Winners Announced!

We're delighted with this inaugural year of the competition. We received over 300 entries from 17 countries, with poets responding to our competition theme of ‘Change’. The standard was exceptionally high.

Winner

Alternate Argumentum Ornithologicum - Laurence O’Dwyer

Runners-up

Distancing - David Butler
Dry Missus - Tessa Foley

Highly Commended

Paul - Jonathan Edwards
Hayek At Ninety - William Stephenson
And Us Made Ash Made Smoke Headed - Tammy Armstrong
Assassin’s Creed - Giles Goodland
Seventh Child - Chrissie Dreier
Die-back - Lizzy Lister
Elsewhere Vines Wither - Heidi Beck
shared memory overflow error - Roger Bloor
Growing Fish in Petri Dishes - Maria Roe
Saltaire - Bex Hainsworth

Congratulations to all the winners!

National Poetry Day, October 7 2021

Come and join us for a celebratory online event on National Poetry Day, October 7 2021 at 19.00 (BST) to hear the prize-winning and longlisted poems. With special guest, our Chair of Judges Glyn Maxwell.

Please register your place by emailing poetryprize@aub.ac.uk.

We'll send out the Zoom link at least a day before the event is due to start.

Longlist Poems (50)

All of the longlisted poems will be published in a celebratory digital anthology due to be launched at an online event on 7 October 2021 at 19.00. In addition, all longlisted poets will be invited to read their poems and celebrate National Poetry Day 2021.

(hunger) - Anushka Nagarmath (India)
A Grown-up Daughter and a Father - Emily Wootton (England)
After Image - David Butler (Ireland)
Alternate Argumentum Ornithologicum - Laurence O'Dwyer (Ireland)
And Us Made Ash, Made Smoke Headed - Tammy Armstrong (Canada)
Arcs - Bex Hainsworth (England)
Ash Dieback - Terry O'Brien (England)
Assassin's Creed - Giles Goodland (England)
At the Andy Warhol Show - Victoria Field (England)
Change - Jonathan Edwards (Wales)
Crow's Feet and Wrinkles - L J Woods (Scotland)
Cupping Our Palms - Jonathan Greenhause (USA)
Debrief - Oz Hardwick (England)
Die-back - Lizzy Lister (England)
Distancing - David Butler (Ireland)
Dry Missus - Tessa Foley (England)
Duchamp - Adrian Buckner (England)
Elsewhere Vines Wither - Heidi Beck (England)
Exchange - Janet Olearski (Portugal)
Fields for the Future, 1978 - Lizzy Lister (England)
Final Departure Before Lockdown – C M Strong (Scotland)
Forms of Intelligence - Jonathan Greenhause (USA)
From Boyhood to Manhood - Mark Kirkbride (England)
Girlhood - Stephanie Powell (England)
Growing Fish in Petri Dishes - Maria Roe (England)

Hayek at Ninety – William Stephenson (England)
Inner Voice Workshop - Mary Mulholland (England)
Intercession - Christopher M James (France)
Let Me Tell You About When I Emigrated – Heidi Beck (England)
Little Eyes in the Trees – nudi (England)
McDonalds Happy Meal Container in Deep Forest - Jonathan Edwards (Wales)
My Father at Work 1965 - Jonathan Edwards (Wales)
Paul - Jonathan Edwards (Wales)
POWs - Paul Stephenson (England)
Quite Impossible - Simon Beech (England)
Regeneration - Tim Relf (England)
Retirement - Merle Corot (England)
Role Change - Mary Mulholland (England)
Saltaire - Bex Hainsworth (England)
School Bus Anthem - Rachel Burns (England)
Seventh Child - Chrissie Dreier (England)
Shared Memory Overflow Error - Roger Bloor (England)
Snow at Adam's Park - Isabella Mead (England)
Strikes - Jane Thomas (England)
Sweet and Low - Stephanie Powell (England)
Sweets (or of the before and after) - Stefano Peressini (Italy)
The Swallows’ Nest in the Patio Wall - Armando Allan (England)
The Trap - Bath Split - Jane Thomas (England)
‘Trane Journey - Terry O'Brien (England)
West Bank - Christopher M James (France)

(hunger) - Anushka Nagarmath (India)
A Grown-up Daughter and a Father - Emily Wootton (England)
After Image - David Butler (Ireland)
Alternate Argumentum Ornithologicum - Laurence O'Dwyer (Ireland)
And Us Made Ash, Made Smoke Headed - Tammy Armstrong (Canada)
Arcs - Bex Hainsworth (England)
Ash Dieback - Terry O'Brien (England)
Assassin's Creed - Giles Goodland (England)
At the Andy Warhol Show - Victoria Field (England)
Change - Jonathan Edwards (Wales)
Crow's Feet and Wrinkles - L J Woods (Scotland)
Cupping Our Palms - Jonathan Greenhause (USA)
Debrief - Oz Hardwick (England)
Die-back - Lizzy Lister (England)
Distancing - David Butler (Ireland)
Dry Missus - Tessa Foley (England)
Duchamp - Adrian Buckner (England)
Elsewhere Vines Wither - Heidi Beck (England)
Exchange - Janet Olearski (Portugal)
Fields for the Future, 1978 - Lizzy Lister (England)
Final Departure Before Lockdown – C M Strong (Scotland)
Forms of Intelligence - Jonathan Greenhause (USA)
From Boyhood to Manhood - Mark Kirkbride (England)
Girlhood - Stephanie Powell (England)
Growing Fish in Petri Dishes - Maria Roe (England)

Hayek at Ninety – William Stephenson (England)
Inner Voice Workshop - Mary Mulholland (England)
Intercession - Christopher M James (France)
Let Me Tell You About When I Emigrated – Heidi Beck (England)
Little Eyes in the Trees – nudi (England)
McDonalds Happy Meal Container in Deep Forest - Jonathan Edwards (Wales)
My Father at Work 1965 - Jonathan Edwards (Wales)
Paul - Jonathan Edwards (Wales)
POWs - Paul Stephenson (England)
Quite Impossible - Simon Beech (England)
Regeneration - Tim Relf (England)
Retirement - Merle Corot (England)
Role Change - Mary Mulholland (England)
Saltaire - Bex Hainsworth (England)
School Bus Anthem - Rachel Burns (England)
Seventh Child - Chrissie Dreier (England)
Shared Memory Overflow Error - Roger Bloor (England)
Snow at Adam's Park - Isabella Mead (England)
Strikes - Jane Thomas (England)
Sweet and Low - Stephanie Powell (England)
Sweets (or of the before and after) - Stefano Peressini (Italy)
The Swallows’ Nest in the Patio Wall - Armando Allan (England)
The Trap - Bath Split - Jane Thomas (England)
‘Trane Journey - Terry O'Brien (England)
West Bank - Christopher M James (France)

Topic: Change

You can choose to write in any form or style of poem in response to the theme of change. You can interpret it in any way. Whether it’s sharing a personal experience of change or observing it in the wider world, from life-changes to changing trains, we’re looking forward to seeing a variety of creative approaches.

Chair of Judges: Glyn Maxwell

Glyn Maxwell's books of poetry include How The Hell Are You, currently shortlisted for the T S Eliot Prize, Pluto, which was shortlisted for the Forward Prize in 2013, and The Nerve, which won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize in 2004. In 2012 he published On Poetry, a popular critical guidebook for the general reader, and in 2016 its fictional sequel, Drinks With Dead Poets. He is also a playwright, librettist and novelist. He has taught at Princeton, Columbia and NYU in the USA, at the Universities of Essex and Goldsmiths in the UK, and currently teaches on the MA at the Poetry School.