Forward Prizes for Poetry
Awarded forBest Collection (£10,000); Best First Collection (£5,000); Best Single Poem (£1,000)
Sponsored byForward Worldwide, Arts Council England, The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, The estate of Felix Dennis
Date1992
LocationUnited Kingdom

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.[1]

Awards

The Forward Prizes for Poetry consist of three awards:

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.[2]

Previous winners

Best Collection

Forward Prizes for Best Poetry Collection
Year Author Title Publisher Ref.
1992 Thom Gunn The Man with Night Sweats Faber and Faber
1993 Carol Ann Duffy Mean Time Anvil Press Poetry
1994 Alan Jenkins Harm Chatto & Windus
1995 Sean O'Brien Ghost Train Oxford University Press [3]
1996 John Fuller Stones and Fires Chatto & Windus
1997 Jamie McKendrick The Marble Fly Oxford University Press
1998 Ted Hughes Birthday Letters Faber and Faber
1999 Jo Shapcott My Life Asleep Oxford University Press
2000 Michael Donaghy Conjure Picador
2001 Sean O'Brien Downriver Picador [3]
2002 Peter Porter Max is Missing Picador
2003 Ciaran Carson Breaking News Gallery Press
2004 Kathleen Jamie The Tree House Picador [4]
2005 David Harsent Legion Faber and Faber [5][6]
2006 Robin Robertson Swithering Picador [7]
2007 Sean O'Brien The Drowned Book Picador [3]
2008 Mick Imlah The Lost Leader Faber and Faber [8]
2009 Don Paterson Rain Faber and Faber [9]
2010 Seamus Heaney Human Chain Faber and Faber [10]
2011 John Burnside Black Cat Bone Jonathan Cape [11]
2012 Jorie Graham PLACE Carcanet Press [12]
2013 Michael Symmons Roberts Drysalter Cape Poetry [13]
2014 Kei Miller The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Zion Carcanet Press [14]
2015 Claudia Rankine Citizen: An American Lyric Penguin Books [15]
2016 Vahni Capildeo Measures of Expatriation Carcanet Press [16][17][18]
2017 Sinéad Morrissey On Balance Carcanet Press [19]
2018 Danez Smith Don't Call Us Dead Chatto & Windus [20][21]
2019 Fiona Benson Vertigo and Ghost Cape Poetry [22][23]
2020 Caroline Bird The Air Year Carcanet Press [24][25]
2021 Luke Kennard Notes on the Sonnets Penned in the Margins [26][27]
2022 Kim Moore All the Men I Never Married Seren Books [28][29]
2023 Jason Allen-Paisant Self Portrait as Othello Carcanet Press [30]

Best First Collection

Forward Prizes for Best First Poetry Collection
Year Author Title Publisher Ref.
1992 Simon Armitage Kid Faber and Faber
1993 Don Paterson Nil Nil Faber and Faber
1994 Kwame Dawes Progeny of Air Peepal Tree Press
1995 Jane Duran Breathe Now, Breathe Enitharmon Press
1996 Kate Clanchy Slattern Picador
1997 Robin Robertson A Painted Field Picador
1998 Paul Farley The Boy from the Chemist is Here to See You Picador
1999 Nick Drake The Man in the White Suit Bloodaxe Books
2000 Andrew Waterhouse In The Rialto
2001 John Stammers The Panoramic Lounge Bar Picador
2002 Tom French Touching the Bones The Gallery Press
2003 A. B. Jackson Fire Stations Anvil Press Poetry
2004 Leontia Flynn These Days Jonathan Cape
2005 Helen Farish Intimates Jonathan Cape
2006 Tishani Doshi Countries of the Body Aark Arts
2007 Daljit Nagra Look We Have Coming to Dover! Faber and Faber [8]
2008 Kathryn Simmonds Sunday at the Skin Launderette Seren Books
2009 Emma Jones The Striped World Faber and Faber
2010 Hilary Menos Berg Seren Books
2011 Rachael Boast Sidereal Picador
2012 Sam Riviere 81 Austerities [12]
2013 Emily Berry Dear Boy Faber and Faber
2014 Liz Berry Black Country Chatto & Windus
2015 Mona Arshi Small Hands Liverpool University Press
2016 Tiphanie Yanique Wife Peepal Tree Press [18]
2017 Ocean Vuong Night Sky with Exit Wounds Jonathan Cape [31]
2018 Phoebe Power Shrines of Upper Austria Carcanet Press [20]
2019 Stephen Sexton If All the World and Love Were Young Penguin Books
2020 Will Harris RENDANG Granta [24]
2021 Caleb Femi Poor Penguin Poetry [26]
2022 Stephanie Sy-Quia Amnion Granta [28]
2023 Momtaza Mehri Bad Diaspora Poems Jonathan Cape [32]

