron Carey Distance (Revival Press)
• Harry Josephine Giles Tonguit (Freight)
• Ruby Robinson Every Little Sound (Liverpool University Press)
• WINNER: Tiphanie Yanique Wife (Peepal Tree)

Best Single Poem – Written

• WINNER: Sasha Dugdale ‘Joy’ (PN Review)
• Rachel Hadas ‘RooseveltHospitalBlues’ (TLS)
• David Harsent ‘Salt’ (Poetry London)
• Melissa Lee-Houghton ‘i am very precious’ (Prac Crit)
• Solmaz Sharif ‘ForceVisibility’ (Granta)

Judges

• Malika Booker (CHAIR)
• Liz Berry
• Don Share
• George Szirtes
• Tracey Thorn

Shortlist and winners

Best Collection

• Ciaran Carson From Elsewhere (The Gallery Press)
• Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin The Boys of Bluehill (The Gallery Press)
• Paul Muldoon One Thousand Things Worth Knowing (Faber & Faber)
• WINNER: Claudia Rankine Citizen: An American Lyric (Penguin Books)
• Peter Riley Due North (Shearsman)

Best First Collection

• WINNER: Mona Arshi Small Hands (Liverpool University Press, Pavilion Poetry)
• Sarah Howe Loop of Jade (Chatto & Windus)
• Andrew McMillan physical (Cape Poetry)
• Matthew Siegel Blood Work (CB editions)
• Karen McCarthy Woolf An Aviary of Small Birds (Carcanet)

Best Single Poem – Written

• Maura Dooley ‘Cleaning Jim Dine’s Heart’ (The Poetry Review)
• Andrew Elliott ‘Doppelgänger’ (Sonofabook)
• Ann Gray ‘My Blue Hen’ (The Moth)
• WINNER: Claire Harman ‘The Mighty Hudson’ (Times Literary Supplement)
• Kim Moore ‘In That Year’ (Poetry News)

Judges

• A L Kennedy (CHAIR)
• Colette Bryce
• Carrie Etter
• Emma Harding
• Warsan Shire

Shortlist and winners

Best Collection

• Colette Bryce The Whole and Rain-Domed Universe (Picador)
• John Burnside All One Breath (Cape)
• Louise Gluck Faithful and Virtuous Night (Carcanet)
• WINNER: Kei Miller The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Zion (Carcanet)
• Hugo Williams I Knew the Bride (Faber)

Best First Collection

• Fiona Benson Bright Travellers (Cape)
• WINNER: Liz Berry Black Country (Chatto & Windus)
• Niall Campbell Moontide (Bloodaxe)
• Beatrice Garland The Invention of Fireworks (Templar)
• Kevin Powers Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting (Sceptre)
• Vidyan Ravinthiran Grun-tu-molani (Bloodaxe)

Best Single Poem – Written

• Tim Nolan ‘Red Wing Correctional Facility’ (Troubadour International Poetry Prize)
• Denise Riley ‘After La Rochefoucauld’ (Eggbox)
• WINNER: Stephen Santus ‘In a Restaurant’ (The Bridport Prize)
• Jack Underwood ‘Thank You for your Email’ (The White Review)
• Jeffrey Wainwright ‘An Empty Street’ (PN Review)

Judges

• Jeremy Paxman (CHAIR)
• Dannie Abse
• Vahni Capildeo
• Cerys Matthews
• Helen Mort

Shortlist and winners

Best Collection

• Rebecca Goss Her Birth (Carcanet)
• Glyn Maxwell Pluto (Picador)
  Sinead Morrissey Parallax (Carcanet)
• Jacob Polley The Havocs (Picador)
• WINNER: Michael Symmons Roberts Drysalter (Cape)

Best First Collection

• WINNER: Emily Berry Dear Boy (Faber)
• Steve Ely Oswald’s Book of Hours (Smokestack)
• Hannah Lowe Chick (Bloodaxe)
• Marianne Burton She Inserts the Key (Seren)
• Adam White Accurate Measurements (Doire)

Best Single Poem – Written

• Patience Agbabi ‘The Doll’s House’ (The Poetry Review)
• WINNER: Nick MacKinnon ‘The Metric System’ (The Warwick Review)
• Rosie Shepperd ‘A Seedy Narrative or Moments of Lyrical Stillness’ (Smith | Doorstop)
• Hugo Williams ‘From the Dialysis Ward’ (London Review of Books)

