We are delighted to be able to publish the short list of twenty poets and a list of the commended and winning works.  You can read the poems by clicking once on the poet's name and the poem will open in a new window. 

The Awards Event was held on 9 December at the Culture Lab in Newcastle University and here you can see a selection of photographs from the event.

We have also added audio files of some of the poets reading their works and in some instances, recordings of Jo Shapcott reading their poems together with Jo Shapcott's comments on individual poems.  Look for the links below. 

Before you begin to look at and listen to the winning works, you may wish to listen to Jo Shapcott's summary of this year's entries.

Please note that all the poems are in PDF format and you will need to have a copy of Acrobat Reader installed on your computer.  Acrobat Reader is available from the Adobe website and is a free download.

First Prize
Malcolm Watson	downloads: 793 | type: pdf | size: 169 kB
Listen to Jo Shapcott's comments Listen to Malcolm Watson reading 'Readers Browsing Through The Seriously Damaged Library of Holland House in West London Wrecked by a Firebomb on 22 October 1940'   Malcolm Watson was born in N W Durham and is an artist living in Hull.  He was encouraged to continue writing poetry by Philip Larkin while reading for his first degree in English at the University of Hull.  In recent years, he has won prizes in many competitions, including commendations in the National Poetry Competition in 2006 and 2008.
Second Prize
Margaret Speak	downloads: 360 | type: pdf | size: 155 kB
'The Pyrotechnist Attendant' For regulatory reasons this poem has been withdrawn
Third Prize
Nichola Deane	downloads: 327 | type: pdf | size: 47 kB
Listen to Jo Shapcott's comments Listen to Jo Shapcott reading 'I Tell Her Everything I Know About Raisins'   Nichola Deane has published poems in Aesthetica and Hearing Voices. New poems are due to appear in Staple and Archipelago. She is a former academic who now works part-time as a teacher of Secondary English.
Commended
James O'Brien	downloads: 341 | type: pdf | size: 15 kB
Listen to Jo Shapcott's comments Listen to James O'Brien reading 'Octogram' James O'Brien‘s poetry has appeared in Flatmancrooked’s Slim Volume of Contemporary Poetics, Dark Sky Magazine, and Tidal Basin Review. He was a finalist for the 2010 Santa Fe Writers Project Literary Award and his story “Dancer at the Jump” received a special commendation in the 2010 Aesthetica Creative Works Competition.
Geraldine Paine	downloads: 273 | type: pdf | size: 90 kB
Listen to Jo Shapcott's comments Listen to Geraldine Paine read 'The Creek' Geraldine Paine, born and bred in London, now lives in east Kent. She wrote her first poem when she was twelve. In 2000, she completed an M.Phil in Writing at the University of Glamorgan . Her first collection, The Go-Away-Bird, was published by Lapwing Publications (Belfast) in 2008.
Patrick Daly	downloads: 242 | type: pdf | size: 45 kB
Listen to Jo Shapcott's comments Listen to Patrick Daly read 'Shade' Listen to Jo Shapcott read 'Shade'   Patrick Daly writes poetry and prose on his lunch hours. His poetry has been published in Nicholas Kristof’s column in the New York Times, in the recent anthology The Place that Inhabits Us (Sixteen Rivers Press, 2010), and in many little magazines and ezines, and has received honorable mention in the Pushcart Prizes. His chapbook Playing with Fire won the Abby Niebauer Memorial Prize.
Shortlist - 2010
Polly Atkin	downloads: 351 | type: pdf | size: 18 kB
The bird that makes you afraid   Polly Atkin grew up in Nottingham, lived in East London for seven years and now lives in Cumbria. She is currently completing a PhD in English and Sociology at Lancaster University, in collaboration with The Wordsworth Trust. Her pamphlet 'bone song' was shortlisted for the inaugural Michael Marks Award (2009).
Carol Moldaw	downloads: 260 | type: pdf | size: 45 kB
Listen to Carol Moldaw read 'A Leaf's Gravity' Carol Moldaw’s most recent book is So Late, So Soon: New and Selected Poems (2010). She is the author of four other books of poetry, including The Lightning Field (2003), which won the 2002 FIELD Poetry Prize, and a novel, The Widening (2008). Moldaw lives near Santa Fe, New Mexico. Image: Bruce Holsapple
Ryan Whatley	downloads: 610 | type: pdf | size: 56 kB
