Gwen Harwood Poetry Prize 2025 winners

This year's judges were Island's poetry editor, Kate Middleton, winner of the 2021 prize for 'The Memory of Water', Amy Crutchfield, and renowned award winning author, John Kinsella. Each judge read all submissions 'blind', and came to a collective shortlist of twelve poems before selecting the winner and two runners-up.

The winners’ work was selected from a very impressive shortlist that the judges described as ‘exciting poetry attuned to the current moment—its histories, its warnings, and the search for language to transform it’. A huge congratulations to the following poets:

Winner
Georgina Woods for ‘Augury: Sea surface temperature charts'

Runners-up
Julie Janson for ‘My Kaathii Sister'
Audrey Molloy for ‘Cold Water Swimming in Lyme Regis’

The winner, runners-up and other shortlisted poems will be published in Island 173, out from 27 March. You can pre-order your copy now, or subscribe here. 

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