Past Winners

Poetry Prize 2025

1st: Kevin Graham

2nd: Dean Browne

3rd: Batool Abu Akleen

Judges: Jason Allen-Paisant, Fiona Benson and Mai Serhan

Shortlist:

‘Gunpowder’ by Batool Abu Akleen

‘Ritual Dog’ by Christopher Allen

‘Monk and the Porpoise’ by Dean Browne

‘Nature Held Me Close and Seemed to Find No Fault with Me’ by Iona Carmine Roisin

‘My Cunt is a Sonnet etc. etc.’ by Olive Franklin

‘Aspiration’ by Kevin Graham

‘Dreamsand’ by Sam Harvey

‘Ritual Objects’ by Cleo Henry

‘A Rare Creature of the Deep’ by Hywel John.

All profits from the entry fees were donated to Medical Aid for Palestinians.

Short Story Prize 2024

1st: Amaan Hyder

2nd: Eddie Creamer

3rd: Lucy Thynne

Judges: Benjamin Markovits, Brandon Taylor, Naomi Woods

Shortlist:

‘My Secession’ by JL Bogenschneider

‘Still Life with Neighbours’ by Eddie Creamer

‘Reasons for not Speaking’ by Amaan Hyder

‘Texans in Texaco’ by Caleb Leow

‘Nadia’ by Lucy Thynne

‘Bugbrooke Interlude’ by Benjamin Wal

Poetry Prize 2024

1st: Dominic Leonard

2nd: Jordan Hayward

3rd: Chantale Davies

Judges: A. K. Blakemore, Declan Ryan and Rachel Long

Shortlist:

‘St Francis Tames the Wolf of Gubbio’ by Dean Browne

‘Charm for Birthing Difficulties (Remixed)’ by Milena Williamson

‘The Captain is Again at Sea’ by Anne Casey

‘The Small Picture’ by Martha Sprackland

‘The End’ by Dominic Leonard

‘Czterej Pancerni i Pies, 1964’ by Chantale Davies

‘Self-Portrait in Mandopop’ by Jerrold Yam

‘Today’ by Jordan Hayward

‘a moth’ by Katie Byford

Short Story Prize 2023

1st: Niamh MacCabe

2nd: Sarah Fletcher

3rd: Leeor Ohayon

Judges: Tom Conaghan, Eley Williams, R.Z Baschir and Andrew Holgate

Shortlist:

‘The Point of Whales’ by Richard Smyth

‘Consultation’ by Leeor Ohayon

‘Of Milky Kindness’ by Sarah Fletcher

‘Heads of State’ by Richie Jones

‘The Literary Event’ by Naomi Morris

‘FOUR NIGHT SEAS’ by Niamh Mac Cabe

‘Strange Day in Berlin’ by Gráinne O’Hare

‘Avoid Getting Shot’ in the Head by Gary Grace

Poetry Prize 2023

1st: Robert Hamberger

2nd: Kathryn Bevis

3rd: Jamie Cameron

Judges: Joelle Taylor, James Conor Patterson and Maya Popa

Shortlist:

‘Gone Things’ by Lianne O’Hara

‘To Know Grief’ by Alice Frecknall

‘The Deer’ by Dominic Leonard

‘Funny Girl’ by Robert Hamberger

‘Interior with Girl Reading’ by Grace Wilentz

‘Witching Hour’ by C.P. Nield

‘Bakelite’ by Sharon Black

‘In Memory of My People’ by Joe Carrick-Varty

‘Unleft’ by Phillip Crymble

‘Stood Up’ by Emily Cooper

‘Playing God’ by Jamie Cameron

‘Song o’ the River Itchen’ by Kathryn Bevis

‘Sea Lion Woman Comes On Land, Swims in Pool and Steals Man’s Chair Lane’ by Lucy Holme

‘The Dead Regard Their First Their Longest Loss’ by Niamh Mac Cabe

Short Story Prize 2022

1st: Sarah Moore Fitzgerald

2nd: Chika Unigwe

3rd: Kerry Hood

Judges: David Hayden, Wendy Erskine, Nell Stevens and Nicole Flattery.

