A shortlist has been released for the 2026 Laurel Prize, which recognizes "the best collection of nature or environmental poetry to highlight the climate crisis and raise awareness of the challenges and potential solutions at this critical point in our planet's life." The prize was founded by Poet Laureate Simon Armitage in 2019. This year's shortlisted titles are:
Midden Witch by Fiona Benson
Ethnology by Cathy Galvin
Natural History by Brandon Kilbourne
Tipping Point by Jane Lovell
The Storm's Flora by Laura Wainwright
The winner, who will be named on September 25, receives £5,000 (about $6,770) and a four-night writing retreat in Mid Wales from prize partner Write Within. The other four finalists get £1,000 (about $1,355) each.
Chair of judges David Morley said the shortlist "grew out of a warm, lively and wonderfully engaged conversation among the judges, guided by the parameters set by the Poet Laureate. We read poems aloud to each other, hearing them come alive in the room, and above all we wanted poems with real power, poems that surprised us, moved us and made us see the world differently. The environmental and climate emergency formed an important backdrop, but what mattered was what the poets did with it, transforming subject into language, imagination and art. At their best, these poems bring together the art of nature and the nature of art, reminding us that the way we imagine the living world can change the way we live in it."