Nina Reljić wins The London Magazine Poetry Prize 2026

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The judges of The London Magazine Poetry Prize 2026 award first place to Nina Reljić for her poem ‘Helen When Asked’, with second and third place awarded to Henry Woodland and Natalie Perman, respectively.

Submissions were read anonymously by the panel of judges: Isabelle Baafi (Chaotic Good), Dean Browne (After Party) and Luke Kennard (Notes on the Sonnets and Black Bag).

Winner Nina Reljić is a writer from London. She has a Poetry MFA from Columbia University and her work has been published in The White Review, The London Magazine, Poetry Ireland, Image, New Ohio Review, Epiphany and elsewhere. She was the runner-up for The White Review Poet’s Prize and a finalist for the New Ohio Review Poetry Prize. She lives in New York City.

‘I’m so moved by the decision of the judges, and to be a part of the incredible community and lineage of poets championed by The London Magazine,’ she says. ‘This poem emerged from an interest in the Greek myths that stay in our popular imagination, and wanting to speak to the persistently human qualities that underpin them: desire, sexuality, projection, insecurity, boredom. Myths like this one present for poetry a robust container that can simultaneously hold almost anything.’

Luke Kennard had the following to say on the shortlist:

I loved the whole shortlist, and it took a lot of re-reading and soul-searching to agree on a top three. The winning poems share an intensity of imagination and control of the journey through the poem from image to image, every allusion poised to deliver an emotional and intellectual punch. All of them do the almost-impossible: ‘Helen When Asked’ brings a fresh, innovative and convincing voice to foundational mythology; ‘Psalm 137’ a knowledgeable, witty and quietly subversive sensibility to King David’s material; ‘Early Gospel’ a moving hymn to the known and the unknown.

As well as receiving prizes of £1000, £600 and £400, the winners are to be published in the upcoming June / July 2026 issue of The London Magazine. To ensure you get a copy before it sells out, subscribe here.

The winners 

First Place: ‘Helen When Asked’ by Nina Reljić

‘A concise and playfully acerbic poem,’ says Dean Browne, ‘that takes an old story and gets up close to the charming mundane pastimes amid atrocity. There is a puzzled inquisitiveness to the voice, which is richly sustained and inhabited, and not without impishness, balancing image and statement in ways that are surprisingly affecting.’

On each reading of  ‘Helen When Asked’, Isabelle Baafi says she found ‘new searing images to enjoy, and revelations that got to the troubled hearts of intimacy and ennui.’

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Second Place: ‘Psalm 137’ by Henry Woodland

‘It is incredible and surprising to be selected for a prize from The London Magazine. I would like to thank the three judges, and look forward to reading the poems of everyone shortlisted.

‘The poem is a translation of Psalm 137 which owes a lot to Luke Kennard and Sam Riviere, written partially in response to a leaked video of the Australian dressage olympian Heath Ryan whipping his horse, which he said was “in the horse’s best interest”.’

Henry Woodland is a poet living in London. His work has appeared in the PN Review and New Papers.

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Third Place: ‘Early Gospel’ by Natalie Perman

‘I am so delighted and grateful to be recognised by the judges, whose work I greatly admire, and by a magazine that publishes so many writers I love. This poem was sparked by reading about the Nag Hammadi, Gnostic Gospels discovered in Egypt – one really was burned in a family’s oven (or so they say). It’s an honour to be among these brilliant shortlistees.’

Natalie Perman is a writer and editor based in London. Her poems appear in The White Review, Poet Lore and Harvard Review, with other writing in the Financial Times, The Telegraph and Literary Review. She is currently working on her debut poetry collection with a DYCP Arts Council England Grant.

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The full shortlist 

‘Litany of the Daughter’ by Clara-Læïla Laudette, ‘Up the Coast, Near Sutton Hoo’ by Flora Elmi Beagley, ‘Psalm 137’ by Henry Woodland, ‘Early Gospel’ by Natalie Perman, ‘Helen When Asked’ by Nina Reljić, ‘The Pivot’ by Rachel Curzon, ‘Considering the Proximity of Train Tracks to a Psychiatric Hospital’ by Róisín Leggett Bohan and ‘Tapestry’ by Satya Bosman.

We would like to thank everyone who entered the competition and our judges.

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