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
Felix Dennis (27 May 194722 June 2014) was an English publisher, poet, spoken-word performer, and philanthropist. His company, Dennis Publishing, pioneered computer and hobbyist magazine publishing in the United Kingdom. In more recent times, t ...
.
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.
Awards
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.
[Forward Arts Foundation. Retrieved 4 July 2013.]
Previous winners
Best Collection
Best First Collection
Best Single Poem
See also
*
List of literary awards
This list of literary awards from around the world is an index to articles about notable literary awards.
International awards
All nationalities and multiple languages eligible
* Nobel Prize in Literature – since 1901
* Hugo Award – sinc ...
*
List of British literary awards
This is a list of British literary awards.
Current awards
Literature in general
* Barbellion Prize, for ill and disabled writers
* Bristol Festival of Ideas Book Prize, for a book which "presents new, important and challenging ideas"
*Briti ...
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English poetry
This article focuses on poetry from the United Kingdom written in the English language. The article does not cover poetry from other countries where the English language is spoken, including the Republic of Ireland after December 1922.
The earl ...
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List of poetry awards
Major international awards
* Struga Poetry Evenings, Golden Wreath of Struga Poetry Evenings
* Bridges of Struga (for a debuting author at Struga Poetry Evenings)
* Griffin Poetry Prize (The international prize)
* International Hippocrates Priz ...
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List of years in poetry
This article gives a chronological list of years in poetry. These pages supplement the List of years in literature pages with a focus on events in the history of poetry.
Before 1000 BC
* – '' Kesh Temple Hymn''
* – Enheduanna, ''The Exalta ...
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List of years in literature
This article gives a chronological list of years in literature, with notable publications listed with their respective years and a small selection of notable events. The time covered in individual years covers Renaissance, Baroque and Modern liter ...
References
External links
* {{Official website, https://www.forwardartsfoundation.org/
Awards established in 1991
1991 establishments in the United Kingdom
British poetry awards