Judges

• Jeanette Winterson (CHAIR)
• Samuel West
• Paul Farley
• Sheenagh Pugh
• David Mills

Shortlist and winners

Best Collection

• Beverley Bie Brahic White Sheets (CB Editions)
• WINNER: Jorie Graham PLACE (Carcanet)
• Barry Hill Naked Clay: Drawing from Lucian Freud (Shearsman)
• Geoffrey Hill Odi Barbare (Clutag)
• Selima Hill People Who Like Meatballs (Bloodaxe)

Best First Collection

• Loretta Collins Klobah The Twelve Foot Neon Woman (Peepal Tree)
• Rhian Edwards Clueless Dogs (Seren)
• Lucy Hamilton Stalker (Shearsman)
• WINNER: Sam Riviere 81 Austerities (Faber)
• Jacob Sam-La Rose Breaking Silence (Bloodaxe)

Best Single Poem – Written

• Marilyn Hacker ‘Fugue on a Line of Amr Bin M’ad Yakrib’ (The Wolf Magazine)
• John Kinsella ‘Mea Culpa: Cleaning the Gutters’ (The Warwick Review)
• Michael Longley ‘Marigolds, 1960’ (London Review of Books)
• WINNER: Denise Riley ‘A Part Song’ (London Review of Books)
• Greta Stoddart ‘Deep Sea Diver’ (Magma Poetry)

Judges

• Leonie Rushforth (CHAIR)
• Alice Oswald
• Ian McMillan
• Megan Walsh
• Emma Hogan

Shortlist and winners

Best Collection

• WINNER: John Burnside Black Cat Bone (Cape)
• David Harsent Night (Faber & Faber)
• Geoffrey Hill Clavics (Enitharmon)
• Michael Longley A Hundred Doors (Cape)
• D Nurkse Voices Over Water (CB Editions)
• Sean O’Brien November (Picador)

Best First Collection

• WINNER: Rachael Boast Sidereal (Picador)
• Judy Brown Loudness (Seren)
• Nancy Gaffield Tokaido Road (CB Editions)
• Ahren Warner Confer (Bloodaxe)
• John Whale Waterloo Teeth (Carcanet/Northern House)
• Nerys Williams Sound Archive (Seren)

Best Single Poem – Written

• WINNER: RF Langley ‘To A Nightingale’ (London Review of Books)
• Alan Jenkins ‘Southern Rail (The Four Students)’ (The Poetry Review)
• Sharon Olds ‘Song the Breasts Sing to the Late-in-Life Boyfriend’ (Poetry London)
• Jo Shapcott ‘Bees’ (The Poetry Review)

Judges

• Andrew Motion (CHAIR)
• Fiona Sampson
• Leonie Rushforth
• Lady Antonia Fraser
• Sameer Rahim

Shortlist and winners

Best Collection

• WINNER: Seamus Heaney Human Chain (Faber & Faber)
• Lachlan Mackinnon Small Hours (Faber & Faber)
• Sinead Morrissey Through the Square Window (Carcanet)
• Robin Robertson The Wrecking Light (Picador)
• Fiona Sampson Rough Music (Carcanet)
• Jo Shapcott Of Mutability (Faber & Faber)

Best First Collection

• Christian Campbell Running the Dusk (Peepal Tree)
• WINNER: Hilary Menos Berg (Seren)
• Abigail Morley How to Pour Madness into a Teacup (Cinnamon Press)
• Helen Oswald Learning Gravity (Tall Lighthouse)
• Steve Spence A Curious Shipwreck (Shearsman Books)
• Sam Willetts New Light for the Old Dark (Cape)

Best Single Poem – Written

• Kate Bingham ‘On Highgate Hill’ (Times Literary Supplement)
• WINNER: Julia Copus ‘An Easy Passage’ (Magma)
• Lydia Fulleylove ‘Night Drive’ (The Bridport Prize)
• Chris Jones ‘Sentences’ (Staple)
• Ian Pindar ‘Mrs Beltinska in the Bath’ (National Poetry Competition)
• Lee Sands ‘The Reach’ (Times Literary Supplement)

Judges

• Ruth Padel (CHAIR)
• Hugo Williams
• Dreadlockalien
• Alex Clark
• Fiona Shaw

Shortlist and winners

Best Collection

• Glyn Maxwell Hide Now (Picador)
• Sharon Olds One Secret Thing (Cape)
• WINNER: Don Paterson Rain (Faber)
• Peter Porter Better Than God (Picador)
• Christopher Reid A Scattering (Arete)
• Hugo Williams West End Final (Faber)