Shortlist:

‘Matamoros, July 1846’ by Sarah Moore Fitzgerald

‘Minor Rennovations’ by Angela Finn

‘Beast’ by Elsa Court

‘Excited Lights’ by Jeff Young

‘What Have You Done? What Have You Done?’ by Toby Litt

‘The Stench’ & ‘Becoming Nothing’ by Chika Unigwe

‘852 Represent!’ by Naomi Wood

‘Ambergris’ by Martha Sprackland

‘Kin’ by Niamh Mac Cabe

‘No Drama’ by Anne Hayden

‘Inventing The Aqua-Lung’ by Kerry Hood

Poetry Prize 2022

1st: Jay Gao

2nd: Isabelle Baafi

3rd: Safiya Kinshasa

Judges: Ian Duhig, Mona Arshi and Anthony Anaxagorou

Shortlist:

‘The Blue Fountain’ by Nicola Healey

‘white shirt’ by Catherine Ormell

‘Your Account in Stark’s Ink Paper’ by Niamh MacCabe

‘Storm Arwen’ by Zoë Green

‘Snow Cats and Me’ by Grace Wilentz

‘Wash’ by Sharon Black

‘First Love’ by Jelle Cauwenberghs

‘Saturday at the Canal’ by Kathleen Winter

‘De Quincey (1821)’ by Niall McDevitt

Short Story Prize 2021

1st: Fernando Sdrigotti

2nd: Nora Thurkle

3rd: Lucy Thynne

Judges: David Keenan, Haleh Agar and Jen Calleja

Shortlist:

‘Pier’ by Fernando Sdrigotti

‘Always Forever’ by Lamorna Ash

‘Siren Centre’ by Laura Lynes

‘It was an Itch’ by Annie Hayter

‘You Can’t Just Disappear Like That’ by Geoff Lavender

‘Conditions of an Avalanche’ & ‘In Bed With my Sister’ by Kate Lockwood Jefford

‘A Beakful of Spiders’ by Nora Thurkle

‘The Whale’ by Sophie Hopesmith

‘A Memento, Or Something’ by Lucy Thynne

Poetry Prize 2020/2021

1st: ‘The Proof’ by Rosamund Taylor

2nd: ‘Whenever someone asks if I think I’ll have children I whip out the tarot’ by Toby Campion

3rd: ‘Unearthly Music’ by Nairn Kennedy

Judges: Ella Frears, Joe Dunthorne and Roger Robinson

Short Story Prize 2019/2020

1st: Rachel Bower

2nd: Daniel Fraser

3rd: Nick Petty

Judges: Alice Slater, Kit Caless and Ian Sansom

Shortlist:

‘Against the Tide’ by Rachel Bower

‘An Account of the [War Heroines] of the First Independence War by [An Unnamed Soldier]’ by Isha Karki

‘Crab Day’ by Daniel Marc Janes

‘Floating Yoda on the Right’ by Nick Petty

‘In case I am beheaded’ by Toby Litt

‘L’After’ by Elsa Court

‘None of This Happened’ by Daniel Fraser

‘The Maid’ by Chiara Naomi

‘The Party’ by Rushika Wick

Poetry Prize 2019

1st: ‘Avocado’ by Sharon Black

2nd: ‘My Failed Life as a Swedish Painter’ by Paula Harris

3rd: ‘Gospel Oak to Barking’ by Daniel Fraser

Judges: Chris Hamilton Emery, Martha Sprackland and Zaffar Kunial

Short Story Prize 2018

1st: Chuck Nwoke

2nd: Niamh MacCabe

3rd: Tammye Huf

Judges: Samuel Fisher, Layla Benitez-James and Harry Mount

Shortlist:

‘Igbo Boys’ by Chuck Nwoke

‘Steer The Dark Skies Blue’ by Niamh MacCabe

‘The Prisoner’ by Tammye Huf

‘An Englishwoman’s Funeral’ by Stephen Charles Smith

‘Death in Varanasi’ by Kateryna Ivanov

‘I’m Blue’ by L. Vocem

‘Lame Shadow’ by Judy Birkbeck

‘Legacy’ by David Butler

‘The Protagonist’ by Maddie Wallace

‘Beauty’ by Melvin Sterne

‘Instructing a Resurrection’ by Niamh MacCabe

‘Spudology’ by Neil Burns

Essay Competition 2018

1st: Amy Wright

2nd: Benedict Weaver

3rd: Duncan Forbes

Judges: Pico Iyer and Nicola Griffith

Shortlist:

