The Chancellor's Gold Medal is a prestigious annual award at

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

for poetry, paralleling Oxford University's Newdigate Prize. It was first presented by

Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, (15 January 1776 – 30 November 1834) was a great-grandson of King George II of Great Britain and the nephew and son-in-law of King George III. He was the grandson of both Frederick, P ...

during his time as Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. In the mid 19th century, the topic for each year was sent out at the end of

Michaelmas Term Michaelmas term is the first academic term of the academic year in a number of English-speaking universities and schools in the northern hemisphere, especially in the United Kingdom. Michaelmas term derives its name from the Feast of St Micha ...

, with a requirement that entries were submitted by 31 March of the following year. A second requirement is and has been that poems must be submitted anonymously. Over the last few decades the system of set topics has been abandoned. The winner of the medal would have the honour of reading his or her poem aloud in the Senate House on Commencement Day. The prize was first awarded in 1813 to George Waddington of

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

. The early lists of winners shows a considerable overlap with the list of Senior Wranglers. This literary prize continues to exist today under the name of Chancellor's Medal for an English Poem. Intermittently it was also known as the Chancellor's Medal for (an) English Verse. The prize takes the shape of not so much a medal, but of a rather large coin or medallion. In modern times the medallion is decked with a representation of the Queen on the front and a poetical figure on the back. The prize has not been bestowed upon a young poet in every academic year since 1813. Where available information has been provided as to which college of the university the particular student belonged.

Partial list of recipients

*1813 George Waddington, Trinity, Columbus *1814

William Whewell William Whewell ( ; 24 May 17946 March 1866) was an English polymath, scientist, Anglican priest, philosopher, theologian, and historian of science. He was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. In his time as a student there, he achieved ...

, Trinity, Boadicea *1815 Edward Smirke, St. John's, Wallace *1816 Hamilton Sydney Beresford Mahomet *1817

Chauncy Hare Townshend Chauncy Hare Townshend, whose surname was spelt by his parents as Townsend (20 April 1798, Godalming, Surrey – 25 February 1868), was a 19th-century English poet, clergyman, mesmerist, collector, dilettante and hypochondriac. He is mostly r ...

, Trinity Hall, Jerusalem *1818 Charles Edward Long, Trinity, Imperial and Papal Rome *1819

Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay, (; 25 October 1800 – 28 December 1859) was a British historian and Whig politician, who served as the Secretary at War between 1839 and 1841, and as the Paymaster-General between 1846 and 1 ...

, Trinity, Pompeii *1821

, Trinity, Evening *1823

Winthrop Mackworth Praed Winthrop Mackworth Praed (28 July 180215 July 1839)—typically written as W. Mackworth Praed—was an English politician and poet. Life Early life Praed was born in London, United Kingdom. The family name of Praed was derived from the ma ...

, Trinity, Australasia *1824

, Trinity, Athens *1825

Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton, PC (25 May 180318 January 1873) was an English writer and politician. He served as a Whig member of Parliament from 1831 to 1841 and a Conservative from 1851 to 1866. He was Secre ...

, Trinity, Sculpture *1826 Joseph Sumner Brockhurst, St Johns (later headmaster of

Camberwell Collegiate School The Camberwell Collegiate School was a private school in Camberwell, London, England. It was located on the eastern side of Camberwell Grove, directly opposite the Grove Chapel. The school was opened in 1835, as an Anglican school under the pa ...

) *1827

Christopher Wordsworth Christopher Wordsworth (30 October 180720 March 1885) was an English intellectual and a bishop of the Anglican Church. Life Wordsworth was born in London, the youngest son of Christopher Wordsworth, Master of Trinity, who was the youngest b ...

, Trinity, The Druids *1828

, Trinity, Invasion of Russia by Napoleon Boneparte *1829

Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...

, Trinity, Timbuctoo *1831

George Stovin Venables George Stovin Venables (1810–1888), born in Wales, was a journalist and a barrister at the English bar. His father was Richard Venables, vicar of Nantmel and then archdeacon of Carmarthen. He was educated at Eton College, Charterhouse Scho ...

, Jesus, Attempts to find a North West Passage *1842

Henry James Sumner Maine Sir Henry James Sumner Maine, (15 August 1822 – 3 February 1888), was a British Whig comparative jurist and historian. He is famous for the thesis outlined in his book '' Ancient Law'' that law and society developed "from status to contract. ...

, Pembroke, Birth of the Prince of Wales *1844

Edward Henry Bickersteth Edward Henry Bickersteth (25 January 1825 – 16 May 1906) was a bishop in the Church of England and he held the office of Bishop of Exeter between 1885 and 1900. Life Edward Henry Bickersteth was born in Islington, the son of Edward Bicker ...

, Trinity, The Tower of London *1845

, Trinity, Caubul *1846

, Trinity, Caesar's Invasion of Britain *1852

Frederic William Farrar Frederic William Farrar (Bombay, 7 August 1831 – Canterbury, 22 March 1903) was a cleric of the Church of England (Anglican), schoolteacher and author. He was a pallbearer at the funeral of Charles Darwin in 1882. He was a member of the Camb ...

, Trinity, The Arctic Regions *1873

Arthur Woollgar Verrall Arthur Woollgar Verrall (5 February 1851, Brighton – 18 June 1912, Cambridge) was a British classics scholar associated with Trinity College, Cambridge, and the first occupant of the King Edward VII Chair of English. He was noted for his transl ...