Best First Collection

• Sian Hughes The Missing (Salt)
• WINNER: Emma Jones The Striped World (Faber)
• Meirion Jordan Moonrise (Seren)
• Lorraine Mariner Furniture (Picador)
• J O Morgan Natural Mechanical (CB Editions)
• Meghan O’Rourke Halflife (WW Norton)

Best Single Poem – Written

• Paul Farley ‘Moles’ (The Poetry Review)
• Michael Longley ‘Visiting Stanley Kunitz’ (Irish pages)
• WINNER: Robin Robertson ‘At Roane Head’ (London Review of Books)
• Elizabeth Speller ‘Finistere’ (The Bridport Prize)
• George Szirtes ‘Song’ (The Liberal)
• CK Williams ‘Either/Or’ (The Poetry Review)

Judges

• Josephine Hart (CHAIR)
• Tishani Doshi
• Nick Wroe
• Jean Sprackland
• David Harsent

Shortlist and winners

Best Collection

• Sujata Bhatt Pure Lizard (Carcanet)
• Jane Griffiths Another Country (Bloodaxe)
• Jen Hadfield Nigh-No-Place (Bloodaxe)
• WINNER: Mick Imlah The Lost Leader (Faber)
• Jamie McKendrick Crocodiles & Obelisks (Faber)
• Catherine Smith Lip (Smith/Doorstop)

Best First Collection

• Simon Barraclough Los Alamos Mon Amour (Salt)
• Andrew Forster Fear of Thunder (Flambard Press)
• Frances Leviston Public Dream (Picador)
• Allison McVety The Night Trotsky Came to Stay (Smith/Doorstop)
• Stephanie Norgate Hidden River (Bloodaxe)
• WINNER: Kathryn Simmonds Sunday at the Skin Launderette (Seren)

Best Single Poem – Written

• Christopher Buelhman ‘Wanton’ (The Bridport Prize)
• Seamus Heaney ‘Cutaways’ (Irish pages)
• Catherine Ormell ‘Campaign Desk, December 1812’ (The Bridport Prize)
• WINNER: Don Paterson ‘Love Poem for Natalie ‘Tusja’ Beridze’ (The Poetry Review)
• Kate Rhodes ‘Wells-next-the-Sea’ (The Bridport Prize)
• Tim Turnbull ‘Ode on a Grayson Perry Urn’ (Magma Poetry)

Judges

• Frieda Hughes (CHAIR)
• Fleur Adcock
• Alan Brownjohn
• Lemn Sissay
• Natalie Whittle

Shortlist and winners

Best Collection

• Eavan Boland Domestic Violence (Carcanet)
• John Burnside Gift Songs (Cape)
• Luke Kennard The Harbour Beyond the Movie (Salt)
• Jack Mapanje Beasts of Nalunga (Bloodaxe)
• WINNER: Sean O’Brien The Drowned Book (Picador)
• Adam Thorpe Birds with a Broken Wing (Cape)

Best First Collection

• Joanna Boulter Twenty Four Preludes and Fugues on Dimitri Shostakovich (Arc)
• Melanie Challenger Galatea (Salt)
• WINNER: Daljit Nagra Look We Have Coming to Dover! (Faber)
• Eleanor Rees Andraste’s Hair (Salt)

Best Single Poem – Written

• David Harsent ‘The Hut in Question’ (The Poetry Review)
• Lorraine Mariner ‘Thursday’ (The Rialto)
• WINNER: Alice Oswald ‘Dunt’ (Poetry London)
• Carole Sayamurti ‘The Day I Knew I Wouldn’t Live for Ever’ (The Interpreter’s House)
• Myra Schneider ‘Goulash (The North)
• Jean Sprackland ‘from The Birkdale Nightingale’ (The Poetry Review)

Judges

• Michael Symmons Roberts (CHAIR)
• Colin Greenwood
• Glyn Maxwell
• Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze
• Sarah Crown

Shortlist and winners

Best Collection

• Kate Bingham Quicksand Beach (Seren)
• Paul Farley Tramp in Flames (Picador)
• Vicki Feaver The Book of Blood (Cape)
• Seamus Heaney District and Circle (Faber)
• WINNER: Robin Robertson Swithering (Picador)
• Penelope Shuttle Redgrove’s Wife (Bloodaxe)

