The Cholmondeley Awards for Poets were founded by the late Dowager Marchioness of Cholmondeley in 1966 to recognise the achievement and distinction of individual poets.
2025 Cholmondeley Award winners
James Byrne
Jane Commane
Annie Freud
John Lyons
Karen McCarthy Woolf
‘The Cholmondeley Awards have been, since they were introduced in 1966, important honorary awards that recognise poets’ sustained excellence across a body of work. Some of the recipients will already be well-known in the poetry world, while others may be deserving of wider recognition for the distinction of their writing. Many of them will have contributed to the genre in a variety of ways, through their performances and tutoring, for example. The Cholmondeley Awards prove that excellence can be perceived across a wide range of poetry from a diversity of poets. It is hoped that the recipients will feel valued, encouraged and truly celebrated.’
— Moniza Alvi, 2024 Cholmondeley Award judge
If you are interested in buying any of the books shortlisted here, please visit Bookshop.org. A percentage of each sale will go to the Society of Authors Access Fund, providing access grants to help authors attend events, residencies and retreats.
About the Cholmondeley Awards selection process:
- The Cholmondeley Awards are honorary awards and submissions are not accepted
- Recipients are chosen by the Awards Committee for their general body of work and contribution to poetry.
For any queries relating to the prize please contact prizes@societyofauthors.org
With thanks, the judges of the 2025 Cholmondeley Awards:
Malika Booker
Malika Booker is a British poet of Guyanese and Grenadian parentage and the founder of Malika’s Poetry Kitchen. Her collection Pepper Seed, (Peepal Tree Press, 2013) was shortlisted for the OCM Bocas 2014 poetry prize, and the Seamus Heaney Centre 2014 prize for first full collection. She received her MA from Goldsmiths University and was recently awarded the Cultural Fellowship in Creative Writing/ Literary Art post at Leeds University. Malika was the first British poet to be a fellow at Cave Canem and the inaugural Poet in Residence at the Royal Shakespeare Company, and has represented British writing internationally, both independently and with the British Council.
Fred D’Aguiar
Fred D’Aguiar is a poet, novelist, playwright, born in London of Guyanese parents and raised in Guyana. He teaches at UCLA and in Callaloo’s Creative Writing Workshop. His sixth poetry collection is Continental Shelf (2011).
Hannah Lowe
Hannah Lowe is a poet, memoirist and critic. She was named a Poetry Book Society Next Generation Poet in 2014 and won a Cholmondeley Award from the Society of Authors in 2020. Her first poetry collection, Chick (20130, won the Michael Murphy Poetry Prize. Her latest, The Kids, a PBS Choice for Autumn 2021, was shortlisted for the 2022 TS Eliot Prize, and won the 2021 Costa Book of the Year. She is a senior lecturer in Creative Writing at Brunel University. Read more about Hannah on her website here.
Lachlan Mackinnon
Lachlan Mackinnon was born in 1956 and lives in Ely. For many years he worked as a schoolmaster. He has been a regular contributor to the national press as critic and obituarist for over forty years, principally to the Times Literary Supplement and The Independent, but also to The Guardian, The Observer, The Daily Telegraph, Quarto and Poetry Review. He has written books about Baudelaire and modern poetry, Shakespeare, and the Russo-French novelist Elsa Triolet. He has published six collections of poetry, most recently The Missing Months (Faber, 2022). He has received an Eric Gregory Award and a Cholmondeley Award. He has appeared at various festivals, including Stanza at St Andrews, Cheltenham and King’s Lynn.
2024
- Fiona Benson £1,400
- Gerry Cambridge £1,400
- Julia Copus £1,400
- Leontia Flynn £1,400
- Helen Ivory £1,400
- Roger Robinson £1,400
2023
- Caroline Bird £1400
- Jane Draycott £1400
- Greta Stoddart £1400
- Michael Symmons Roberts £1400
- Jackie Wills £1400
- Tamar Yoseloff £1400
2022
- David Kinloch £1680
- Gerry Loose £1680
- Maggie O’Sullivan £1680
- Menna Elfyn £1680
- Tiffany Atkinson £1680
2021
- Kei Miller £1680
- Paula Claire £1680
- Maurice Riordan £1680
- Susan Wicks £1680
- Katrina Porteous £1680
2020
- Alec Finlay £1680
- Linda France £1680
- Hannah Lowe £1680
- Bhanu Kapil £1680
- Rod Mengham £1680
2019
- Malika Booker £2,100
- Fred D’Aguiar £2,100
- Allen Fisher £2,100
- Jamie McKendrick £2,100
2018
- Vahni Capildeo £1,680
- Kate Clanchy £1,680
- Linton Kwesi Johnson £1,680
- Daljit Nagra £1,680
- Zoë Skoulding £1,680
2017
- Caroline Bergvall £2,000
- Sasha Dugdale £2,000
- Philip Gross £2,000
- Paula Meehan £2,000
2016
- Maura Dooley £1,875
- David Morley £1,875
