Twenty-two writers shared more than £70,000 in prize money on Tuesday night, 15th June 2010, at a reception held at the Cavalry and Guards Club in Piccadilly. The Chair of the Society, Tom Holland, introduced the awards, which were presented by P.D. James.
Awards ranged from those for first novels - Nadifa Mohamed won the Betty Trask Prize (£10,000), and the McKitterick Prize (£4,000) went to Raphael Selbourne - to the Travelling Scholarships, which will enable Sam North, Lemn Sissay and Roma Tearne to journey abroad.
- Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy chose four new Cholmondeley Award winners - Gillian Allnutt, Colette Bryce, Gwyneth Lewis and Deryn Rees-Jones - with fellow assessors David Morley, Dennis O'Driscoll and Jo Shapcott, and commented:
'I'm thrilled that this year's awards show such a range of talent throughout the UK - the margins truly are the centre of British poetry now.'
Celebrating fifty famous years, the Eric Gregory Awards went to five poets under 30, Phil Brown, Matthew Gregory, Sarah Howe, Abigail Parry and Ahren Warner. They join a prestigious list of 267 poets, which includes Geoffrey Hill (1961), Tom Paulin (1976), Carol Ann Duffy (1984), and this year's Somerset Maugham Award winner Jacob Polley (2002).
- The Eric Gregory Award winners will be performing at an event on 16th June at the Betsey Trotwood (pub) on Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3BL, and on Friday 9th July at the Ledbury Poetry Festival (12:45-1:45pm; tel. 0845 458 1743 for tickets).
The winners in full
- The Elizabeth Longford Prize
Winner: Tristram Hunt received £5,000 for The Frock-Coated Communist – The Revolutionary Life of Friedrich Engels (Allen Lane)
Judges: Lady Antonia Fraser, Flora Fraser, Roy Foster, Munro Price and A.N.Wilson
- The Travelling Scholarships
Winners: Sam North, Lemn Sissay and Roma Tearne - each received £1,500
Judges: Lisa Appignanesi, Jim Crace, Kay Dunbar, Mark McCrum and Caroline Moorehead.
- The Somerset Maugham Awards
Winners: Jacob Polley, £5,000 for Talk of the Town (Picador); Helen Oyeyemi, £3,000 for White is for Witching (Picador); and Ben Wilson, £2,000 for What Price Liberty? (Faber)
Judges: Rachel Cusk, M.J.Hyland and Rory Stewart, MP
- The Olive Cook Award
Winner: Carys Davies received £1,000 for The Quiet
Joint runners-up: Susannah Rickards for The Paperback Macbeth and Simon van Booy for Little Birds
Judges: Jane Gardam and Jacob Ross
- The McKitterick Prize
Winner: Raphael Selbourne received £4,000 for Beauty (Tindal Street Press)
Judges: Russell Celyn Jones, Lindsey Davis and Frances Fyfield
- The Betty Trask Prize and Awards
Prize winner: Nadifa Mohamed received £10,000 for Black Mamba Boy (HarperCollins)
Award winners: Evie Wyld received £7,000 for After the Fire, a Still Small Voice (Cape), Jenn Ashworth received £1,500 for A Kind of Intimacy (Arcadia) and Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani received £1,500 for I Do Not Come to You by Chance (Weidenfeld)
Judges: Paul Bailey, Terence Blacker and Susie Boyt
- The Eric Gregory Awards
Winners: Phil Brown, Matthew Gregory, Sarah Howe, Abigail Parry and Ahren Warner each received £4,000
Judges: Moniza Alvi, Kate Clanchy, Polly Clark, Maura Dooley, John Greening and Carol Rumens
- The Cholmondeley Awards
Winners: Gillian Allnutt, Colette Bryce, Gwyneth Lewis and Deryn Rees-Jones - each received £1,500
Judges: Carol Ann Duffy, Dennis O’Driscoll, David Morley and Jo Shapcott
Please contact Paula Johnson for further details | Tel. 020 7373 6642