Best First Collection

• WINNER: Tishani Doshi Countries of the Body (Aark Arts)
• Bill Greenwell Impossible Objects (Cinnamon Press)
• Ian Gregson Call Centre Love Song (Salt)
• Anne Ryland Autumnologist (Arrowhead Press)
• Tim Turnbull Stranded in Sub-Atomica (Donut Press)
• Tim Wells Boys’ Night Out in the Afternoon (Donut Press)

Best Single Poem – Written

• John Hartley Williams ‘Requiem for a Princess’ (London Review of Books)
• John Kinsella ‘Forest Encomia of the South-West’ (WW Norton & Co)
• WINNER: Sean O’Brien ‘Fantasia on a Theme of James Wright’ (The Poetry Review)
• Jacob Polley ‘The Cheapjack’ (The Poetry Review)
• Fiona Sampson ‘Trumpeldor Beach (The Wolf)
• Michael Arnold Williams ‘Blaenafon Blue’ (Poetry Wales)

Judges

• John Burnside (CHAIR)
• Moniza Alvi
• Sebastian Faulks
• Sam Leith
• Caroline Spencer

Shortlist and winners

Best Collection

• WINNER: David Harsent Legion (Faber & Faber)
• John Burnside The Good Neighbour (Cape Poetry)
• Alan Jenkins A Shorter Life (Chatto & Windus)
• Alice Oswald Woods Etc. (Faber & Faber)
• John Stammers Stolen Love Behaviour (Picador)

Best First Collection

• WINNER: Helen Farish Intimates (Cape Poetry)
• Nick Laird To a Fault (Faber & Faber)
• Richard Price Lucky Day (Carcanet)
• James Sheard Scattering Eva (Cape Poetry)
• Jane Yeh Marabou (Carcanet)

Best Single Poem – Written

• WINNER: Paul Farley ‘Liverpool Disappears for a Billionth of a Second’ (The North)
• Stephen Knight ’99 Poems’ (The Poetry Review)
• Sarah Maguire ‘Passages’ (Irish Pages)
• Katherine Pierpoint ‘Buffalo Calf’ (Poetry London)
• Peter Scupham ‘Seventy Years a Showman’ (The Rialto)

Judges

• Tim Dee (CHAIR)
• Michael Symmons Roberts
• Maura Dooley
• Claire Armitstead
• Romesh Gunesekera

Shortlist and winners

Best Collection

• Kate Clanchy Newborn (Picador)
• WINNER: Kathleen Jamie The Tree House (Picador)
• August Kleinzahler The Strange Hours Travelers Keep (Faber and Faber)
• Michael Longley Snow Water (Jonathan Cape)
• Michael Symmons Roberts Corpus (Jonathan Cape)

Best First Collection

• WINNER: Leontia Flynn These Days (Jonathan Cape)
• Kathryn Gray The Never-Never (Seren)
• Matthew Hollis Ground Water (Bloodaxe Books)
• Carola Luther Walking the Animals (Carcanet Press)
• Jacob Polley The Brink (Picador)

Best Single Poem – Written

• David Constantine ‘Trilobite in the Wenlock Shales’ (Poetry London)
• Vona Groarke ‘The Local Accent’ (Metre)
• Robert Minhinnick ‘The Castaway’ (PN Review)
• WINNER: Daljit Nagra ‘Look We Have Coming to Dover!’ (Poetry Review)
• Mario Susko ‘Conversation’ (Dream Catcher Literary Arts)

Judges

• Lavinia Greenlaw (CHAIR)
• Tim Dee
• Patience Agbabi
• Ruth Fainlight
• WN Herbert

Shortlist and winners

Best Collection

• WINNER: Ciaran Carson Breaking News (Gallery Press)
• Billy Collins Nine Horses (Picador)
• Ian Duhig The Lammas Hireling (Picador)
• Lavinia Greenlaw Minsk (Faber and Faber)
• Paul Muldoon Moy Sand and Gravel (Faber and Faber)

Best First Collection

• Rhian Gallagher Salt Water Creek (Enitharmon Press)
• WINNER: A B Jackson Fire Stations (Anvil Press)
• John McAuliffe A Better Life (Gallery Press)
• Jane Routh Circumnavigation (Smith/Doorstep Books)
• Sarah Wardle Fields Away (Bloodaxe Books)

