Tower Poetry is an organisation affiliated with Christ Church, Oxford that aims to promote the reading and writing of poetry in young people. The group is funded by a donation from the late Christopher Tower, and run by Oxford University lecturer Peter McDonald.[1]
It publishes the magazine Poetry Matters, which holds news and reviews as well as original poetry. It also runs the Christopher Tower Poetry Prizes, which awards cash prizes to the best poems submitted by young people on a specified theme, and the annual Christopher Tower Summer School.The Summer School is an annual three-day course for 18- to 23-year-olds, held at Christ Church.[2][3]
The Christopher Tower Poetry Prizes are annual prizes awarded to young British poets between the ages of 16 and 18, for poems submitted on a set theme. The prizes are administered by Christ Church, Oxford, and are funded by a bequest by the late Christopher Tower. Since their launch in 2000, the prizes have become recognised as one of the United Kingdom's most prestigious poetry awards for young writers.[4] Several past winners and runners-up have gone on to win other major poetry competitions, such as the Eric Gregory Award, and to publish collections.
| Year | Theme | First prize | Second prize | Third prize | Runners-up | Guest Judges |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Blue | Rebecca Dudley | Mairi Brewis | Felicity Marks | Eve Blair, Swithun Cooper, Charlotte Dickens, Isabella Mead | Andrew Motion and Paul Muldoon |
| 2002 | Floods | Anna Lewis | Dhruv Sookhoo | Thom Glover | Christopher Edwards, Kezia Gaitskell, Holly Patterson | Kathleen Jamie and Ruth Padel |
| 2003 | Passport | Aruna Nair | Wing Ying Chow | Hannah Briggs | James Williams, Tim Smith-Laing, Sarah Henderson | Lavinia Greenlaw and Anthony Thwaite |
| 2004 | Early Morning | Katherine Hindley | Nancy Freeman | Laura Tisdale | Caroline Bird, Joanna Moorman, Helen Mort | Frank Ormsby and Jon Stallworthy |
| 2005 | Gravity | Eley Williams | Craig Farrell | Miranda Cichy | Francesca Beasley, Rebecca Hawkes, Shin Woo Kang | Gillian Clarke and Philip Pullman |
| 2006 | A Building | Colette Sensier | Alice Malin | Alice Alexandre | David Devanny, Charlotte Geater, Julia Rampen | Mark Ford and Carol Rumens |
| 2007 | Flight | Charlotte Runcie | Annie Katchinska | Sophie Mackintosh | Alice Howlett, Laura Marsh, Rees Arnott Davies | Jo Shapcott and Francine Stock |
| 2008 | Change | Emily Middleton | Ashley McMullin | Nina Bahadur | Richard O’Brien, Charlotte Geater, Amelia Penny, Anna Savory | Simon Armitage and Alan Jenkins |
| 2009 | Doubt | Timothy Carson | Iona Twiston-Davies | Paul Merchant | Charlotte Turner, Sophie Stephenson-Wright, Emma Jourdan, Bethany Aitman | Jane Draycott and Daljit Nagra |
| 2010 | Promises | Emily Harrison | Katie Woods | Megan Owens | Jamie Sutherland, Julia Goroszeniuk, Hugo Havranek | Stephen Romer and Michael Schmidt |
| 2011 | Simplicity | Elizabeth Johnson | Jack Westmore | Abigail Richards | James Browning, Thomas Fraser, Molly Underwood | Frances Leviston and David Morley |
| 2012 | Voyages | Sarah Fletcher | Bethan Smith | Millie Guille | Hannah Tran, Lucy Hely-Hutchinson, Jack Whitehead | Don Paterson and Christopher Reid |
| 2013 | The Details | Azfa Ali | Sarah Fletcher | Erin Tunney | Kathryn Cussons, Luke van den Barselaar, Eva Wallace | Carrie Etter and Bernard O'Donoghue |
| 2014 | News | Dominic Hand | Sam Buckton | Masha Voyles | Alexander Shaw, Charlie Holmes, Jessica Matthews, Phoebe Stuckes | Olivia McCannon and Kei Miller |
| 2015 | Cells | Isla Anderson | Max Thomas | Lewis Harrington | Jeremiah Ovenden, Matt Ward, Andrew Wells | Ian McMillan and Helen Mort |
| 2016 | Wonder | Ashani Lewis | Safah Ahmed | Sophia West | Natasha Blinder, Ed Pryor, Grace Fraser | Alan Gillis and Katherine Rundell |
| 2017 | Stone | Ella Standage | Annie Fan | Rachel Oyawale | Freya Gray Stone, Flora Barber, Sofia Al-Hussaini | Vahni Capildeo and Sarah Howe |
| 2018 | Secrets' | Taraneh Peryie | Lucy Thynne | Robbi Sher | Ziqi Yan, Miranda Green, Annie Fan | John Fuller and Christopher Reid |
| 2019 | Underwater | Lucy Prescott | Lucy Thynne | Joseph Harrison | Isobel Falk, Anjali Mulcock, Flora Rugman | Angela Leighton and Vidyan Ravinthiran |
| 2020 | Trees | Nadia Lines | Fiyinfoluwa Timothy Oladipo | Ahana Banerji | Joyce Chen, Toby Morrison, Zara Meadows, Sabrina Coghlan-Jasiewicz | A.E. Stallings and Rebecca Watts |
| 2021 | The Key | Amy Beverley | Victoria Fletcher | Ayra Ahmad | Naz Kaynakcioglu, Skye Linforth, Em Power | Kwame Dawes and Elise Paschen |
| 2022 | Dream | TBC | TBC | TBC | TBC | Jane Griffiths and John Clegg |
