Environmental Poet of the Year

The prize aims to highlight that the work of poets writing during the climate crisis is of importance.

As the effects of the climate crisis become increasingly apparent, for many writers, the subject of the environment has an urgency and relevance that is new. For other writers, the topic is not new territory, but nuances still emerge.

Now, when we say ‘the environment’, we may be referring to both a rural idea of nature and specifically to the climate crisis. Within the subject, we might include a city mid-heatwave, a street underwater, or an invasive species of insect in a car park, as well as a person ‘wandering lonely’ across a hillside in unseasonable sun, or a scene of grouse on a moor. Whether a poet lives in an urban or rural area, they may write about the effects that people—either individuals, or humans as a species—are having upon their environment. On the other hand, they may instead write about the effects that the changing environment is having upon those people.

Poetry has the capacity to convey new ways of seeing and feeling, that resonate with readers, and which are memorable. No drum-banging is needed, but poems should be crafted to reach the hearts and minds of readers, and to linger there. The pamphlet form, which traditionally has included very short publications that are easy for a reader to digest in a single sitting, is particularly well suited to short portfolios of poems with a unifying theme.

The prize will be judged by a panel of three judges. It is a separate judging panel from the other 2022 Awards. Only one of the judges is a poet. Another of the judges has been chosen by our partners Wordsworth Grasmere, and is a keen reader with a background in business. The final judge is a scientist and naturalist, a well-published writer of prose, and also an avid reader.

The judges will look for poetry that creates insights into the environment and the place of the human within it. They hope to find poetry that a broad readership could enjoy.