Best Single Poem – Written

• Judi Benson ‘Burying The Ancestors’ (Acumen)
• David Constantine ‘Submerged Suite’ (Dreamcatcher Books)
• Jean Harrison ‘Woman on the Moon’ (The North)
• WINNER: Robert Minhinnick ‘The Fox in the National Museum of Wales’ (Poetry London)

Judges

• Peter Stothard (CHAIR)
• Connie Bensley
• Vona Groarke
• Beth Orton
• Daisy Goodwin

Shortlist and winners

Best Collection

• Paul Farley The Ice Age (Picador)
• John Fuller Now and for a Time (Chatto & Windus)
• Vona Groarke Flight (The Gallery Press)
• David Harsent Marriage (Faber and Faber)
• WINNER: Peter Porter Max is Missing (Picador)

Best First Collection

• Chris Considine Swaledale Sketchbook (Smith/Doorstop Books)
• WINNER: Tom French Touching the Bones (The Gallery Press)
• Stuart Pickford The Basics (Redbeck Press)
• Henry Shukman In Dr No’s Garden (Cape Poetry)
• Julian Turner Crossing the Outskirts (Anvil Press Poetry)

Best Single Poem – Written

• Jane Draycott ‘No 3 from Uses for the Thames’ (The Waterlog)
• Ian Duhig ‘Rosary’ (Poetry London)
• WINNER: Medbh McGuckian ‘She is in the Past, She has this Grace’ (The Shop)
• Carol Rumens ‘The Submerged Cathedral’ (Poetry London)

Judges

• Michael Donaghy (CHAIR)
• Sean O’Brien
• Rosie Millard
• Peter Stothard
• Lavinia Greenlaw

Shortlist and winners

Best Collection

• Anne Carson The Beauty of the Husband (Jonathan Cape)
• Douglas Dunn The Year’s Afternoon (Faber and Faber)
• Matthew Francis Dragons (Faber and Faber)
• James Lasdun Landscape with Chainsaw (Jonathan Cape)
• WINNER: Sean O’Brien Downriver (Picador)

Best First Collection

• Andrew McNeillie Nevermore (Carcanet/Oxford Poets)
• Caitriona O’Reilly The Nowhere Birds (Bloodaxe Books)
• Catherine Smith The New Bride (Smith/Doorstep Books)
• WINNER: John Stammers Panoramic Lounge Bar (Picador)
• Greta Stoddart At Home in the Dark (Anvil)

Best Single Poem – Written

• Allan Crosbie ‘The House Swap’ (The Interpreter’s House)
• WINNER: Ian Duhig ‘The Lammas Hireling’ (National Poetry Competition)
• Alan Jenkins ‘Three Piece Suite’ (Agenda)
• Robert Seatter ‘Army Sewing Kit’ (The Tabla Book of New Verse 2001)
• Henry Shukman ‘Piano Solo’ (The Tabla Book of New Verse 2001)

Judges

• Christina Patterson (CHAIR)
• Rachel Campbell-Johnson
• Michael Donaghy
• AA Gill
• Peter Porter

Shortlist and winners

Best Collection

• John Burnside The Asylum Dance (Cape Poetry)
• WINNER: Michael Donaghy Conjure (Picador)
• Douglas Dunn The Donkey’s Ears (Faber and Faber)
• Kathleen Jamie Jizzen (Picador)
• Matthew Sweeney A Smell of Fish (Cape Poetry)

Best First Collection

• Colette Bryce The Heel of Bernadette (Picador)
• Brian Henry Astronaut (Arc)
  Joanne Limburg Femenismo (Bloodaxe Books)
• Owen Sheers The Blue Book (Seren)
• WINNER: Andrew Waterhouse In (The Rialto)

Best Single Poem – Written

• WINNER: Tessa Biddigton ‘The Death of Descartes’ (The Bridport Prize)
• Robert Hamberger ‘Die Bravely’ (Acumen)
• Ruth Padel ‘Cascavel’ (PN Review)
• Pascale Petit ‘The Strait-Jackets’ (The Rialto)
• Charles Simic ‘Past-Lives Therapy’ (London Review of Books)

Judges

• John Walsh (CHAIR)
• Annalena McAffee
• Brian Patten
• Jo Shapcott
• Bill Swainson