Best Single Poem

Forward Prizes for Best Single Poetry
Year Author Title Publication Ref.
1992 Jackie Kay "Black Bottom"
1993 Vicki Feaver "Judith"
1994 Iain Crichton Smith "Autumn"
1995 Jenny Joseph "In Honour of Love"
1996 Kathleen Jamie "The Graduates"
1997 Lavinia Greenlaw "A World Where News Travelled Slowly"
1998 Sheenagh Pugh "Envying Owen Beattie"
1999 Robert Minhinnick "Twenty-five Laments for Iraq"
2000 Tessa Biddington "The Death of Descartes"
2001 Ian Duhig "The Lammas Hireling"
2002 Medbh McGuckian "She is in the Past, She has this Grace" The Shop
2003 Robert Minhinnick "The Fox in the National Museum of Wales" Poetry London
2004 Daljit Nagra "Look We Have Coming to Dover!" Poetry Review
2005 Paul Farley "Liverpool Disappears for a Billionth of a Second" The North
2006 Sean O'Brien "Fantasia on a Theme of James Wright" Poetry Review
2007 Alice Oswald "Dunt" Poetry London [8]
2008 Don Paterson "Love Poem for Natalie 'Tusja' Beridze" Poetry Review
2009 Robin Robertson "At Roane Head"
2010 Julia Copus "An Easy Passage"
2011 R. F. Langley "To a Nightingale" London Review of Books
2012 Denise Riley "A Part Song" [12]
2013 Nick MacKinnon "The Metric System" The Warwick Review
2014 Stephen Santus "In a Restaurant" The Bridport Prize
2015 Claire Harman "The Mighty Hudson" TLS
2016 Sasha Dugdale "Joy" PN Review [18]
2017 Ian Patterson "The Plenty of Nothing" PN Review [33]
2018 Liz Berry "The Republic of Motherhood" Granta [20]
2019 Parwana Fayyaz "Forty Names" PN Review
2020 Malika Booker "The Little Miracles" Magma [24]
2021 Nicole Sealey "Pages 22–29" an excerpt from The Ferguson Report: An Erasure Poetry London [26]
2022 Nick Laird "Up Late" Granta [28]
2023 Malika Booker "Libation" Poetry Review [34]

See also

References

  1. ^ Creamer, Ella (30 June 2023). "Forward prizes for poetry add new award for performed poems". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
  2. ^ Forward Arts Foundation. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  3. ^ a b c Lea, Richard (3 October 2007). "O'Brien breaks poetry record". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  4. ^ Crown, Sarah (6 October 2004). "Forward prize goes to Kathleen Jamie". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  5. ^ Kennedy, Maev (12 January 2015). "David Harsent wins TS Eliot prize for poetry for Fire Songs". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  6. ^ Crown, Sarah (6 October 2005). "Forward goes to David Harsent". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  7. ^ Brown, Mark (5 October 2006). "Poet puts Heaney in shade by scooping £10,000 prize". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  8. ^ a b c Flood, Alison (8 October 2008). "Mick Imlah takes Forward prize after 20-year silence". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  9. ^ Flood, Alison (7 October 2009). "Don Paterson wins the Forward poetry prize with 'masterful' collection". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  10. ^ Page, Benedicte (6 October 2010). "Seamus Heaney wins £10k Forward poetry prize for Human Chain". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  11. ^ Brown, Mark (5 October 2011). "John Burnside finally wins Forward poetry prize". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  12. ^ a b c Flood, Alison (1 October 2012). "Jorie Graham takes 2012 Forward prize". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
  13. ^ Higgins, Charlotte (1 October 2013). "Michael Symmons Roberts wins Forward poetry prize". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  14. ^ Davies, Caroline (30 September 2014). "Kei Miller wins Forward poetry prize". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
  15. ^ Brown, Mark (28 September 2015). "Claudia Rankine's Citizen wins Forward poetry prize". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
  16. ^ Cain, Sian (21 September 2015). "Trinidadian poet Vahni Capildeo wins 2016 Forward prize for poetry". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
  17. ^ Roffey, Monique (3 May 2022). "'The pendulum has swung': Why we female Trinidadian writers are having our moment". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  18. ^ a b c "Forward prize, backward reading: who grumbles if white writers win awards?". The Guardian. 30 September 2016. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  19. ^ "Forward Prizes of Poetry 2017 Winners". Forward Arts Foundation. 21 September 2017. Archived from the original on 2 October 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  20. ^ a b c "Forward Prizes for Poetry 2018". Forward Prizes for Poetry. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  21. ^ Flood, Alison (18 September 2018). "Danez Smith becomes youngest winner of Forward poetry prize". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  22. ^ Higgins, Charlotte (25 October 2019). "Forward prize winner Fiona Benson: 'It's still taboo to talk about rape and women's bodies'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  23. ^ Hay, Emily (20 October 2019). "Fiona Benson wins Forward prize with Greek myth poems for #MeToo age". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  24. ^ a b c "Bird's 'The Air Year' wins Forward Poetry Prize". Books+Publishing. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  25. ^ Cain, Sian (25 October 2020). "Forward poetry prize goes to 'audacious, erotically charged' The Air Year". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  26. ^ a b c Bayley, Sian (25 October 2021). "Kennard, Femi and Sealey win Forward Prizes for Poetry". The Bookseller. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  27. ^ Flood, Alison (24 October 2021). "Luke Kennard wins Forward poetry prize for 'anarchic' response to Shakespeare". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  28. ^ a b c "Forward Prizes for Poetry 2022 Winners". National Poetry Library. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  29. ^ Shaffi, Sarah (28 November 2022). "Kim Moore wins Forward poetry prize for 'phenomenal' poems about everyday sexism". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  30. ^ Poetry Book Society. "ANNOUNCING THE WINNERS OF THE FORWARD PRIZES 2023".
  31. ^ Tristram Fane Saunders (21 September 2017). "Vietnamese refugee Ocean Vuong wins 2017 Forward Prize for Poetry". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 21 December 2023. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  32. ^ Poetry Book Society. "ANNOUNCING THE WINNERS OF THE FORWARD PRIZES 2023".
  33. ^ Flood, Alison (21 September 2017). "Husband's elegy for Jenny Diski wins Forward prize for best single poem". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  34. ^ Poetry Society. "Poetry Review poem by Malika Booker wins major award at Forward Prize 2023 announcements".

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