He had his Father's Fishing License   Ryan Whatley was born in Hastings in 1986. After graduating with a BA from the University of East Anglia he moved to London where he read and published poetry. His first collection Horizon Therapy is due for release in 2011.
Judy Brown	downloads: 263 | type: pdf | size: 107 kB
Two Virgins   Judy Brown's first collection is due from Seren in Autumn 2011.  Her pamphlet is "Pillars of Salt" (Templar Poetry, 2006).  She won this year's Manchester Poetry Prize.  Judy lives in London and Derbyshire.
Sam Jackson	downloads: 230 | type: pdf | size: 58 kB
Listen to Sam Jackson read 'The Keeper of the Keys'    Sam Jackson has been writing since 2000.  Her short story, Dilemma, was published in an anthology in 2006 though, since then, she has largely focussed on poetry writing and working on an uncompleted novel, which she has been encouraged to persevere with by a reviewer at The Literary Consultancy.
David Underdown	downloads: 233 | type: pdf | size: 90 kB
The Bird Man   For the past five years I have been trying to teach myself the craft of writing poems and have started to see some published in anthologies and journals. My first full collection, Time Lines, has recently been selected for publication by Cinnamon Press and is due out in July 2011.
Moira Lake	downloads: 230 | type: pdf | size: 90 kB
Listen to Moira Lake read 'Girasole' Moira Lake has been writing poems since she was three years old, but until recently she’s tended not to do anything with them. She lives in Devon by the sea, under some wonderfully bright stars and huge moons over the water.
Leo Madigan	downloads: 243 | type: pdf | size: 42 kB
The Lads I went to School With   Leo Madigan. I am a New Zealander. I went to sea on the British ships when I was 16. Twenty years later I took a degree in London and was teaching there and in Turkey. I now live in central Portugal.
Paul Groves	downloads: 235 | type: pdf | size: 208 kB
Listen to Paul Groves read 'How I Became an Existentialist'   Featured in Poetry Introduction 3 (Faber, 1975).  Received an Eric Gregory Award from The Society of Authors in 1976.  His collections Academe (1988), Ménage à Trois (1995), Eros and Thanatos (1999), Wowsers (2002), and Qwerty (2008) are published by Seren.  Starborn brought out the autobiographical Country Boy in 2007.
Elisabeth Murawski	downloads: 284 | type: pdf | size: 15 kB
Cleopatra to the Bard   Elisabeth Murawski is a well-published poet and author of Zorba’s Daughter, which received the 2010 May Swenson Poetry Award, Moon and Mercury, and two chapbooks, Troubled by an Angel and Out-patients. She’s been awarded a Hawthornden Fellowship (2008) and residencies at the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, Vermont Studio Center, and the Achill Heinrich Boll Association.
Jane Routh	downloads: 238 | type: pdf | size: 81 kB
Step Theory   Jane Routh's 'Circumnavigation' was shortlisted for a Forward Prize; 'Teach Yourself Mapmaking' was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. She won the Academi Cardiff International Poetry Competition in 2009 and a new collection, 'The Gift of Boats', is just published by Smiths/Doorstop.
Fiona Ritchie Walker	downloads: 290 | type: pdf | size: 18 kB
Listen to Fiona Ritchie Walker read 'The Second Week of the Soap' Fiona Ritchie Walker is originally from Montrose, Scotland, now living in Blaydon, near Newcastle, where she writes in a loft overlooking the Tyne. Publications include the poetry collection, Garibaldi’s Legs (Iron Press), and her work features in many anthologies, including the British Council’s New Writing and New Writing Scotland. www.fionaritchiewalker.com
Justin McCarthy	downloads: 299 | type: pdf | size: 11 kB
Listen to Justin McCarthy read 'Baguettes' Justin McCarthy Born Dublin, living in Sligo since 1974 Highly commended Patrick Kavanagh Award (joint 3rd place) 2009 Highly commended Golden Pen competition 2010 Twice winner Edgeworth Poetry competition Twice prize winner Scriobh Poetry competition Short-listed Chapter and Verse poetry competition Published in Force 10, Flaming Arrows, The Inward Eye, Ariel, Ambit
Mark Cooper	downloads: 284 | type: pdf | size: 11 kB
Listen to Mark Cooper read 'Recital' I was born in the West Midlands in 1981. I completed an M.Litt in Creative Writing at the University of St. Andrews in 2007 and was shortlisted for an Eric Gregory Award and The Bridport Prize in 2008 and in 2010. I work as a digital editor.

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