Shortlist and winners

Best Collection

• Kate Clanchy Samarkand (Picador)
• Jane Draycott Prince Rupert’s Drop (Oxford University Press)
• Carol Ann Duffy The World’s Wife (Picador)
• WINNER: Jo Shapcott My Life Asleep (OUP)

Best First Collection

• Matthew Caley Thirst (Slow Dancer Poetry)
• Amanda Dalton How to Disappear (Bloodaxe Books)
• WINNER: Nick Drake The Man in the White Suit (Bloodaxe Books)
• Christopher North A Mesh of Wires (Smith/Doorstop Books)
• Christiana Whitehead The Garden of Slender Trust (Bloodaxe Books)

Best Single Poem – Written

• Caroline Carver ‘Horse Under Water’ (National Poetry Competition)
• Robert Crawford ‘Zero’ (Poetry Review)
• WINNER: Robert Minhinnick ‘Twenty-five Laments for Iraq’ (PN Review)
• George Szirtes ‘Backwaters:Norfolk Fields’ (The Rialto)
• R S Thomas ‘Blackbird’ (Agenda)

Judges

• Simon Armitage (CHAIR)
• Helen Dunmore
• Penelope Shuttle
• Erica Wagner
• John Walsh

Shortlist and winners

Best Collection

• Anne Carson Glass and God (Cape Poetry)
• WINNER: Ted Hughes Birthday Letters (Faber and Faber)
• Gwyneth Lewis Zero Gravity (Bloodaxe Books)
• Derek Mahon The Yellow Book (Gallery Books)
• Glyn Maxwell The Breakage (Faber and Faber)

Best First Collection

• Olivia Byard From a Benediction (Peterloo Poets)
• Sarah Corbett The Red Wardrobe (Seren)
• WINNER: Paul Farley The Boy from the Chemist is Here to See You (Picador)
• Jean Sprackland Tattoos for Mothers Day (Spike)
• David Wheatley Thirst (Gallery Books)

Best Single Poem – Written

• Douglas Dunn ‘A European Dream’ (Times Literary Supplement)
• Paul Muldoon ‘Aftermath’ (The Sunday Times)
• Peter Porter ‘Basta Sangue’ (Times Literary Supplement)
• WINNER: Sheenagh Pugh ‘Envying Owen Beattie’ (New Welsh Review)
• Lesley Saunders ‘The Uses of Greek’ (The Rialto)

Judges

• Geordie Greig (CHAIR)
• Simon Armitage
• Josephine Hart
• Jamie McKendrick
• Allison Pearson

Shortlist and winners

Best Collection

• Selima Hill Violet (Bloodaxe Books)
• Ted Hughes Tales From Ovid (Faber and Faber)
• WINNER: Jamie McKendrick The Marble Fly (Oxford University Press)
• Andrew Motion Salt Water (Faber and Faber)
• Susan Wicks The Clever Daughter (Faber and Faber)
• CK Williams The Vigil (Bloodaxe Books)

Best First Collection

• Jane Draycott No Theatre (Smith/Doorstop Books)
• Matthew Francis Blizzard (Faber and Faber)
• Tracey Herd No Hiding Place (Bloodaxe Books)
• Roddy Lumsden Yeah Yeah Yeah (Bloodaxe Books)
• WINNER: Robin Robertson A Painted Field (Picador)

Best Single Poem – Written

• Harry Clifton ‘God in France’ (Poetry Review)
• WINNER: Lavinia Greenlaw ‘A World Where News Travelled Slowly’ (Times Literary Supplement)
• David Harsent ‘The Makers’ (London Review of Books)
• Craig Raine ‘Rashomon: The Opera’ (The Sunday Times)
• Carol Rumens ‘A Day in the Life of Farmer Dream’ (Tabla Issue 6)

Judges

• John Fuller (CHAIR)
• Geordie Greig
• Kathleen Jamie
• Chris Mead
• Sue Roberts

Shortlist and winners

Best Collection

• Charles Boyle Paleface (Faber and Faber)
• U A Fanthorpe Safe as Houses (Peterloo Poets)
• WINNER: John Fuller Stones and Fires (Chatto)
• Seamus Heaney The Spirit Level (Faber and Faber)
• W N Herbert Cabaret McGonagall (Bloodaxe Books)

Best First Collection

• WINNER: Kate Clanchy Slattern (Chatto)
• Julia Copus The Shuttered Eye (Bloodaxe Books)
• Alice Oswald The Thing in the Gap-Stone Stile (Oxford University Press)
• Ian Pople The Glass Enclosure (Arc Publications)

