Poetry & Play-Writing Prizes
Churchill College administers two prizes for Poetry and Play writing, in conjunction with the Faculty of English and the Marlowe Society.
Additional information
The Salt Marlowe Poetry Prize
Previously known as the John Kinsella & Tracy Ryan Poetry Prize, the prize is open to those in statu pupillari in the University of Cambridge. The prize will be awarded for an original, previously unpublished verse composition in any form, of not more than 500 lines in length. Candidates may enter more than one poem. The prize will be a single award of £500, though a shared prize may be awarded in the event of two equally appropriate candidates. The winning poem will be published in The Churchill Review.
The prize will not be awarded if no entries are of adequate quality; it will not be awarded twice to the same person. The judges may, if they wish, make honourable mention of another entry or entries. The prize will be administered jointly by the Faculty of English and Churchill College. There will usually be three judges, one from the College, one from the Faculty, and external judges from Salt Publishing.
John Kinsella and Tracy Ryan poetry prize adjudicators, Tim Cribb and Lee Ann Brown, and Senior Tutor, Richard Partington, with the 2018 winner, Bethany Dubow.
The Methuen Marlowe Other Prize
The Methuen Marlowe Other Prize is open to those in statu pupillari in the University of Cambridge. It will be awarded for an original, unperformed play of any length. Candidates may enter more than one play. The Prize will be a single award of £500 and £100 worth of drama books from Methuen Drama, though a shared prize may be awarded in the event of two equally appropriate candidates; the Prize will not be awarded if no entries are of adequate quality. The winning play will also be staged by the Marlowe Society.
The Prize may not be awarded twice to the same person. Adjudication will be in two stages. A shortlist will be selected by a panel consisting of one appointed by Churchill College, one by the Marlowe Society and one from Methuen Drama.
Further details, and testimonies from past entrants, are available on the Marlowe Society website:
Marlowe Society Website: The Other Prize
Note:Â The links above provide more information but they are outdated. The current content on this page is correct.
Entries
Submissions this year should be made using the online form below. We recommend that you open the link in an ‘incognito’ or ‘InPrivate’ browser tab, as you will need to sign in to your University Google account (through Raven) to access the form; if you are logged in to other (e.g. personal) Google accounts, you may be denied permission to open the form.
Submissions should be in PDF form and should not contain any identifying information (e.g. your name, CRSid, etc.). Each individual entry for consideration should be submitted as a separate PDF file.
If you have any technical issues, please email tutorial.assistant@chu.cam.ac.uk.
The prizes will not be taking submissions for the academic year 2023-24.
Most Recent Winners
2023 Prize Winners with the Master of Churchill College (from left to right): Joy Adeogun, the Master, Rebekah King, and Elizabeth Stephenson.
2023 Winners
Poetry Prize
The 2023 prize was won by Elizabeth Stephenson, for the poem ‘Tattoo of Me’. We also congratulated Jessica Glueck, whose poem ‘Night in the City’ received the runner-up commendation.
‘Other’ Prize for Drama
The 2023 ‘Other’ Prize was won by Rebekah King for the play ‘Saving Amber’. We also congratulated Joy Adeogun, whose play ‘Hair That Defies Gravity’ received the runner-up commendation.
Previous Winners
2022 Winners
Poetry Prize
The 2022 prize was won by Gabriel Rolfe, for the poem ‘Nullarbor’.
‘Other’ Prize for Drama
The 2022 ‘Other’ Prize was won by Maddie Lynes for the play ‘Her Very Many Faces’. We also congratulated Eyoel Abebaw-Mesfin, whose play ‘My Truth’ received the runner-up commendation.
2021 Winners
Poetry Prize
The 2021 prize was won by Talin Tahajian, for her poem ‘New Year Poem’.
Other Prize
The 2021 Other Prize was won by Chakira Alin, for her play ‘Heroes’. We also congratulated Joe Venable, whose play ‘Rapture’ received the runner-up commendation.
