The Moth Poetry Prize is a prize given for single unpublished poems. Founded in 2011 by Irish magazine The Moth, it is one of the biggest such prizes in the world, with a prize fund of €11,000.[1]
The prize is open to anyone, as long as the poems are previously unpublished.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),[2] Warsan Shire (2022),[3] Jacob Polley (2019),[4] Claudia Rankine, Marie Howe, Deborah Landau, Daljit Nagra, Leontia Flynn, Billy Collins, and Nick Laird.
The prize closes annually on 31 December. A shortlist of four is announced in the spring (alongside eight commended poems), and the shortlisted poems are published in The Irish Times online. The overall winner (€6,000) is announced at a special award ceremony online.
Past winners include Aniqah Choudhri (2022), Michael Lavers, Natalya Anderson, Lee Sharkey, Ann Gray (whose poem was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem) and Abigail Parry (who was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection).
The winner of The Moth Poetry Prize 2023 was American poet Lance Larsen.[5]