The T. S. Eliot Foundation is delighted to announce the judges for the T. S. Eliot Prize 2026. Leontia Flynn (Chair) will be joined on the panel by fellow poets Ishion Hutchinson and Daisy Lafarge. 

Leontia Flynn said:

It’s an honour to chair this year’s T. S. Eliot Prize, alongside my fellow judges, esteemed poets Ishion Hutchinson and Daisy Lafarge. We look forward to encountering new work from the busy and always extraordinary world of contemporary poetry.

The T. S. Eliot Prize is unique among poetry prizes as it is judged purely by a panel of established poets. It is awarded annually to the author of the best new poetry collection written in English and published in the UK or Ireland. Last year’s winner was Karen Solie for her collection Wellwater (Picador Poetry), as chosen by judges Michael Hofmann (Chair), Patience Agbabi and Niall Campbell.

The call for submissions will go out in June, with the submission window closing at the end of July; full details will be available on the submissions webpage shortly. The judges will meet in October to decide on the ten shortlisted titles.

The T. S. Eliot Prize 2026 Shortlist Readings will take place on Sunday 17 January 2027 at 7pm in the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall as part of the Southbank Centre’s 75th anniversary programme. This Shortlist Readings are the largest annual poetry event in the UK. Tickets for the Readings will go on sale later this year.

The winner of the 2026 Prize will be announced at the Award Ceremony at the Wallace Collection, London, on Monday 18 January 2027, where the winner will be presented with a cheque for £25,000. The shortlisted poets will each receive £1,500.

For full information on this year’s judges, visit the 2026 Prize page on the T. S. Eliot Prize website.

The T. S. Eliot Prize was inaugurated by the Poetry Book Society in 1993 to mark the Poetry Book Society’s fortieth birthday, and to honour its founding poet. The T. S. Eliot estate has provided the prize money since the Prize’s inception and took over the running of the Prize in 2016, following Inpress Books’ acquisition of the PBS. The winner of the first T. S. Eliot Prize was Ciaran Carson for his collection First Language (Gallery Press). A full list of all the winners can be found in the Past Years section of the T. S. Eliot Prize website.