The National Poetry Competition is an annual poetry prize established in 1978 in the United Kingdom. It is run by the UK-based

Poetry Society The Poetry Society is a membership organisation, open to all, whose stated aim is "to promote the study, use and enjoyment of poetry". The society was founded in London in February 1909 as the Poetry Recital Society, becoming the Poetry Society ...

and accepts entries from all over the world, with over 10,000 poems being submitted to the competition each year. Winning has been an important milestone in the careers of many well-known poets.

Carol Ann Duffy Dame Carol Ann Duffy (born 23 December 1955) is a Scottish poet and playwright. She is a professor of contemporary poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University, and was appointed Poet Laureate in May 2009, resigning in 2019. She was the first ...

, the UK

Poet Laureate A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ...

from 2009 to 2019, won in 1983 with 'Whoever She Was'. Looking back in 2007 she commented: "in those days, one was still called a 'poetess' – so it meant a lot, as a young woman poet, to begin to try to change that". Christopher James, the 2008 winner, commented "if there is an unspoken Grand Slam circuit for poetry prizes, then the National Poetry Competition is definitely Wimbledon – it's the one everyone dreams of winning". Other prestigious names to have won the competition include

Ruth Padel Ruth Sophia Padel FRSL FZS is a British poet, novelist and non-fiction author, known for her poetic explorations of migration, both animal and human, and her involvement with classical music, wildlife conservation and Greece, ancient and modern. ...

Jo Shapcott Jo Shapcott FRSL (born 24 March 1953, London) is an English poet, editor and lecturer who has won the National Poetry Competition, the Commonwealth Poetry Prize, the Costa Book of the Year Award, a Forward Poetry Prize and the Cholmondeley Awa ...

Sinéad Morrissey Sinéad Morrissey (born 24 April 1972 in Portadown, County Armagh) is a Northern Irish poet. In January 2014 she won the T. S. Eliot Prize for her fifth collection ''Parallax'' and in 2017 she won the Forward Prize for Poetry for her sixth coll ...

Ian Duhig Robert Ian Duhig (born 9 February 1954 London) is a British poet. In 2014, he was a chair of the final judging panel for the T. S. Eliot Prize awards. Life He was the eighth of eleven children born to Irish parents. He graduated from Leeds Un ...

Colette Bryce Colette Bryce is a poet, freelance writer, and editor. She was a Fellow in Creative Writing at the University of Dundee from 2003 to 2005, and a North East Literary Fellow at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne from 2005 to 2007. She was the ...

and the poet and novelist

Helen Dunmore Helen Dunmore FRSL (12 December 1952 – 5 June 2017) was a British poet, novelist, and short story and children's writer. Her best known works include the novels ''Zennor in Darkness'', '' A Spell of Winter'' and ''The Siege'', and her last ...

. The competition runs annually, opening in the spring and closing at the end of October. A new team of judges (made up of three respected poets) is announced each year. The first prize is £5,000 and the top three winners are published in Britain's leading poetry magazine, ''

Poetry Review ''Poetry Review'' is the magazine of The Poetry Society, edited by the poet Emily Berry. Founded in 1912, shortly after the establishment of the Society, previous editors have included poets Muriel Spark, Adrian Henri, Andrew Motion and Maurice R ...

''.

Winners

*2021 – Eric Yip (): 'Fricatives' *2020 – Marvin Thompson: 'The Fruit of the Spirit is Love (Galatians 5:22)' *2019 – Susannah Hart: ''Reading the Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy *2018 – Wayne Holloway-Smith: 'The posh mums are boxing in the square' *2017 – Dom Bury: 'The Opened Field' *2016 – Stephen Sexton: 'The Curfew' *2015 – Eric Berlin: 'Night Errand' *2014 – Roger Philip Dennis: 'Corkscrew Hill Photo' *2013 – Linda France: Bernard and Cerinthe *2012 – Patricia McCarthy: Clothes that escaped the Great War *2011 – Allison McVety: 'To the Lighthouse' *2010 – Paul Adrian: 'Robin In Flight' *2009 –

: 'The Malarkey' *2008 – Christopher James: 'Farewell to the Earth' *2007 –

: 'Through the Square Window' *2006 – Mike Barlow: 'The Third Wife' *2005 – Melanie Drane: 'The Year the Rice-Crop Failed' *2004 – Jon Sait: 'Homeland' *2003 –

: 'The Full Indian Rope Trick' *2002 –

Julia Copus Julia Copus FRSL (born 1969) is a British poet, biographer and children's writer. Biography Copus was born in London and grew up with three brothers, two of whom went on to become musicians. She attended The Mountbatten School, a comprehensi ...