, Trinity *1899

Arthur Cecil Pigou Arthur Cecil Pigou (; 18 November 1877 – 7 March 1959) was an English economist. As a teacher and builder of the School of Economics at the University of Cambridge, he trained and influenced many Cambridge economists who went on to take chair ...

, King's, * 1900 Frank Sidgwick, Trinity, ″Khartoum″ * 1901 George Dean Raffles Tucker, Magdalene * 1902

Giles Lytton Strachey Giles Lytton Strachey (; 1 March 1880 – 21 January 1932) was an English writer and critic. A founding member of the Bloomsbury Group and author of ''Eminent Victorians'', he established a new form of biography in which psychological insight a ...

, Trinity, "Ely" * 1903 Not awarded * 1904 Robert Quirk, Kings * 1905 Arthur Conway Osborne Morgan, Trinity * 1906 Charles Mendell Kohan, Trinity * 1907 Donald Welldon Corrie, King’s * 1908 George Geoffrey Gilbert Butler, Trinity * 1909

Dennis Holme Robertson Sir Dennis Holme Robertson (23 May 1890 – 21 April 1963) was an English economist who taught at Cambridge and London Universities. Biography Robertson, the son of a Church of England clergyman, was born in Lowestoft and educated as a scholar ...

, Trinity * 1910 Dennis Holme Robertson, Trinity * 1911 Dennis Holme Robertson, Trinity * 1912 Not awarded * 1913 Not awarded * 1914 Donald Frederick Goold Johnson, Emmanuel * 1915 Philip Carrington, Selwyn * 1916 Not awarded * 1917 Harold Obbard Lee, Jesus * 1918 Hugh l'Anson Fausset, Corpus * 1919 Frederick Francis Thomas Pinto, Non-Collegiate * 1920 Colin Hercules Mackenzie, King's * 1921 Cecil Roy Leonard Falcy, Queens', Death of Napoleon * 1922 Montague Maurice Simmons, Queens *1923 David William Allun Llewellyn, St John's, St Francis of Assiss *1924 Edward Falaise Upward, Corpus Christi, Buddha *1925 Henry Hugh Thomas, Sidney Sussex, Stonehenge *1926 Alan Trevor Oldham, Emmanuel, Gallipoli *1927 Frederik John Norton also Frederik Norton, Pembroke, Orestes *1928 Kenneth Harold Ellis, Trinity, Proserpine *1929 Elsie Elizabeth Phare later Elsie Duncan-Jones, Newnham, The Bridge (first female recipient *1931 Robert Gittings also Robert William Victor Gittings, Jesus, The Roman Road *1934 Frederick William Clayton, King's, The English Countryside *1935 Olive Fraser, Girton, The Vikings (F) *1936 Terence Tiller also Terence Rogers Tiller, Jesus, Egypt *1937 Christopher Thomas Gandy, King's, The Thames *1938 John Darrel Boyd, King's, A Great Man *1939 Reginald Arthur Burrows, St Catherine's, Fire *1942 Irene Josephine Blanche Snatt, Girton, A Londoner (F) *1948 George James Moor, Downing, The Year's to Come *1949 Alan John Maurice Bird, Selwyn, Speed *1953 Alasdair Eoin Aston, Pembroke, Gloriana Rediviva *1964

Howard Brenton Howard John Brenton FRSL (born 13 December 1942) is an English playwright and screenwriter. While little-known in the United States, he is celebrated in his home country and often ranked alongside contemporaries such as Edward Bond, Caryl Chu ...

, St Catherine's *1966 William Paul Huw Merchant, Emmanuel *1967 Clive Wilmer, King's *1969 Alexander John Howard Martin, Jesus *1970 Elliot Alexander Grant, Christ's *1974 John Wilkinson also John Lawton Wilkinson, Jesus *1976 Charles Ellis Leftwich, St John's, Cadenzas *1977 David Colles Lloyd, King's, Ecologies *1978 Aidan Semmens, Trinity *1979 Jacqueline Osherow, Trinity (F) *1980 Michael Thomas Hutchinson, Trinity *1982 Alice Goodman also Alice Abigail Goodman, Girton, Four Poems (F) *1984 James William Noggle, Fitzwilliam, A painting of the garden *1985 Jean Hanff Korelitz, Clare, The Sounds from the Stairs and other poems (F) *1988 Joanne Marion Wiess, St. Edmund's, Untitled Poem (F) *1989 Simon James Alderson, Trinity, Memory *1992 Nicoletta Fotinos also N. I. Fotinos, Churchill, Pergamon (first non-native speaker recipient), (F) *1994 Keith Malcolm Sands, Jesus, Axis *1997

Keston Sutherland Keston M. Sutherland is a British poet, and Professor of Poetics at the University of Sussex. He was the editor of the poetics and critical theory journal ''QUID'' and is co-editor (with Andrea Brady) of Barque Press. His poetry has been compar ...

also Keston M. Sutherland, Hate's clitoris *2006 Benjamin Morris, Sonata in orange

Notes

References

*
Cambridge University Janus Records
* A list of its recipients since 1922 may be found in Graham Chainey, ''A Literary History of Cambridge'' (1986), pp. 295ff. {{University of Cambridge British poetry awards Awards and prizes of the University of Cambridge Awards established in 1813 1813 establishments in England