Best Single Poem – Written

• Patricia Beer ‘Art History’ (London Review of Books)
• David Constantine ‘Bombscare’ (Poetry Review)
• Maura Dooley ‘The Message’ (The North)
• WINNER: Kathleen Jamie ‘The Graduates’ (Times Literary Supplement)
• Les Murray ‘The Early Dark’ (The Rialto no 34)

Judges

• Alan Jenkins (CHAIR)
• Penelope Fitzgerald
• Alastair Niven
• Sean O’Brien
• Michèle Roberts

Shortlist and winners

Best Collection

• Simon Armitage The Dead Sea Poems (Faber and Faber)
• Sujata Bhatt The Stinking Rose (Carcanet Press)
• Iain Crichton Smith Ends and Beginnings (Carcanet Press)
• WINNER: Sean O’Brien Ghost Train (Oxford University Press)
• R.S. Thomas No Truce with the Furies (Bloodaxe Books)

Best First Collection

• WINNER: Jane Duran Breathe Now, Breathe (Enitharmon Press)
• Maggie Hannan Liar, Jones (Bloodaxe Books)
• Gwyneth Lewis Parables and Faxes (Bloodaxe Books)
• Justin Quinn The ‘O’o’a’a’ Bird (Carcanet Press)
• Deryn Rees-Jones The Memory Tray (Seren 1994)

Best Single Poem – Written

• Sally Baker Fake ‘Leopardskin Coat’ (The North 15)
• Seamus Heaney ‘Mycenae Lookout’ (Times Literary Supplement)
• Tobias Hill ‘The City of Clocks’ (Tabla)
• WINNER: Jenny Joseph ‘In Honour of Love’ (The Rialto)
• Les Murray ‘The Shield-Scales of Heraldry’ (Times Literary Supplement)

Judges

• Carol Ann Duffy (CHAIR)
• Rosie Boycott
• Peter Forbes
• Lord Gowrie
• Alan Jenkins

Shortlist and winners

Best Collection

• Eavan Boland In a Time of Violence (Carcanet Press)
• Vicki Feaver The Handless Maiden (Jonathan Cape)
• Kathleen Jamie The Queen of Sheba (Bloodaxe Books)
• WINNER: Alan Jenkins Harm (Chatto & Windus)
• Paul Muldoon The Annals of Chile (Faber and Faber)
• Paul Muldoon Metamorphoses, Book VI, l.313-81 (Faber and Faber)

Best First Collection

• Fergus Allen The Brown Parrots of Providencia (Faber and Faber)
• WINNER: Kwame Dawes Progeny of Air (Peepal Tree Press)
• Lavinia Greenlaw Night Photograph (Faber and Faber)
• Conor O’Callaghan The History of Rain (Gallery Press)

Best Single Poem – Written

• Robert Crawford ‘The Numties’ (Poetry Review)
• M.R. Peacocke ‘Tango’ (Peterloo Poets Open Poetry Competition)
• Robin Robertson ‘The Flaying of Marsyas’ (London Review of Books)
• WINNER: Iain Crichton Smith ‘Autumn’ (PN Review)
• Gillian Stoneham ‘Elephants’ (The PHRAS 94 Open Poetry Competition Winner)

Judges

• Cressida Connolly (CHAIR)
• Carol Ann Duffy
• Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze
• John Gross
• Alexander Shulman

Shortlist and winners

Best Collection

• WINNER: Carol Ann Duffy Mean Time (Anvil)

Best First Collection

• WINNER: Don Paterson Nil Nil (Faber & Faber)

Best Single Poem – Written

• WINNER: Vicki Feaver ‘Judith’ (Independent on Sunday)

Judges

• Margaret Drabble (CHAIR)
• Douglas Dunn
• Blake Morrison
• Liz Lochhead
• Cressida Connolly

Shortlist and winners

Best Collection

• WINNER: Thom Gunn The Man with the Night Sweats (Faber & Faber)

Best First Collection

• WINNER: Simon Armitage Kid (Faber & Faber)

Best Single Poem – Written

• WINNER: Jackie Kay ‘The Adoption Papers’ (Bloodaxe Books)

Judges

• Stephen Spender (CHAIR)
• John Bayley
• Margaret Drabble
• Mick Imlah
• Roger McGough