This article on the T. S. Eliot Prize was first published on the Poetry Book Society website in 2010.
Congratulations to Philip Gross for winning the T. S. Eliot Prize 2009 with The Water Table (Bloodaxe Books).
The other poets on the shortlist were:
The Sun-fish – Eiléan Ní Chuilleánain (Gallery Press)
Continental Shelf – Fred D’Aguiar (Carcanet Press)
Over – Jane Draycott (Carcanet Press)
Through the Square Window – Sinéad Morrissey (Carcanet Press)
One Secret Thing – Sharon Olds (Cape Poetry)
Weeds & Wild Flowers – Alice Oswald (Faber & Faber)
A Scattering – Christopher Reid (Areté)
The Burning of the Books and Other Poems – George Szirtes (Bloodaxe Books)
West End Final – Hugo Williams (Faber & Faber)
The winner of the T. S. Eliot Prize 2009 was announced at the awards ceremony at the Wallace Collection, London, on Monday 18 January 2009.
On Sunday 17 January, the poets read from their collections at a special event at the Southbanks Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall – one of the biggest audiences for modern poetry in recent times.
The T. S. Eliot Prize Shadowing Scheme, which allows students to shadow the judging process and to read and comment on excerpts from all the shortlisted collections, was won by Iona Singleton of South Wilts Grammar School.
The T. S. Eliot Prize is now the biggest cash award in UK poetry, increased from £10,000 to £15,000. In a move which was widely welcomed, each of the 10 shortlisted poets also received £1,000. The £15,000 prize money was kindly donated by Eliot’s widow, Mrs Valerie Eliot.
This article has been republished to provide a fuller picture of the T. S. Eliot Prize history. The Poetry Book Society ran the T. S. Eliot Prize until 2016, when the T. S. Eliot Foundation took over the Prize, the estate having supported it since its inception.
