Forward Prizes for Poetry
{{Short description|British poetry award(s)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
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| name = Forward Prizes for Poetry
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| awarded_for = Best Collection (£10,000); Best First Collection (£5,000); Best Single Poem (£1,000)
| sponsor = Forward Worldwide, Arts Council England, The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, The estate of Felix Dennis
| date = 1992
| location = United Kingdom
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The Forward Prizes for Poetry are major British awards for poetry, presented annually at a public ceremony in London. They were founded in 1992 by William Sieghart with the aim of celebrating excellence in poetry and increasing its audience. The prizes do this by identifying and honouring talent: collections published in the UK and Ireland over the course of the previous year are eligible, as are single poems nominated by journal editors or prize organisers. Each year, works shortlisted for the prizes – plus those highly commended by the judges – are collected in the Forward Book of Poetry.
The awards have been sponsored since their inception by the content marketing agency Bookmark, formerly Forward Worldwide. The best first collection prize is sponsored by the estate of Felix Dennis.
The Forward Prizes for Poetry celebrated their 30th anniversary in 2021. For the 2023 prizes, a new category for outstanding performance of a poem was added to the list of awards.{{Cite news |last=Creamer |first=Ella |date=30 June 2023 |title=Forward prizes for poetry add new award for performed poems |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jun/30/forward-prizes-for-poetry-add-new-award-for-performed-poems |access-date=2023-07-04 |issn=0261-3077}}
Awards
The Forward Prizes for Poetry consist of three awards:
- The Forward Prize for Best Collection, £10,000
- The Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection, £5,000
- The Forward Prize for Best Single Poem in memory of Michael Donaghy, £1,000
The Prizes are run by the Forward Arts Foundation, which is also responsible for National Poetry Day. The executive director of the Forward Arts Foundation is Susannah Herbert.Forward Arts Foundation. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
Previous winners
=Best Collection=
=Best First Collection=
| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible"
|+Forward Prizes for Best First Poetry Collection !Year !Author !Title !Publisher !Ref. |
| 1992
|{{sortname|last=Armitage|first=Simon}} | Kid | |
|---|
| 1993
|{{sortname|last=Paterson|first=Don}} | Nil Nil | |
| 1994
|{{sortname|last=Dawes|first=Kwame}} | Progeny of Air | |
| 1995
|{{sortname|last=Duran|first=Jane}} | Breathe Now, Breathe | |
| 1996
|{{sortname|last=Oswald|first=Alice}} | The Thing in the Gap Stone Stile | |
| 1997
|{{sortname|last=Robertson|first=Robin}} |{{sortname|1=A|2=Painted Field|nolink=1}} | |
| 1998
|{{sortname|last=Farley|first=Paul}} | {{sortname|1=The|2=Boy from the Chemist is Here to See You|nolink=1}} | |
| 1999
|{{sortname|last=Drake|first=Nick|link=Nick Drake (poet)}} | {{sortname|1=The|2=Man in the White Suit|nolink=1}} | |
| 2000
|{{sortname|last=Waterhouse|first=Andrew}} | In | |
| 2001
|{{sortname|last=Stammers|first=John}} | {{sortname|1=The|2=Panoramic Lounge Bar|nolink=1}} | |
| 2002
|{{sortname|last=French|first=Tom|link=Tom French (poet)}} | Touching the Bones |The Gallery Press | |
| 2003
|{{sortname|last=Jackson|first=A. B.|link=A. B. Jackson (poet)}} | Fire Stations | |
| 2004
|{{sortname|last=Flynn|first=Leontia}} | These Days | |
| 2005
|{{sortname|last=Farish|first=Helen}} | Intimates | |
| 2006
|{{sortname|last=Doshi|first=Tishani}} | Countries of the Body |Aark Arts | |
| 2007
|{{sortname|last=Nagra|first=Daljit}} | Look We Have Coming to Dover! |
| 2008
|{{sortname|last=Simmonds|first=Kathryn}} | Sunday at the Skin Launderette | |
| 2009
|{{sortname|last=Jones|first=Emma|link=Emma Jones (poet)}} | {{sortname|1=The|2=Striped World|nolink=1}} | |
| 2010
|{{sortname|last=Menos|first=Hilary}} | Berg | |
| 2011
|{{sortname|last=Boast|first=Rachael}} | Sidereal | |
| 2012
|{{sortname|last=Riviere|first=Sam}} | 81 Austerities | |
| 2013
