# The Moth Poetry Prize

The Moth Poetry Prize is a prize given for single unpublished poems. Founded in 2011 by Irish magazine The Moth, it offers a prize fund of €11,000.

## Judging and eligibility

The competition is open to any candidate, as long as their poems are previously unpublished. Each year the prize attracts thousands of entries from new and established poets from over 50 countries.
The prize is judged anonymously by a single poet.
Past judges include Hannah Sullivan (2024), Nobel Laureate Louise Glück (2023), Warsan Shire (2022), Jacob Polley (2019), Claudia Rankine, Marie Howe, Deborah Landau, Daljit Nagra, Leontia Flynn, Billy Collins, and Nick Laird.
The competition closes annually on the 31st of December. A shortlist of four candidates is announced in the spring, alongside eight commended poems. The shortlisted poems are published in The Irish Times online. The overall winner (€6,000) is announced at a special, online, award ceremony.

## Winners

Award recipients :
| Year | Poet | Work | Result |
| 2011 | Paul McMahon | Bourdon | 1st place |
| 2011 | Sarah Clancy | I Crept Out | 2nd place |
| 2011 | Lydia Macpherson | The Fisherman | 3rd place |
| 2012 | Tom Moore | The Astronaut | 1st place |
| 2012 | Kita Shantiris | Oranges | 2nd place |
| 2012 | Paula Cunningham | Fathom | 3rd place |
| 2013 | Ann Gray | My Blue Hen | 1st place |
| 2013 | Elena Tomorowitz | Elegy | 2nd place |
| 2013 | Jo Bell | Rations | 3rd place |
| 2014 | Lisa Bickmore | Eidolon | 1st place |
| 2014 | Jude Nutter | Disco Jesus and the Wavering Virgins in Berlin, 2011 | Shortlist |
| 2014 | Kathryn Simmonds | Fantasia on a Theme by Elvis | Shortlist |
| 2014 | Matt Hohner | Saratoga Passage, August 2014 | Shortlist |
| 2015 | Abigail Parry | Arterial | 1st place |
| 2015 | David McLoughlin | Tom Crean Sings Sean-nos at the Tiller on the Southern Ocean | Shortlist |
| 2015 | James Leader | Phoebe and the Troopship | Shortlist |
| 2015 | Natalya Anderson | Dance Therapy | Shortlist |
| 2016 | Lee Sharkey | Letter to Al | 1st place |
| 2016 | C. Mikal Oness | On the Sprocket Side of the Hay Rake | Shortlist |
| 2016 | Greg Geis | Marriage | Shortlist |
| 2016 | Katie Hale | You’re in my Blood like Holy Wine | Shortlist |
| 2017 | Natalya Anderson | A Gun in the House | 1st place |
| 2017 | Audrey Molloy | Fortune Reshuffled, Reshuffled | Shortlist |
| 2017 | Cheryl Moskowitz | Shirtless | Shortlist |
| 2017 | Teresa Ott | In what way are forest black or white. We saw them blue. With forget-me-nots. | Shortlist |
| 2018 | Jude Nutter | Dead Drift | 1st place |
| 2018 | David Stavanger | Octonaut | Shortlist |
| 2018 | Margaret Park Haas | Sestina | Shortlist |
| 2018 | Steven Heighton | Christmas Work Detail, Samos | Shortlist |
| 2019 | Damen O’Brien | The Nave | 1st place |
| 2019 | Claudia Daventry | I do not appear in photos | Shortlist |
| 2019 | Kate Potts | A Telephone Conversation with my Sister/Footnotes | Shortlist |
| 2019 | Nicholas Ruddock | Genetic Memory | Shortlist |
| 2020 | Michael Lavers | Chaos Soliloquy | 1st place |
| 2020 | Abigail Parry | In the dream of the cold restaurant | Shortlist |
| 2020 | Rowland Bagnall | A Week in March | Shortlist |
| 2020 | Suzanne Cleary | For the Poet Who Writes to Me While Standing in Line at CVS, Waiting for his Mothers Prescription | Shortlist |
| 2021 | Aniqah Choudhri | The Unloving Ground | 1st place |
| 2021 | Heather Treseler | Chase Street | Shortlist |
| 2021 | Mark Fiddes | Hotel Petroleum | Shortlist |
| 2021 | Roz Goddard | Small Moon Curve | Shortlist |
| 2022 | Laurie Bolger | Parkland Walk | 1st place |
| 2022 | J. P. Grasser | Last Year in Baltimore | Shortlist |
| 2022 | Kit Fan | Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory | Shortlist |
| 2022 | Tom Laichas | Travel Advisory | Shortlist |
| 2023 | Lance Larsen | Things I'm Against | 1st place |
| 2023 | Catherine Ann Cullen | Pencilling the Dates | Shortlist |
| 2023 | Craig van Rooyen | Extinction Picnic | Shortlist |
| 2023 | Jade Angeles Fitton | And Other Mirages | Shortlist |