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.
Forward Prizes for Poetry
Awarded for
Best Collection (£10,000); Best First Collection (£5,000); Best Single Poem (£1,000)
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]
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.[2]
^ abcLea, Richard (3 October 2007). "O'Brien breaks poetry record". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
^Crown, Sarah (6 October 2004). "Forward prize goes to Kathleen Jamie". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
^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.
^Crown, Sarah (6 October 2005). "Forward goes to David Harsent". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
^Brown, Mark (5 October 2006). "Poet puts Heaney in shade by scooping £10,000 prize". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
^ abcFlood, Alison (8 October 2008). "Mick Imlah takes Forward prize after 20-year silence". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
^Flood, Alison (7 October 2009). "Don Paterson wins the Forward poetry prize with 'masterful' collection". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
^Page, Benedicte (6 October 2010). "Seamus Heaney wins £10k Forward poetry prize for Human Chain". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
^Brown, Mark (5 October 2011). "John Burnside finally wins Forward poetry prize". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
^ abcFlood, Alison (1 October 2012). "Jorie Graham takes 2012 Forward prize". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
^Higgins, Charlotte (1 October 2013). "Michael Symmons Roberts wins Forward poetry prize". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
^Davies, Caroline (30 September 2014). "Kei Miller wins Forward poetry prize". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
^Brown, Mark (28 September 2015). "Claudia Rankine's Citizen wins Forward poetry prize". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
^Cain, Sian (21 September 2015). "Trinidadian poet Vahni Capildeo wins 2016 Forward prize for poetry". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
^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.
^ abc"Forward prize, backward reading: who grumbles if white writers win awards?". The Guardian. 30 September 2016. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
^"Forward Prizes of Poetry 2017 Winners". Forward Arts Foundation. 21 September 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
^ abc"Forward Prizes for Poetry 2018". Forward Prizes for Poetry. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
^Flood, Alison (18 September 2018). "Danez Smith becomes youngest winner of Forward poetry prize". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
^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.
^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.
^ abc"Bird's 'The Air Year' wins Forward Poetry Prize". Books+Publishing. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
^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.
^ abcBayley, Sian (25 October 2021). "Kennard, Femi and Sealey win Forward Prizes for Poetry". The Bookseller. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
^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.
^ abc"Forward Prizes for Poetry 2022 Winners". National Poetry Library. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
^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.
^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.
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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 Forward Prizes for PoetryAwarded forBest Collection 10 000 Best First Collection 5 000 Best Single Poem 1 000 Sponsored byForward Worldwide Arts Council England The Esmee Fairbairn Foundation The estate of Felix DennisDate1992LocationUnited KingdomThe 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 Contents 1 Awards 2 Previous winners 2 1 Best Collection 2 2 Best First Collection 2 3 Best Single Poem 3 See also 4 References 5 External linksAwards editThe 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 000The 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 editBest Collection edit Forward Prizes for Best Poetry Collection Year Author Title Publisher Ref 1992 Thom Gunn The Man with Night Sweats Faber and Faber1993 Carol Ann Duffy Mean Time Anvil Press Poetry1994 Alan Jenkins Harm Chatto amp Windus1995 Sean O Brien Ghost Train Oxford University Press 3 1996 John Fuller Stones and Fires Chatto amp Windus1997 Jamie McKendrick The Marble Fly Oxford University Press1998 Ted Hughes Birthday Letters Faber and Faber1999 Jo Shapcott My Life Asleep Oxford University Press2000 Michael Donaghy Conjure Picador2001 Sean O Brien Downriver Picador 3 2002 Peter Porter Max is Missing Picador2003 Ciaran Carson Breaking News Gallery Press2004 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 Sinead Morrissey On Balance Carcanet Press 19 2018 Danez Smith Don t Call Us Dead Chatto amp 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 Best First Collection edit Forward Prizes for Best First Poetry Collection Year Author Title Publisher Ref 1992 Simon Armitage Kid Faber and Faber1993 Don Paterson Nil Nil Faber and Faber1994 Kwame Dawes Progeny of Air Peepal Tree Press1995 Jane Duran Breathe Now Breathe Enitharmon Press1996 Kate Clanchy Slattern Picador1997 Robin Robertson A Painted Field Picador1998 Paul Farley The Boy from the