The Edwin Morgan Poetry Award 2014

The new award will be presented at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

The Edwin Morgan Trust was established in 2012 to carry forward the wishes of the Scottish poet laureate, Edwin Morgan (1920-2010). In particular, he wanted to found a new award for young Scottish poets. A prolific poet and translator, nevertheless he was in his forties before making his first real breakthrough, and often remembered the problems young poets can have in getting a first collection published. So when he came to gift his estate to the nation and good causes, he stipulated that there should be a new prize in his name awarded regularly for an unpublished or published collection of poems by a Scottish poet under the age of thirty.

The Edwin Morgan Poetry Award will be awarded biennially. It replaces the Edwin Morgan International Poetry Competition (2008-2012) which was generously sponsored by the University of Strathclyde. The new award will be in the region of £20,000 and will be presented at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. In alternate years, the Edwin Morgan Trust, in association with the Scottish Poetry Library

Library focusing on contemporary poetry written in Scotland in Scots, Gaelic and English. Can borrow free in person, but 50p charge for postal borrowings. www.spl.org.uk

and the Edinburgh International Book Festival, will administer a variety of projects to support young writers in different parts of Scotland, as well as promoting Edwin Morgan's work as one of Scotland's most important translators.

The Edwin Morgan Poetry Award is open to published and unpublished collections. A published collection should be at least 32 pages in length, i.e. the normal size of a poetry pamphlet, but may be longer.

It should have been published in the two calendar years preceding the Award, i.e. publications from 2012 or 2013 are eligible for the 2014 Award.

An unpublished collection will have a minimum of 25 and a maximum of 50 poems.

For more information and to apply