Forward Prizes for Poetry

Forward Prizes for Poetry The Forward Prizes are the most coveted annual prizes for poetry published in the British Isles.

They are threefold: a prize for Best Collection, Best First Collection and Best Single Poem. The prizes were first awarded in 1992 by William Sieghart, with the aim of raising the profile of contemporary poetry. They honour not just established writers at the peak of their careers - Best Collection winners include Seamus Heaney, Ted Hughes and Carol Ann Duffy - but also brilliant newcomers. Forward judges spot talent early on: they recognised Simon Armitage and Don Paterson for their very first collections, and have also singled out work by Jackie Kay, Kathleen Jamie, Sean O’Brien, Alice Oswald and Robin Robertson with the prize for Best Single Poem. The counterpoint of old and new names accounts for the prestige of both the prizes and the annual Forward Books of Poetry, described recently as “the best way of encountering the richness that new poetry has to offer.”

08/10/2026

🎤 We can’t believe it, but there is now only TWO WEEKS (and two days) to go until the Forward Prizes Ceremony 2026!

As well as revealing the winners in each of our prize categories, this unmissable evening brings together our exceptional 20 shortlisted poets for an evening of performance, emotion & discovery in poetry reading.

Don’t miss your chance to grab your seat via the Southbank Centre!

📅 24 Oct, 7pm | Queen Elizabeth Hall
🎟️ From £10 + booking fee
16+ only.

Link for tix in our bio, or visit the Southbank Centre - this year's anthology is also currently available to buy at a discount with a ticket to the event - don't miss out!

02/10/2026

Whoop - THREE WEEKS tomorrow it will be time to immerse yourself in a mixtape of some of the best poetry published and performed today across the UK and Ireland!

The Forward Prizes for Poetry ceremony 2026 will be live at the Southbank Centre's Queen Elizabeth Hall from 7pm on Saturday 24th October.

Don’t miss your chance to be in the audience as our twenty shortlisted poets take to the stage and perform before we reveal our four category winners.

This simply unmissable evening - hosted by the incomparable Joelle Taylor - returns to the Southbank Centre once more as part of their .

Tickets are available from just £10 - grab yours now! (Link to buy in bio).

Even more excitingly, The Southbank Centre is offering a discount to buy this year’s anthology for the discounted price of just £7.99 when you buy a ticket - for more details please check their website (link above in bio).

01/10/2026

That’s our 2026 Young Poets Summit team and a few sprinkles of poetry from the shortlist and the commended list over in the stories.

I hope you have enjoyed reading the poems from our poets and my selections for some of the poems that are resonating from this prize season.

Tolu Agbelusi is a Nigerian British poet, playwright, and artist working across film and photography. Author of Locating Strongwoman, published 6 years ago today by Jacaranda Books , her work is concerned with the unperformed self and deconstruction received narratives, particularly on womanhood, race and social justice. She supports the development of emerging writers through various mentoring, editing and workshop programs including through Arvon, Poetry Translation Centre, Poetry School, Literature works, et cetera. Her work appears in journals and anthologies internationally.

There’s one last poem in the stories and most definitely swipe for a poem from me.

& Register for Out Loud - spend your National Poetry Day evening with us online. Link in the stories.

I shall now return the page to its handlers. Thanks to those who have engaged with us and our poets.

Goodnight.

Young Poets Summit is a big project on a small budget. Running for 6- 8 months in the year, we offer a variety of opport...
01/10/2026

Young Poets Summit is a big project on a small budget. Running for 6- 8 months in the year, we offer a variety of opportunities for young poets to thrive and gain better proficiency with the craft of poetry.

We are five next year! Ths is an early call out for publishers,journals, literary organisations , funders, angel investors , poets, etc, who want to be part of this magic.

We’re looking for new partners, so if any of this sounds like something you would like to get involved with, please slide into our DM’s Young Poets Summit

This is a gratitude post. The Young Poets Summit season is becoming a well oiled machine and that is down to having a co...
01/10/2026

This is a gratitude post. The Young Poets Summit season is becoming a well oiled machine and that is down to having a co-producer Jemilea Wisdom-Baako who not only is a great poet but also is disciplined and intentional about making sure our poets have what they need and that I’m supported.

Jemilea Wisdom-Baako is a British-Jamaican poet, educator and founder of Writerz&Scribez . A London writers award and Poetry London’s mentoring recipient, she was shortlisted for the Bridport poetry prize and her debut pamphlet ‘Grey Coats and Nokia Phones’ won the 2023 Poetry London pamphlet prize. Her work appears in Magma, Poetry London, Poetry Wales, Pittsburgh Poetry Review, Good journal, and elsewere.


