Tower Poetry
Tower Poetry is an organisation affiliated with Christ Church, Oxford that aims to promote the reading and writing of poetry in young people. The group is funded by a donation from the late Christopher Tower, and run by Oxford University lecturer Peter McDonald.[1]
It publishes the magazine Poetry Matters, which holds news and reviews as well as original poetry. It also runs the Christopher Tower Poetry Prizes, which awards cash prizes to the best poems submitted by young people on a specified theme, and the annual Christopher Tower Summer School.The Summer School is an annual three-day course for 18- to 23-year-olds, held at Christ Church.[2][3]
Christopher Tower Poetry Prizes
The Christopher Tower Poetry Prizes are annual prizes awarded to young British poets between the ages of 16 and 18, for poems submitted on a set theme. The prizes are administered by Christ Church, Oxford, and are funded by a bequest by the late Christopher Tower. Since their launch in 2000, the prizes have become recognised as one of the United Kingdom's most prestigious poetry awards for young writers.[4] Several past winners and runners-up have gone on to win other major poetry competitions, such as the Eric Gregory Award, and to publish collections.
Past winners and runners-up
Year | First prize | Second prize | Third prize | Runners-up |
---|---|---|---|---|
2001 | Rebecca Dudley | Mairi Brewis | Felicity Marks | Eve Blair, Swithun Cooper, Charlotte Dickens, Isabella Mead |
2002 | Anna Lewis | Dhruv Sookhoo | Thom Glover | Christopher Edwards, Kezia Gaitskell, Holly Patterson |
2003 | Aruna Nair | Wing Ying Chow | Hannah Briggs | James Williams, Tim Smith-Laing, Sarah Henderson |
2004 | Katherine Hindley | Nancy Freeman | Laura Tisdale | Caroline Bird, Joanna Moorman, Helen Mort |
2005 | Eley Williams | Craig Farrell | Miranda Cichy | Francesca Beasley, Rebecca Hawkes, Shin Woo Kang |
2006 | Colette Sensier | Alice Malin | Alice Alexandre | David Devanny, Charlotte Geater, Julia Rampen |
2007 | Charlotte Runcie | Annie Katchinska | Sophie Mackintosh | Alice Howlett, Laura Marsh, Rees Arnott Davies |
2008 | Emily Middleton | Ashley McMullin | Nina Bahadur | Richard O’Brien, Charlotte Geater, Amelia Penny, Anna Savory |
2009 | Timothy Carson | Iona Twiston-Davies | Paul Merchant | Charlotte Turner, Sophie Stephenson-Wright, Emma Jourdan, Bethany Aitman |
2010 | Emily Harrison | Katie Woods | Megan Owens | Jamie Sutherland, Julia Goroszeniuk, Hugo Havranek |
2011 | Elizabeth Johnson | Jack Westmore | Abigail Richards | James Browning, Thomas Fraser, Molly Underwood |
2012 | Sarah Fletcher | Bethan Smith | Millie Guille | Hannah Tran, Lucy Hely-Hutchinson, Jack Whitehead |
2013 | Azfa Ali | Sarah Fletcher | Erin Tunney | Kathryn Cussons, Luke van den Barselaar, Eva Wallace |
2014 | Dominic Hand | Sam Buckton | Masha Voyles | Alexander Shaw, Charlie Holmes, Jessica Matthews, Phoebe Stuckes |
2015 | Isla Anderson | Max Thomas | Lewis Harrington | Jeremiah Ovenden, Matt Ward, Andrew Wells |
2016 | Ashani Lewis | Safah Ahmed | Sophia West | Natasha Blinder, Ed Pryor, Grace Fraser |
2017 | Ella Standage | Annie Fan | Rachel Oyawale | Freya Gray Stone, Flora Barber, Sofia Al-Hussaini |
References
- "About Tower Poetry". Tower Poetry. Archived from the original on 2008-08-03. Retrieved 2009-01-18.
- http://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=376&Itemid=432
- http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6002552
- http://www.poetrylibrary.org.uk/news/poetryscene/?id=340