Chemist is Here to See You Picador1999 Nick Drake The Man in the White Suit Bloodaxe Books2000 Andrew Waterhouse In The Rialto2001 John Stammers The Panoramic Lounge Bar Picador2002 Tom French Touching the Bones The Gallery Press2003 A B Jackson Fire Stations Anvil Press Poetry2004 Leontia Flynn These Days Jonathan Cape2005 Helen Farish Intimates Jonathan Cape2006 Tishani Doshi Countries of the Body Aark Arts2007 Daljit Nagra Look We Have Coming to Dover Faber and Faber 8 2008 Kathryn Simmonds Sunday at the Skin Launderette Seren Books2009 Emma Jones The Striped World Faber and Faber2010 Hilary Menos Berg Seren Books2011 Rachael Boast Sidereal Picador2012 Sam Riviere 81 Austerities 12 2013 Emily Berry Dear Boy Faber and Faber2014 Liz Berry Black Country Chatto amp Windus2015 Mona Arshi Small Hands Liverpool University Press2016 Tiphanie Yanique Wife Peepal Tree Press 18 2017 Ocean Vuong Night Sky with Exit Wounds Jonathan Cape2018 Phoebe Power Shrines of Upper Austria Carcanet Press 20 2019 Stephen Sexton If All the World and Love Were Young Penguin Books2020 Will Harris RENDANG Granta 24 2021 Caleb Femi Poor Penguin Poetry 26 2022 Stephanie Sy Quia Amnion Granta 28 Best Single Poem edit 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 Shop2003 Robert Minhinnick The Fox in the National Museum of Wales Poetry London2004 Daljit Nagra Look We Have Coming to Dover Poetry Review2005 Paul Farley Liverpool Disappears for a Billionth of a Second The North2006 Sean O Brien Fantasia on a Theme of James Wright Poetry Review2007 Alice Oswald Dunt Poetry London 8 2008 Don Paterson Love Poem for Natalie Tusja Beridze Poetry Review2009 Robin Robertson At Roane Head 2010 Julia Copus An Easy Passage 2011 R F Langley To a Nightingale London Review of Books2012 Denise Riley A Part Song 12 2013 Nick MacKinnon The Metric System The Warwick Review2014 Stephen Santus In a Restaurant The Bridport Prize2015 Claire Harman The Mighty Hudson TLS2016 Sasha Dugdale Joy PN Review 18 2017 Ian Patterson The Plenty of Nothing PN Review 30 2018 Liz Berry The Republic of Motherhood Granta 20 2019 Parwana Fayyaz Forty Names PN Review2020 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 See also editList of literary awards List of British literary awards English poetry List of poetry awards List of years in poetry List of years in literatureReferences edit Creamer Ella 30 June 2023 Forward prizes for poetry add new award for performed poems The Guardian ISSN 0261 3077 Retrieved 4 July 2023 Forward Arts Foundation Retrieved 4 July 2013 a b c Lea Richard 3 October 2007 O Brien breaks poetry record The Guardian ISSN 0261 3077 Retrieved 10 February 2023 Crown Sarah 6 October 2004 Forward prize goes to Kathleen Jamie The Guardian ISSN 0261 3077 Retrieved 10 February 2023 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 Crown Sarah 6 October 2005 Forward goes to David Harsent The Guardian ISSN 0261 3077 Retrieved 10 February 2023 Brown Mark 5 October 2006 Poet puts Heaney in shade by scooping 10 000 prize The Guardian ISSN 0261 3077 Retrieved 10 February 2023 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 Flood Alison 7 October 2009 Don Paterson wins the Forward poetry prize with masterful collection The Guardian ISSN 0261 3077 Retrieved 10 February 2023 Page Benedicte 6 October 2010 Seamus Heaney wins 10k Forward poetry prize for Human Chain The Guardian ISSN 0261 3077 Retrieved 10 February 2023 Brown Mark 5 October 2011 John Burnside finally wins Forward poetry prize The Guardian ISSN 0261 3077 Retrieved 10 February 2023 a b c Flood Alison 1 October 2012 Jorie Graham takes 2012 Forward prize The Guardian Retrieved 1 October 2012 Higgins Charlotte 1 October 2013 Michael Symmons Roberts wins Forward poetry prize The Guardian ISSN 0261 3077 Retrieved 10 February 2023 Davies Caroline 30 September 2014 Kei Miller wins Forward poetry prize The Guardian Retrieved 7 June 2016 Brown Mark 28 September 2015 Claudia Rankine s Citizen wins Forward poetry prize The Guardian Retrieved 7 June 2016 Cain Sian 21 September 2015 Trinidadian poet Vahni Capildeo wins 2016 Forward prize for poetry The Guardian Retrieved 21 September 2016 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 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 Forward Prizes of Poetry 2017 Winners Forward Arts Foundation 21 September 2017 Retrieved 19 October 2017 a b c Forward Prizes for Poetry 2018 Forward Prizes for Poetry Retrieved 22 September 2018 Flood Alison 18 September 2018 Danez Smith becomes youngest winner of Forward poetry prize The Guardian ISSN 0261 3077 Retrieved 10 February 2023 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 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 a b c Bird s The Air Year wins Forward Poetry Prize Books Publishing Retrieved 2 November 2020 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 a b c Bayley Sian 25 October 2021 Kennard Femi and Sealey win Forward Prizes for Poetry The Bookseller Retrieved 25 October 2021 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 a b c Forward Prizes for Poetry 2022 Winners National Poetry Library Retrieved 23 December 2022 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 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 External links edithttp www forwardartsfoundation org forward prizes for poetry Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Forward Prizes for Poetry amp oldid 1184511147, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