The Notorious V.I.G. will be our second poet documenting the day for posterity. Vig is a Birmingham-based multi-slam-win...
01/10/2026

The Notorious V.I.G. will be our second poet documenting the day for posterity.

Vig is a Birmingham-based multi-slam-winning spoken-word artist and creative freelancer. He has featured at Hay Festival and on the BBC, exhibited audiovisual work at Birmingham Museums, and performed internationally - from Bangalore to NYC. He is Regional Producer of Poet’s Palace Birmingham and sits on the Punch Records and YoungMinds Youth Advisory Boards. He won the Inspirational Youth Arts & Culture Award 2026. His work explores identity, masculinity, belonging and cultural taboos.

Swipe to read a poem from The Notorious V.I.G.



We are always looking to see how we can facilitate young poets telling their own story. This year we added two roles . E...
01/10/2026

We are always looking to see how we can facilitate young poets telling their own story. This year we added two roles . Elena’s is one of them. She’ll be our Live content creator on the day , letting the world know what they are missing.

Elena Chamberlain elena (el) 🧚 is a Q***r poet, writer and producer making space for poetry in the cracks between sentences.

A current Roundhouse Resident Artist, alumnus of Apples and Snakes’ Word’s a Stage 2.0, Future Voices, and Uni Slam, Elena believes in the monumental power of creativity. She has recently completed an MA in Creative Writing (Poetry) at UEA, and their work can be found in publications like Ink, Sweat and Tears.

Swipe for a poem by Elena
photographer - Olivia Rose

Ariadne Ward is our fourth and final ‘shadow judge’ for the 2026 Young Poets Summit . She was selected by Young Identity...
01/10/2026

Ariadne Ward is our fourth and final ‘shadow judge’ for the 2026 Young Poets Summit . She was selected by Young Identity

Ariadne Ward is a Bermudian poet and fiction writer studying at The Manchester Metropolitan University in her 3rd year of BA Creative Writing. She came to poetry in her first year of university, despite steadfast aspirations to write a novel and now finds her prose gleefully corrupted with her poetic voice! Her work centers around identity and ways in which the speculative appears in the everyday lives and histories of African Diasporic peoples, women & Bermudians

A poem by Ariadne appears on the next slide

Annabelle Sami is our third Shadow Judge. They were selected through London Writers Centre for the 2026 Young Poets Su...
01/10/2026

Annabelle Sami is our third Shadow Judge. They were selected through London Writers Centre for the 2026 Young Poets Summit .

Annabelle Sami is a writer working across prose, poetry and scripts. They have written 12 books for children, which have won the Spark! Book Award and Stockport Children’s Book Award, been shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, and longlisted for the Blue Peter Book Award and Diverse Book Award. Their writing for adults has been featured in Writer’s Mosaic, Peaks of Colour Nature Writing Journal and Fearlessly Magazine. Their debut work in progress novel for adults won the Sustainable Story Award for Fiction by World of Books 2025. They also write poetry and were part of Apples & Snakes Scratch Lab 2025 and Spread the Word’s Poetics Lab Cohort 2025.

Annabelle also works in the arts with several prominent theatre companies and artists, producing participatory and experimental work. They enjoy working dramaturgically and editorially on scripts to champion underrepresented voices and perspectives.

Swipe to read a poem Annabelle

Meet Husna Khalid DreaM17 , ‘shadow judge 2 of 4, nominated through GOBS Collective for the 2026 Young Poets Summit tea...
01/10/2026

Meet Husna Khalid DreaM17 , ‘shadow judge 2 of 4, nominated through GOBS Collective for the 2026 Young Poets Summit team

Our shadow judges deliberate on the official shortlist, choosing their own winners in our very own Young Poets Summit Choice Awards.

Husna, creatively known as DreaM17, is a Multi-Disciplinary Creative encouraging personal growth, sharing lived experiences, and pushing against boundaries. They have always been a bit of a dreamer, which shows in their creative practice as they often include storytelling elements, narrative perspectives, and inspiration from their identity and life. Alongside poetry, they also work across songwriting, MCing, Voice over and more, often mixing creative practises together. They helped open for Joshua Idehen’s 2023 UK Tour and self-published their debut poetry pamphlet ‘Finding Poetry’ in December 2025.

Swipe to read a poem from Husna and see the stories for poems by others on the shortlist.

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