The Winners of the 2025/26 Derby Poetry Festival Poetry Prize.
- derbypoetryfest
- Jun 1
- 3 min read
In our third year Derby Poetry Festival has held the Derby Poetry Festival Prize for Poetry. This callout allows us to discover the best poets and spoken-word artists and meet new artists to engage with all the activities we deliver.
As always, there was no theme for the prize, as we want to hear from you and what you consider your best work. Without a doubt, there was some incredible work; we had an impossibly hard time shortlisting.
This year’s judge was Jake Wild-Hall, an outstanding poet and person. When Jake was initially asked to judge, he said, "I think the most important thing about a poem is that it is authentically you. We find honesty and beauty in all things, and whatever makes you write is the thing I am looking for. Dig deep into what it means to make you human and leave it for me to read".
This year, poems did that and so much more. Without further ado, this year’s winners are:
First Prize – Jess Murrain
Instagram: @jess_murrain
Jess Murrain (she/they) is an interdisciplinary creative of British-Caribbean heritage working across live art, performance, film, and poetry. This year, she’s the resident poet and writer-in-residence at Bethlem Gallery in association with Creative Future. Jess is also the co-founder and Artistic Director of Art Wife, an experimental live art company whose most recent project, NEUROQUEER, was commissioned by Bradford 2025 City of Culture. Jess was recently longlisted for the National Poetry Competition and has poetry & essays appearing in Callaloo, The Poetry Review, bath magg and Magma. She’s an alum of Southbank New Poets Collective, and her poetry pamphlet ‘One Woman-Horse Show’ was published by Bad Betty Press in 2022
Jake said “From the first line this poem gently pulls you into its world so you can watch the story of it be built around you. I cannot read it without my skin shivering.”
Second Prize – Grace Atkinson
Instagram: @graceatkinson__
Grace Atkinson is an award-winning poet and facilitator from East London. She completed an MFA in Poetry at Manchester Writing School in 2019, and has read alongside poets such as former UK Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy and Hera Lindsay Bird. Her work has appeared in Stand, The Rialto, Bath Magg, The North, Spoonfeed, Poetry Salzburg Review, Leslie, t’ART, among others, and she was interviewed by Dazed Magazine. In 2021, she was awarded a prize in the Streetcake Experimental Writing Prize, and she was longlisted for the Out-Spoken Prize in 2023. She recently completed a residency with the University of Sheffield, exploring the influence of sports culture in the region. In 2024, she was invited by her local station, South Tottenham, to write a poem marking the opening of the new Suffragette Overground line.
Jake said "There’s something so unapologetically cool and fun about this. I don’t think any other poems I read are cool. I like cool."
Third Prize – Sylvia Marie
Instagram: @no_dry_eyes_poetry
Sylvia Marie (She/Her) is a physically disabled, AuDHD Slam Champ and award-winning poet from York, as well as the founder of No Dry Eyes Poetry. Through raw, often political spoken word, she delivers powerful performances with a call for change. Her work has been published in Dipity Press, Querencia, Poet's Choice, HNDL Mag, Forge Press, Bradford Poetry Festival and more. In 2023 & 2024, she was Highly Commended by Hive South Yorkshire, followed by winning a Bravado Award in 2025. After a decade break, she is also set to return to musical theatre in Guys & Dolls with Rowntree Theatre Productions in July 2026. Sylvia is thrilled to receive 3rd place in the Derby Poetry Competition as part of the Derby Poetry Festival 2026, and gives her love to all her fellow poets, with whom it is an honour to be named alongside. Free Palestine!
Jake said, “A powerful poem built on some absolutely stunning imagery."
East Midlands Prize – Jade Rose King
Instagram: @lookslikeadogperson
jade is a dyslexic poet, editor, and multi-disciplinary artist from the UK. She is often told she “looks like a dog person.” jade is a Teaching Fellow in Creative Writing at the University of Lincoln and her first collection of poetry, Sucker Punch, was published by Broken Sleep Books in December 2023. Other works have been published or are forthcoming in national and international journals and anthologies, including 3:AM Magazine, Schlag Magazine, Poetry Salzburg Review, Star 82 Review, and Anti-Heroin Chic. jade also serves as a Contributing Editor for tr. review of translations (Black Lawrence Press).
A huge congratulations to all the shortlisted and winning poets. We’re honoured to have the privilege of reading your work.
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