Jon Stallworthy Poetry Prize 2021 Winner Announced

The competition, set up in memory of the late Professor Jon Stallworthy, is open each year to any student currently enrolled in postgraduate studies at the University of Oxford. This year's theme was 'Scrolls'. As per tradition, the prize was awarded on 18 January, which was Stallworthy's birthday. Out of forty submissions, six poems were shortlisted. They were recited at the award event, after which the jury announced the winner. 

This year's jury was made up of Oxford University's Professor of Poetry Alice Oswald, and Professor Bernard O'Donoghue, contemporary Irish poet and academic. About the winning poem, Oswald said it was an "Eerie image of the body unscrolling and decomposing on a Japanese scroll". 

The other shortlisted poems were written by Maya Krishnan, George Mather, Clare Mulley, Audrey Southgate and Andrew Wynne Owen.

Photo by Annie Spratt