The Poetry Society

The Geoffrey Dearmer Prize

The Poetry Review new poet of the year

Kearan Williams is the winner of the Geoffrey Dearmer Prize 2008

The Geoffrey Dearmer Prize is awarded each year to the best poem published in Poetry Review by a poet who has not yet had a book published.

Geoffrey Dearmer was at 103 the oldest member of the Poetry Society. An endowment fund was established in 1997 in his memory and his family approached the Poetry Society about ways in which they could do something to give Geoffrey Dearmer a lasting place in poetry.

By establishing an endowment fund they have enabled the Poetry Society to award an annual prize worth £400 to the Poetry Review "new poet of the year".

Former editor Peter Forbes describes the impact of this: "It is hard work for a young poet to get established, it takes a long, long time. When somebody is named as the Geoffrey Dearmer Award- winning Poetry Review poet of the year people can't help but notice."