Winner of the Inaugural Edwin Morgan Poetry Award Announced

Niall was born in 1984 on the island of South Uist in the Outer Hebrides but now lives in Edinburgh and tonight he takes home the £20,000 prize. He is the first recipient of the Award, which was established to support a new wave of Scottish poets under the age of 30.  

One of the Award’s judges, Stewart Conn commented ‘These poems, with their rich textures, succulent descriptions and seductive cadences reveal a gifted word-smith… [they] transform the sea-bound Uist they celebrate.’ Whilst fellow judge Jen Hadfield remarked ‘In lightly framing the unsaid, some of these poems have a haunted quality: they are cat’s cradles between poet and reader.’

The runner-up is Claire Askew for her unpublished collection ‘This changes things’. She receives £1,000 as a shortlisted poet and a further amount to support her work towards publication.

The other shortlisted poets are Tom Chivers, Harry Giles, Stewart Sanderson, and Molly Vogel.