- Peter Sansom £1,875
- Iain Sinclair £1,875
2015
- Patience Agbabi £1,500
- Brian Catling £1,500
- Christopher Middleton £1,500
- Pascale Petit £1,500
- J. H. Prynne £1,500
2014
- W.N. Herbert £1,500
- Jeremy Hooker £1,500
- John James £1,500
- Glyn Maxwell £1,500
- Denise Riley £1,500
2013
- Simon Armitage £1,500
- Paul Farley £1,500
- Lee Harwood £1,500
- Medbh McGuckian £1,500
2012
- Christine Evans £2,000
- Don Paterson £2,000
- Peter Riley £2,000
- Robin Robertson £2,000
2011
- Imtiaz Dharker £2,500
- Michael Haslam £2,500
- Lachlan Mackinnon £2,500
2010
- Gillian Allnutt £1,500
- Colette Bryce £1,500
- Gwyneth Lewis £1,500
- Deryn Rees-Jones £1,500
2009
- Bernard O’Donoghue £1,500
- Alice Oswald £1,500
- Fiona Sampson £1,500
- Pauline Stainer £1,500
2008
- John Burnside £1,500
- John Greening £1,500
- David Harsent £1,500
- Sarah Maguire £1,500
2007
- Judith Kazantzis £2000
- Robert Nye £2000
- Penelope Shuttle £2000
2006
- Alan Jenkins £2,000
- Mimi Khalvati £2,000
- Jo Shapcott £2,000
2005
- Jane Duran £2,000
- Christopher Logue £2,000
- M. R. Peacocke £2,000
- Neil Rollinson £2,000
2004
- John Agard £2,000
- Ruth Padel £2,000
- Lawrence Sail £2,000
- Eva Salzman £2,000
2003
- Ciaran Carson £2,000
- Michael Donaghy £2,000
- Lavinia Greenlaw £2,000
- Jackie Kay £2,000
2002
- Moniza Alvi £2,000
- David Constantine £2,000
- Liz Lochhead £2,000
- Brian Patten £2,000
2001
- Ian Duhig £2,000
- Paul Durcan £2,000
- Kathleen Jamie £2,000
- Grace Nichols £2,000
2000
- Alistair Elliot £2,000
- Michael Hamburger £2,000
- Adrian Henri £2,000
- Carole Satyamurti £2,000
1999
- Vicki Feaver £2,000
- Geoffrey Hill £2,000
- Elma Mitchell £2,000
- Sheenagh Pugh £2,000
1998
- Roger McGough £2,000
- Robert Minhinnick £2,000
- Anne Ridler £2,000
- Ken Smith £2,000
1997
- Alison Brackenbury £2,000
- Gillian Clarke £2,000
- Tony Curtis £2,000
- Anne Stevenson £2,000
1996
- Elizabeth Bartlett £2,000
- Dorothy Nimmo £2,000
- Peter Scupham £2,000
- Iain Crichton Smith £2,000
1995
- U.A. Fanthorpe £2,000
- Christopher Reid £2,000
- C.H. Sisson £2,000
- Kit Wright £2,000
1994
- Ruth Fainlight £2,000
- Gwen Harwood £2,000
- Elizabeth Jennings £2,000
- John Mole £2,000
1993
- Patricia Beer £2,000
- George Mackay Brown £2,000
- P.J. Kavanagh £2,000
- Michael Longley £2,000
1992
- Allen Curnow £2,000
- Donald Davie £2,000
- Carol Ann Duffy £2,000
- Roger Woddis £2,000
1991
- James Berry £2,000
- Sujata Bhatt £2,000
- Michael Hulse £2,000
- Derek Mahon £2,000
1990
- Kingsley Amis £2,500
- Elaine Feinstein £2,500
- Michael O’Neill £2,500
1989
- Peter Didsbury £2,200
- Douglas Dunn £2,200
- E.J. Scovell £2,200
1988
- John Heath-Stubbs £2,000
- Sean O’Brien £2,000
- John Whitworth £2,000
1987
- Wendy Cope £1,300
- Matthew Sweeney £1,300
- George Szirtes £1,300
1986
- Lawrence Durrell £1,500
- James Fenton £1,500
- Selima Hill £500
1985
- Dannie Abse £1,100
- Peter Redgrove £1,100
- Brian Taylor £1,100
1984
- Michael Baldwin £1,100
- Michael Hoffmann £1,100
- Carol Rumens £1,100
1983
- John Fuller £1,000
- Craig Raine £1,000
- Anthony Thwaite £1,000
1982
- Basil Bunting £1,500
- Herbert Lomas £1,000
- William Scammell £500
1981
- Roy Fisher £1,000
- Robert Garioch £1,000
- Charles Boyle £800
1980
- George Barker £1,000
- Terence Tiller £1,000
- Roy Fuller £500
1979
- Alan Brownjohn £1,000
- Andrew Motion £500
- Charles Tomlinson £500
1978
- Christopher Hope £400
- Leslie Norris £400
- Peter Reading £400
- D.M. Thomas £400
- R.S. Thomas £400
1977
- Peter Bland £500
- George Macbeth £500
- James Simmons £500
- Andrew Waterman £500
1976
- Peter Porter £1,000
- Fleur Adcock £750
1975
- Jenny Joseph £500
- Norman Maccaig £500
- John Ormond £500
1974
- D.J. Enright £350
- Vernon Scannell £350
- Alasdair Maclean £350
1973
- Patric Dickinson £350
- Philip Larkin £350
1972
- Molly Holden £350
- Tom Raworth £350
- Patricia Whittaker £350
1971
- Charles Causley £350
- Gavin Ewart £350
- Hugo Williams £350
1970
- Kathleen Raine £350
- Douglas Livingstone £350
- Edward Brathwaite £350
1969
- Derek Walcott £650
- Tony Harrison £650
1968
- Harold Massingham £450
- Edwin Morgan £450
1967
- Seamus Heaney £350
- Brian Jones £350
- Norman Nicholson £350
1966
- Ted Walker £500
- Stevie Smith £300
Lady Lavinia, Late Dowager Marchioness of Cholmondeley
© Chesire Live
The Cholmondeley Awards were founded by the late Dowager Marchioness of Cholmondeley, Lady Lavinia. Born in 1921, she studied fine art in Florence and served as an auxiliary nurse during World War Two. The late Lady Cholmondeley was President of the North-West Division of the NSPCC for over fifty years and was Patron of St Luke’s Hospice since its formation in 1984. She also helped to restore the grand Cholmondeley castle and lived there up until her death in 2015.
Charity number 258800