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  • First Collection Poetry Prize

First Collection Poetry Prize

The First Collection Poetry Prize celebrates the work of the Seamus Heaney Centre and honours Heaney himself. It is awarded to a writer whose first, full collection has been published in the preceding year, by a UK or Ireland-based publisher. The winner receives £5,000.

The Poetry Prize is awarded as part of the Seamus Heaney Legacy Project, a joint 10-year fund between Queen's University Belfast and the Arts Council for Northern Ireland, generously supported by the Atlantic Philanthropies. 

To Apply
*CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS*

Please read the eligibility terms and conditions carefully, complete the entry form, and send three copies of the publication along with your form by the deadline.

PP Entry Form 2021

Image: So Many Rooms, by Laura Scott (Winner of the First Collection Poetry Prize 2020)


About the Judges
Chair of the Judges Panel 2020: Nick Laird

Professor of Creative Writing Nick Laird, is joined this year by Ireland Chair of Poetry Frank Ormsby, and Reader in Poetry Leontia Flynn. 

The panel will compile a shortlist of up to five books, to be announced in June 2020. The winner will be announced during the Poetry Summer School in July 2020.


Winner of the Seamus Heaney First Collection Prize 2020
So Many Rooms, by Laura Scott

Announced by Nick Laird at a Virtual Award Night on Thu 2 Jul, with readings by the poets from all shortlisted collections, as well as a few words from Laura Scott, the winner of this year's Seamus Heaney First Collection Poetry Prize. 

Read more about the winning collection here...


Previous Winners
Image: First Collection Poetry Prize 2019 Judges Stephen Sexton, Nick Laird, and Edna Longley, with the Winner, Ned Denny

Some of the exellent titles from previous year's include: 

2019 - Ned Denny, Unearthly Toys: Poems and Masks (Carcanet)

2018 - Richard Osmond, Useful Verses (Picador Poetry)

2017 - Adam Crothers, Several Deer (Carcanet)

2016 - Kate Miller, The Observances (Carcanet)

2015 - Fiona Benson, Bright Travellers (Cape Poetry)

2014 – Tara Bergin, This is Yarrow (Carcanet)

2013 – Sarah Jackson, Pelt (Bloodaxe Books)

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About Glucksman Ireland House
Glucksman Ireland House, NYU

Located in the heart of Greenwich Village, Glucksman Ireland House is New York University's Center for Irish and Irish-American Studies and one of the top-ranked academic Irish Studies programs in the United States. Through innovative undergraduate and graduate academic curricula and extensive public programming, it provides students and the public with access to the best in Irish and Irish-American culture, and an integrated approach to understanding the arts and humanities that represent Ireland and Irish-America’s past, present, and future.


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First Collection Poetry Prize
  • Poetry Prize 2020
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