AN award-winning poet has urged writers around the world to submit their work to the 2024 Wigtown Poetry Prizes.
Stephanie Green, from Edinburgh, was awarded the Alastair Reid Pamphlet Prize and was also shortlisted for the £1500 Wigtown International Prize in 2023 after receiving acclaim for her poems about sea monsters.
The Wigtown Poetry Prizes date back to 2005 and celebrate the country’s three indigenous languages – English, Gaelic, and Scots.
Green said: “I have always wanted to win one of the Wigtown Poetry Prizes – they are amongst the most prestigious in the UK.
“I really would encourage people to enter. After all, you can’t win it if you aren’t in it. They force you to edit your work within an inch of its life and make it the very best it can be.”
READ MORE: New poetry collection tackles national history in a modern context
Originally from London, Stephanie’s love for poetry began as a 15-year-old and she started writing love poems in her 20s. However, it was only when she moved to Wales in her 40s that she became “serious” about her poetry.
Her collection, entitled Ortelius’ Sea Monsters, was a Wigtown Winner and came about after a trip to Iceland where she saw a late 16th-century map by geographer Abraham Ortelius, with its seas filled with “bizarre and ferocious” creatures.
Green added: “I wasn’t sure if I wanted to let loose my sea-monster poems on the world as they are so dark, but these are what came out when I dug deep and it’s important to be true to one’s self.”
Each year the awards are given at a special event during the Wigtown Book Festival, which takes place from September 27 to October 6 in Scotland’s national book town.
Nicholas Walker, Wigtown Poetry Prize group chair, said: “The Wigtown Poetry Prizes are as much about nurturing poetry as about rewarding excellence.
“Each year we get hundreds of entries from Scotland, elsewhere in the UK, and from every part of the world – including North and South America, Australia, China, and Japan.
“This underlines how prestigious the prizes have become and the immense enthusiasm that exists for awards that encourage creative expression in all our indigenous languages.”
READ MORE: Poetry, nature and independence: Poems where all work together
The 2024 awards include the Wigtown International Prize where the winner will receive £1500 and the runner-up £200. The winner of the Wigtown Scots Prize, supported by the Saltire Society, will receive £500 and the runner-up £200.
Other prizes up for grabs are the Wigtown Scottish Gaelic Prize, the Dumfries and Galloway Fresh Voice Award, and the Alastair Reid Pamphlet Prize.
For more information visit www.wigtownpoetryprize.com
Entries for 2024 are now open until May 6.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here