: 'Breaking the Rule' *2001 – Beatrice Garland: 'undressing' *2000 –

: 'The Lammas Hireling' *1999 –

Simon Rae Simon Rae is a British poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates ...

: 'Believed' *1998 – Caroline Carver: 'horse underwater' *1997 –

Neil Rollinson Neil Rollinson (born 1960 West Yorkshire) is a British poet. Life He has published four collections of poetry, all Poetry Book Society Recommendations (Jonathan Cape UK). His last collection Talking Dead was shortlisted for the Costa Poetry Awar ...

: 'Constellations' *1996 –

: 'Icicles Round a Tree in Dumfriesshire' *1995 – James Harpur: 'The Frame of Furnace Light' *1994 – David Hart: 'The Silkies' *1993 – Sam Gardiner: 'Protestant Windows' *1992 – Stephen Knight: 'The Mermaid Tank' *1991 –

: 'Phrase Book' and

John Levett John Levett (1721 — 1799) of Wychnor Park, Staffordshire, was an English landowner and investor, and a Tory politician. Biography John Levett was the son of Theophilus Levett (1693-1746), Lichfield attorney and town clerk, and his wife Mary ...

: 'A Shrunken Head' *1990 – Nicky Rice: 'Room Service' *1989 –

William Scammell William Scammell (2 January 1939, in Southampton – 29 November 2000) was a British poet. Life He was born into a working-class family in the waterside village of Hythe on Southampton Water, but failed the eleven-plus exam. His brother is Mic ...

: 'A World Elsewhere' *1988 – Martin Reed: 'The Widow's Dream' *1987 –

: 'Nineteen Hundred and Nineteen' *1986 –

Carole Satyamurti Carole Satyamurti (13 August 1939 – 13 August 2019) was a British poet, sociologist, and translator. Personal life Satyamurti grew up in Kent, and lived in North America, Singapore and Uganda. She lived in London until her death on 13 August ...

: 'Between the Lines' *1985 –

: 'The Surrealists' Summer Convention Came to Our City' *1984 –

Tony Curtis Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz; June 3, 1925September 29, 2010) was an American actor whose career spanned six decades, achieving the height of his popularity in the 1950s (Kansas Raiders, 1950) and early 1960s. He acted in more than 100 f ...

: 'The Death of Richard Beattie-Seaman in Belgian Grand Prix, 1939' *1983 –

: 'Whoever She Was' *1982 –

Philip Gross Philip Gross (born 1952) is a poet, novelist, playwright, children's writer and academic based in England and Wales. He is currently Professor of Creative Writing at the University of South Wales. Biography Philip Gross was born in 1952 at Del ...

: 'The Ice Factory' *1981 – James Berry: 'Fantasy of an African Boy' *1980 –

Tony Harrison Tony Harrison (born 30 April 1937) is an English poet, translator and playwright. He was born in Beeston, Leeds and he received his education in Classics from Leeds Grammar School and Leeds University. He is one of Britain's foremost verse w ...

: 'Timer' *1979 –

Medbh McGuckian Medbh McGuckian (born as Maeve McCaughan on 12 August 1950) is a poet from Northern Ireland. Biography She was born the third of six children as Maeve McCaughan to Hugh and Margaret McCaughan in North Belfast. Her father was a school headmaster ...

: 'The Flitting' *1978 –

Michael Hulse Michael Hulse (born 1955) is an English poet, translator and critic, notable especially for his translations of German novels by W. G. Sebald, Herta Müller, and Elfriede Jelinek. Life and works Hulse was educated locally in Stoke-on-Trent unt ...

: 'Dole Queue'

References

{{Reflist

External links

The Poetry Society (National Poetry Competition)
British poetry awards Awards established in 1978 1978 establishments in the United Kingdom