Press Release:
Dated Tuesday 03 Mar 2015
The Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry 2014 shortlist is announced:
Patience Agbabi,
Imtiaz Dharker,
Carrie Etter,
Andrew Motion,
Alice Oswald
are announced as the shortlisted poets.
The Poetry Society’s Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry seeks to recognise excellence in new poetry. The Award acknowledges poetry that goes beyond just the page, highlighting exciting and outstanding contributions made by poets to our cultural life in 2014. This year the cultural and the everyday converge to create a thrilling shortlist.
Selected from a wide range of work across all media, this richly diverse shortlist looks at the effects of the mundane and the momentous, retelling myths and reimagining tales to make them relevant again. From examining conflict to confronting the effect of putting a child up for adoption, this year’s shortlisted poets have poured something personal into each of the works and the result is a series of voices that speak to, and for, all of us.
Julia Copus said of the judging process:
“This year’s energetic and varied consignment of entries for the Ted Hughes Award was, as ever, delivered into our hands by members of the Poetry Society and the Poetry Book Society; it is, in that sense, a peculiarly democratic prize. A great deal of lively debate ensued as we discussed the merits of the work – performances, books, radio pieces, and all manner of collaborations. We were looking, above all, for work that surprised and moved us; work that was innovative, but not for innovation’s sake; work that was vital and relevant enough to connect with a wide readership and that took account of the world around it. In some cases, the crucial element of surprise arose from the spark that flies when two or more artists work together; in others, from the poet’s own imaginative resources. Our shortlist of five reflects that divergence of approach.”
Established in 2009 by Poet Laureate and Vice President of the Poetry Society, Carol Ann Duffy, the £5,000 prize is funded with the annual honorarium the Poet Laureate traditionally receives from HM The Queen. The award is one of the only prizes to acknowledge the wide range of work being produced by poets – not just in books, but beyond. Previous winners of the £5,000 prize include Maggie Sawkins in 2013 for Zones of Avoidance and Kate Tempest in 2012 for Brand New Ancients.
The final winner will be revealed at an awards ceremony at the Savile Club, Mayfair, London on Thursday 2nd April 2015. The winners of The Poetry Society’s National Poetry Competition will also be announced at the ceremony.
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