‘Hologram From Milan’ by Amy Wright
‘Beyond the Mead-Hall’ by Benedict Weaver
‘Dead-Heading the Cosmos’ by Duncan Forbes
‘Eaten By A Tiger’ by Jessica Sequeira
‘She’s Not Your Muse (Or How to Love a Modern Swan)’ by Astra Bloom
‘Hide and Seek with Draupadi’ by Kateryna Ivanova
‘Seeing Sense’ by Catherine Coldstream
‘Island of Solace’ by Alison Lock
‘Ghost Cams’ by Rainie Oet

Poetry Prize 2018

1st: Sharon Black

2nd: Matthew Smith

3rd: Alycia Pirmohamed

Judges: Sophie Collins, Les Robinson, and Mark Ford

Shortlist:

‘The Lean Years’ by Sharon Black

‘Faultlines’ by Sharon Black

‘Light’s Tricks’ by Sharon Black

‘Ash Wednesday’ by Lois P. Jones

‘Everything I Know About Atlantic Gigantism and New Prosthetics I Learned at the Fish Market’ by Rachel Moore

‘women who dye’ by Elsa Fischer

‘Forward-looking’ by John Gallas

‘Winter Flounder’ by Greg Rappleye

‘Fallow’ by Jonathan Greenhause

‘Agave and Pentheus’ by Michael Farren

‘Black Fire’ by Matthew Smith

‘The Man Who Became A Bird’ by Teresa Godfrey

‘Self-Addressed’ by Alycia Pirmohamed

‘Kenmare’ by Seamus Harrington

‘The History Section’ by Rob Sanders

‘The Parkinson Code’ by Michael Henry.

Short Story Prize 2017

1st: Theo Greenblatt

2nd: Dur e Aziz Amna

3rd: Victoria Richards

Judges: Robert Peett, Richard Skinner and Jason Cowley

Shortlist:

‘Joseph K was not on Facebook’ by Rhys Timson

‘Queen Victoria’ by Campaspe Lloyd-Jacob

‘A Place of Grace’ by Frank Dullaghan

‘Sweet Things’ by Alex Scarlett

‘Lighthouse’ by Rose McDonagh

‘Quiet Mountain’ by Sally Jubb

‘Nature, Babe’ by Susan Van Sciver

‘Butterflies’ by Alison Woodhouse

‘Einstein’s Brain’ by Ben Ristow

‘Lucky Silver’ by Jenny Kerslake

‘Meeting on Friedenstrasse’ by David Pratt

‘Solitaire’ by Theo Greenblatt

‘Asma’ by Dur e Aziz Amna

‘Sylvia Plath watches us sleep, but we don’t mind’ by Victoria Richards

Essay Competition 2017

1st: Haleh Agar

2nd: Max Dunbar

3rd: Peter Slater

Judges: Nikita Lalwani and Laurel Forster

Shortlist:

‘Japanese Bookshop Buzz’ by Susan Burton

‘The Coleridge Makeover’ by Will Stone

‘Joan Didion in Honolulu (and Other Ways to Cheat Death Through the Power of Reading and Time Travel)’ by Kira McPherson

‘On Writing Ethnic Stories’ by Haleh Agar

‘The School of IKEA’ by Peter Slater

‘The Fire This Time’ by Max Dunbar

Poetry Prize 2017

1st: ‘Old mother moor’ by Sarah Westcott

2nd: ‘Aroi’ by Roisin Kelly

3rd: ‘Panic’ by Michael Henry

Judges: Patricia McCarthy and Frieda Hughes

Short Story Prize 2016

1st: Emma Hughes

2nd: Anna O’Brien

3rd: Dan Powell

Judges: Max Porter, Erica Wagner and Angus Cargill

Shortlist:

‘The Fog Harvester’ by Marie Gethins

‘Strange Monument No. 1’ by Kevin Klinskidorn

‘Five Parts’ by Amanda Oosthuizen

‘Big Fish’ by William Pei Shih

‘Snow’ by Sally Syson

‘London City Ghouls i: Matt and Rakel Don’t Go Out’ by Toby Parker Rees

‘Take The Well’ by Mark Wagstaff

‘The Match Factory’ by Emma Hughes

‘I Have Called You By Your Name’ by Anne O’Brien

‘The Ideal Husband Exhibition’ by Dan Powell

Poetry Prize 2016

1st: Patrick Errington

2nd: Aaron Fagan

3rd: Angela Carr

Judges: Rebecca Perry and Andrew McMillan

Shortlist:

