Spread the Word and CRIPtic Arts are delighted to announce the winners of the 2024 Disabled Poets Prize. 

Disabled Poets Prize 2024 Winners

We announced the winners of the Disabled Poets Prize at Deptford Literature Festival on 16 March 2024.

We chose winners in two categories.

Best Single Poem

We awarded the prize for Best Single Poem 2024 to Gayathiri Kamalakanthan for Eating An Orange. In second place is Rachel Burns and her poem Blue Monday. Third place goes to Alex Mepham for Dark Matter. Could this be how to love by Elizabeth Gibson, Ward 9 by Vera Yuen, and A Horse Walks into a Bar – After Tyrone Lewis by Dee Dickens were all highly commended by the judges.

Best Unpublished Pamphlet

Best Unpublished Pamphlet 2024 was awarded to Susie Wilson for Nowhere Near As Safe As A Snake In Bed. Second place goes to Anna Starkey for All These Frequencies, and third place to Amber Horne for So She Spoke. The judges highly commended Exit Amours by Ozge Gozturk, Learning in Nine Keys by Norman Miller and Scar Tissue by Danne Jobin.

For both categories, first place prize was £500, second place £250, third place £100, and we awarded three highly commended entries £50.

Best Poem Performed in BSL

The judges highly commended Sahera Khan’s poem My Eyes in the category Best Poem Performed in BSL.

The UK’s BSL Poet Laureate Kabir Kapoor judged this category. He awarded a commendation award to a poet in the Best Poem performed in British Sign Language category. They will receive £300, an online editor one to one with The Literary Consultancy alongside free membership to their Being a Writer community platform, an online masterclass by Arvon and an online professional development session with CRIPtic Arts and Spread the Word.

The Prize offers significant professional development opportunities for the winning writers, including a publication deal with Verve Poetry Press for the best unpublished pamphlet as well as development prizes from The Literary Consultancy and Arvon Foundation.

ALCS – the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society supported the Disabled Poets’ Prize 2024.

Watch the Awards

You can watch the awards over on Youtube

You can also find the shortlisted and longlisted poets here, and the 2023 winners here.