RSL Jerwood Poetry Awards
Four annual awards offering a £10,000 stipend and mentoring to poets looking to make a step-change in their careers
‘The Clearing’
Throughout 2025, the winners of the 2024 RSL Jerwood Poetry Awards were encouraged to engage in their own individual creative pursuits before joining together to create one final collaborative work: ‘The Clearing’. This poem was then transformed into original music, co-conceived with musician, Kathryn Williams. ‘The Clearing’ was first performed at the 2025 Push the Boat Out Poetry Festival.
The Clearing: Writing Contest
In the spirit of the awards, which brought together four poets from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, we invite writers from across the UK to submit their own poetry in response to the work. The RSL welcomes responses to one or all of a series of five prompts related to ‘The Clearing’:
- Head to Heart
- The closing of things
- Common tongue
- Roots
- At the centre
Each poem submitted will be featured on an online ‘poetry map’, with one winning poem receiving a spotlight in our monthly newsletter, sent to our community of RSL Members, Fellows and subscribers. The contest will remain open until 5pm on Monday 31 August, and the winning poem will be featured in our September mailing.
Please ensure that you have read the terms and conditions prior to entry.
The 2024 Awards
Following a call for nominations, we invited poets to apply for the awards. The shortlist, winners and mentors were announced on the 4 December, as part of the RSL’s 204th birthday celebrations.
The winners of the 2024 RSL Jerwood Poetry Award are Karen McCarthy Woolf, clare e. potter, Roseanne Watt and Scott McKendry, each representing England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland respectively. Each winner will be partnered with a mentor from their country. For Karen McCarthy Woolf, Anthony Joseph will act as mentor; clare e. potter will be supported by Owen Sheers; Jenni Fagan will mentor Roseanne Watt; and for Scott McKendry, Sinead Morrissey is mentor.
The four winners were selected from a shortlist of 16 poets, which included Bebe Ashley, Kat François, Bethany Handley, Dane Holt, Aaron Kent, Iona Lee, Jeda Pearl, Momtaza Mehri, Alycia Pirmohamed, Taz Rahman, Roseanne Watt, Sammy Weaver and Glen Wilson.
This new round of Awards will create career-making opportunities for three cohorts of four Awardees each year between 2024-7 (12 in total). In each edition, an award will be ringfenced for one poet from each nation – England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Each poet will receive £10,000, a sum designed to create the time and space for them to focus on practice development and writing, with a focus on harnessing their creative output and providing them with a range of opportunities to showcase their work, build networks and take their next career steps.
History
In 1964, a bequest was made by Joseph Compton, one of the first directors of the Poetry Book Society, to Arts Council England with the aim of helping poets and of bringing poetry to a wider audience. Using accrued interest from the bequest and funds from Jerwood Arts and Arts Council England, the Jerwood Compton Poetry Fellowships offered a significant new development opportunity for poets. Nine poets were supported over three editions between 2016-2022, offering time and space to develop their practice alongside significant year-long support and mentoring. The poets were Hafsah Aneela Bashir, Romalyn Ante, Raymond Antrobus, Dzifa Benson, Jane Commane, Jackie Hagan, Jamie Hale, Anthony Joseph and Yomi Sode. These poets are pushing the boundaries of poetry in the UK and growing new audiences. The Fellowships offered all of them a chance to develop their craft, grow their professional networks and open-up new opportunities. Most of all, it allowed them to gain confidence and to reach a new stage in their careers.
Past Winners
| 2024 | England | Karen McCarthy Woolf |
| Scotland | Roseanne Watt | |
| Northern Ireland | Scott McKendry | |
| Wales | clare e. potter |
We are grateful to the Jerwood Foundation and Creative Scotland for their generous support of the Awards.
More from Awards and Prizes
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