The T. S. Eliot Foundation is delighted to announce the judges for the 2019 Prize. The panel will be chaired by John Burnside, alongside Sarah Howe and Nick Makoha. The 2019 judging panel will be looking for the best new poetry collection written in English and published in 2019. The prize is unique in that entrants are judged by their peers; the panel always consists of established poets. John Burnside said:
“I take it as a great honour and an even greater responsibility to act as chair for this year’s T. S. Eliot Prize and I very much look forward to working with my fellow judges, Sarah Howe and Nick Makoha, on what promises to be a rich vintage of profoundly musical, vitally engaged and inventive poetry.”
The call for submissions will go out in June, with the submission window closing in early August.
The 2019 T. S. Eliot Prize Shortlist Readings will take place on Sunday 12 January 2020 at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall. The shortlist readings are the largest annual poetry event in the UK. The winner of the 2019 Prize will be announced at the Award Ceremony on
Monday 13 January 2020. The T. S. Eliot Prize is the most valuable prize in British poetry – the winning poet will receive a cheque for £25,000 and the shortlisted poets will be presented with cheques for £1,500.
Last year’s winner was Hannah Sullivan’s Three Poems and the judges were Sinéad Morrisssey (chair), Daljit Nagra and Clare Pollard.