More about the Prize

  • The T S Eliot Prize for Poetry was inaugurated in 1993 to celebrate the Poetry Book Society's 40th birthday and honour its founding poet.
  • Described as ‘the prize most poets want to win' (Andrew Motion, then Poet Laureate) and ‘the world's top poetry award' (Irish Independent), it is awarded to the author of the best new collection of poetry published in the UK and Ireland each year.
  • Now in its 19th year it is firmly established as the most valuable and prestigious prize in the UK for a new collection of poetry.
  • The winner receives £15,000 and each of the shortlisted poets receives £1,000.
  • It is distinctive among poetry prizes in being judged by a panel of established poets. Last year's winner of the T S Eliot Prize was Derek Walcott, for his collection White Egrets (Faber).
  • The four Poetry Book Society Choices from 2011 are automatically shortlisted for the Prize: the Spring Choice, Night by David Harsent (Faber), the Summer Choice, November by Sean O'Brien (Picador), the Autumn Choice, Profit and Loss by Leontia Flynn (Jonathan Cape) and the Winter Choice, Armour by John Kinsella (Picador).
  • Previous winners [in chronological order] are Ciaran Carson, Paul Muldoon, Mark Doty, Les Murray, Don Paterson, Ted Hughes, Hugo Williams, Michael Longley, Anne Carson, Alice Oswald, Don Paterson (for the second time), George Szirtes, Carol Ann Duffy, Seamus Heaney, Sean O'Brien, Jen Hadfield, Philip Gross and Derek Walcott.

List of previous winners:

2011        John Burnside       Black Cat Bone

2010        Derek Walcott       White Egrets

2009        Philip Gross           The Water Table

2008        Jen Hadfield          Nigh-No-Place

2007        Sean O'Brien         The Drowned Book

2006        Seamus Heaney    District and Circle

2005        Carol Ann Duffy     Rapture

2004        George Szirtes      Reel

2003        Don Paterson        Landing Light

2002        Alice Oswald          Dart

2001        Anne Carson         The Beauty of the Husband

2000        Michael Longley     The Weather in Japan

1999        Hugo Williams        Billy's Rain

1998        Ted Hughes           Birthday Letters

1997        Don Paterson        God's Gift to Women

1996        Les Murray            Subhuman Redneck Poems

1995        Mark Doty              My Alexandria

1994        Paul Muldoon         The Annals of Chile

1993        Ciaran Carson        First Language: Poems