‘an eternal &’ by Mary Jean Chan

‘Amber’ by Rachel Bower

‘Baton’ by Theresa Lola

‘Bridges’ by Natalie Burdett

‘Carol (and her wing girl), Summer 1976’ by Estelle Goodwin

‘Delivery’ by Eleanor Hooker

‘Divisions, Approximately’ by Ralf Webb

‘Drishti’ by Paul Nemser

‘From A Table’ by Craig Bregman

‘Harmony’ by Aaron Fagan

‘Living With Bluebeard’ by Lesley Sharpe

‘My Father Shows Me His Knuckles’ by Carolyn Jess-Cooke

‘Orbis Alius / Other World’ by Eadaoin Lynch

‘Sonnet’ by Alexander Shaw

‘Syrian Woman, Berlin 2015’ by Joan Michelson

‘The Last Woman Born On The Island’ by Sharon Black

‘Three Other Ways To Look At Venice’ by Julie Irigaray

Short Story Prize 2015

1st: Anna McGrail

2nd: Robert Hawkins

3rd: Lynn Bushell

Judges: Kevin Manwaring, Susan Hill and Alessandro Gallenzi

Shortlist:

‘Fascicle 41’ by Anna McGrail

‘Icarus’ by Robert Hawkins

‘Mother’s Ruin’ by Lynn Bushell

‘Backburn’ by Ríona Judge McCormack

‘The Black Hole of Westminster’ by Rhys Timson

‘Hair’ by Judy Birkbeck

‘Chekhov’s Gun’ by Anthony Howcroft

‘The Burial Plot’ by Tess Little

Poetry Prize 2015

1st: Isabel Gallymore

2nd: Wes Lee

3rd: Theophilus Kwek

Judges: Tristram Fane-Saunders and Holly Howitt-Dring

Short Story Prize 2014

1st: Robert Hollingworth

2nd: Josie Ferrante

3rd: Alison Lock

Judges: Polly Samson and Harriet Kline

Shortlist:

‘Into the Blue’ by Alison Lock

‘Landscape Gardening’ by Jane McLaughlin

‘McManus’ by David McAlpine Cunningham

‘The Herring Lass’ by William Bedford

‘The Lie’ by David Butler

‘The Abstractionist’ by Robert Hollingworth

‘The Island’ by Caroline Price

‘This Land’ by Josie Ferrante

‘Musical’ by Isobel Brown

‘The Burning Giraffe’ by Wes Lee

Short Story Prize 2013

1st: Harriet Kline

2nd: Mark Godfrey

3rd: Frances Gapper

Judges: Stephen May and Avril Joy

Shortlist:

‘A Mare’s Nest’ by John Greenwood

‘A Thousand Steps to Grass Street’ by Wes Lee

‘An Incomplete Taxonomy of Greetings’ by Matt Greene

‘Azrael’s Whispers’ by Frank Talaber

‘Baking Blind’ by Melanie Whipman

‘Chest of Drawers’ by Harriet Kline

‘Crumb. A digression’ by Liam Lonergran

‘Flowers’ by Mark Godfrey

‘Fox Ache’ by Jennifer Bailey

‘Give Dust a Tongue’ by John Deane

‘Night Studio’ by Athanasia Hughes

‘October 30th’ by Caroline Moir

‘Seven Facts of Water’ by Alex Ruczaj

‘The Accordion’ by Kieron O’Hara

‘The Brightlingsea Boy’ by Daniel Jeffreys

‘The Golden Hour’ by Frances Gapper

‘The Haven’ by Paul Houghton

‘The Language of Love’ by Rebecca Camu

‘The Perfect Last Day’ by Polly Ann White

‘Underground for the End of the World’ by Seth Insua

If you have any queries about the prize or submission guidelines, please don’t hesitate to get in touch at the following address: info@thelondonmagazine.org.

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Header image credit: Antonio Olmos.