|{{sortname|last=Berry|first=Emily}} | Dear Boy | |
| 2014
|{{sortname|last=Berry|first=Liz}} | Black Country | |
| 2015
|{{sortname|last=Arshi|first=Mona}} | Small Hands | |
| 2016
|{{sortname|last=Yanique|first=Tiphanie}} | Wife |
| 2017
|{{sortname|last=Vuong|first=Ocean}} |{{cite web|url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/news/vietnamese-refugee-ocean-vuong-wins-2017-forward-prize-poetry/ |title= Vietnamese refugee Ocean Vuong wins 2017 Forward Prize for Poetry |author= Tristram Fane Saunders |work= The Daily Telegraph |date= 21 September 2017 |access-date= 21 December 2023 |archive-date= 21 December 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20231221183816/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/news/vietnamese-refugee-ocean-vuong-wins-2017-forward-prize-poetry/ |url-status=live}} |
| 2018
|{{sortname|last=Power|first=Phoebe}} | Shrines of Upper Austria |
| 2019
|{{sortname|last=Sexton|first=Stephen}} | If All the World and Love Were Young | |
| 2020
|{{sortname|last=Harris|first=Will|link=Will Harris (poet)}} | RENDANG |
| 2021
|{{sortname|last=Femi|first=Caleb}} | Poor |Penguin Poetry |
| 2022
|{{sortname|last=Sy-Quia|first=Stephanie}} | Amnion |
| 2023
|Bad Diaspora Poems |
| 2024
|The Wrong Person to Ask |Bloodaxe |
=Best Single Poem=
| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible"
|+Forward Prizes for Best Single Poetry !Year !Author !Title !Publication !Ref. |
| 1992
|{{sortname|last=Kay|first=Jackie}} | "Black Bottom" | | |
|---|
| 1993
|{{sortname|last=Feaver|first=Vicki}} | "Judith" | | |
| 1994
|{{sortname|last=Smith|first=Iain Crichton}} | "Autumn" | | |
| 1995
|{{sortname|last=Joseph|first=Jenny}} | "In Honour of Love" | | |
| 1996
|{{sortname|last=Jamie|first=Kathleen}} | "The Graduates" | | |
| 1997
|{{sortname|last=Greenlaw|first=Lavinia}} | {{sortname|1="A|2=World Where News Travelled Slowly"|nolink=1}} | | |
| 1998
|{{sortname|last=Pugh|first=Sheenagh}} | "Envying Owen Beattie" | | |
| 1999
|{{sortname|last=Minhinnick|first=Robert}} | "Twenty-five Laments for Iraq" | | |
| 2000
|{{sortname|last=Biddington|first=Tessa}} | "The Death of Descartes" | | |
| 2001
|{{sortname|last=Duhig|first=Ian}} | "The Lammas Hireling" | | |
| 2002
|{{sortname|last=McGuckian|first=Medbh}} | "She is in the Past, She has this Grace" |The Shop | |
| 2003
|{{sortname|last=Minhinnick|first=Robert}} | "The Fox in the National Museum of Wales" | |
| 2004
|{{sortname|last=Nagra|first=Daljit}} | "Look We Have Coming to Dover!" | |
| 2005
|{{sortname|last=Farley|first=Paul}} | "Liverpool Disappears for a Billionth of a Second" |The North | |
| 2006
|{{sortname|last=O'Brien|first=Sean|link=Sean O'Brien (writer)}} | "Fantasia on a Theme of James Wright" | |
| 2007
|{{sortname|last=Oswald|first=Alice}} | "Dunt" |
| 2008
|{{sortname|last=Paterson|first=Don}} | "Love Poem for Natalie 'Tusja' Beridze" | |
| 2009
|{{sortname|last=Robertson|first=Robin}} | "At Roane Head" | | |
| 2010
|{{sortname|last=Copus|first=Julia}} | {{sortname|1="An|2=Easy Passage"|nolink=1}} | | |
| 2011
|{{sortname|last=Langley|first=R. F.}} | "To a Nightingale" | |
| 2012
|{{sortname|last=Riley|first=Denise}} | {{sortname|1="A|2=Part Song"|nolink=1}} | |
| 2013
|{{sortname|last=MacKinnon|first=Nick}} | "The Metric System" |The Warwick Review | |
| 2014
|{{sortname|last=Santus|first=Stephen}} | "In a Restaurant" |The Bridport Prize | |
| 2015
|{{sortname|last=Harman|first=Claire|link=Claire Harman (writer)}} | "The Mighty Hudson" |TLS | |
| 2016
|{{sortname|last=Dugdale|first=Sasha}} | "Joy" |
| 2017
|{{sortname|last=Patterson|first=Ian|link=Ian Patterson (poet)}} | "The Plenty of Nothing" |
| 2018
|{{sortname|last=Berry|first=Liz}} | {{sortname|1="The|2=Republic of Motherhood"|nolink=1}} |
| 2019
|{{sortname|last=Fayyaz|first=Parwana}} | "Forty Names" | |
| 2020
|{{sortname|last=Booker|first=Malika}} | {{sortname|1="The|2=Little Miracles"|nolink=1}} |Magma |
| 2021
|{{sortname|last=Sealey|first=Nicole}} | "Pages 22–29" an excerpt from The Ferguson Report: An Erasure |
| 2022
|{{sortname|last=Laird|first=Nick}} | "Up Late" |
| 2023
|"Libation" |
| 2024
|"Ward of One" |
See also
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- {{Official website|https://www.forwardartsfoundation.org/}}
Category:Awards established in 1991