Judges Unveiled for ‘Career-Making’ 20th Annual Wigtown Poetry Prizes
11/02/2025
- Scotland’s biggest – showcasing poetry in English, Gaelic and Scots
- Hugh McMillan, Elissa Hunter-Dorans, Tow Pow, Lesley Benzie speak about importance of the awards
The judges have been unveiled for the annual Wigtown Poetry Prizes – with one describing them as “Scotland’s biggest” and a “career-making” opportunity for poets.
The 2025 prizes, which will be awarded at the annual book festival in Scotland’s National Book Town, will continue their strong tradition of nurturing and showcasing work in each of the country’s Indigenous languages – English, Gaelic and Scots.
Nick Walker, Wigtown Festival Company Trustee and Poetry Prizes lead, said:
“We are delighted to announce the judges for the 20th anniversary Wigtown Poetry Prizes.
“We have one of our 2024 winners; we have renowned poets hefted to Dumfries & Galloway; and we have exciting young talent in the mix as well.
“We hope for more entries than ever, and the judges are all looking forward not just to the challenge of shortlisting and selecting winners, but also to the joy of reading wide-ranging new poetry.
“As ever, we are grateful to our sponsors and supporters who enable us to continue to offer prizes in Scots and Gaelic as well as in English, allowing this vitally important encouragement for poets to write poems.”
Both the International Prize, which is worth £1,500, and the Alastair Reid Pamphlet Prize, which is given for a collection of poems and honours the great Whithorn-born poet, will be judged by Hugh McMillan, whose most recent collection, Diverted to Split, is published by Luath.
Hugh, from Penpont in southwest Scotland, said:
“The Wigtown Poetry Prizes are Scotland’s biggest and are career-makers for poets. It’s a thrill to be involved in making some peoples’ year! I’m looking forward to a record-breaking number of entries in 2025.”
The Scots language prize will be judged by last year’s winner, Lesley Benzie who was referred to in Mxogyny Magazine as “something of a modern-day Robert Burns”.
She said:
"Scots is a living language, so as well as shimmering use of the leid, I'd like to see modern day spoken forms as well as more traditional Scots reflected in the poems.
“I anticipate language that highlights the additional rhythm, lyricism and musicality that Scots brings to poetry, and to be delighted by use of vivid imagery and striking metaphors to engage the reader’s emotions.
“I hope to see poems that convey the full array of human experience from the very personal to the universal, to political and world events."
Judging the Scottish Gaelic prize will be Highlands-based writer Elissa Hunter-Dorans who is the Gaelic Poetry editor for The Poets' Republic magazine, published by Drunk Muse Press.
Thuirt Elissa:
“Tha e na thoileachas mòr dhomh a bhith an sàs ann am Farpais Bàrdachd Gàidhlig Wigtown am-bliadhna, agus tha e na urram dhomh an obair as ùire aig bàird Ghàidhlig an latha an-diugh a leughadh. Tha mi an dòchas sgrìobhadh fhaicinn a dh’fhaodas dusladh gach latha a pheantadh le dath agus òran.”
Elissa said: "I am delighted to be joining the Wigtown Book Festival by judging the Gaelic Poetry Prize this year, and I feel beyond privileged to read the newest work of today's Gaelic poets. I hope to see writing that can paint the dust of each day with colour and song."
The widely published and highly respected Tom Pow will judge the Dumfries and Galloway Fresh Voice Award, which nurtures emerging talent from the region.
Tom said:
“Two things that excite me about judging the Fresh Voice Award - the pleasure of discovering poets at an early stage of their writing life, and the thought that this award could make a huge difference to them.”
Gaelic Prize sponsors, the Gaelic Books Council, emphasised its literary importance.
Thuirt Alison Lang, Stiùiriche Comhairle nan Leabhraichean:
“Tha sinn toilichte a bhith a’ toirt taic don fharpais chliùitich seo a-rithist, agus gu bheil Elissa Hunter-Dorans gu bhith na britheamh am-bliadhna. Tha an duais seo cho cudromach airson litreachas na Gàidhlig san latha an-diugh, agus tha sinn an dùil gum faighear iomadach tagradh bho bhàird ùra agus bàird stèidhichte.”
Alison Lang, Director of the Gaelic Books Council, said: “We are happy to be supporting this prestigious competition once more, and to have Elissa Hunter-Dorans as this year’s judge. This prize is so important for contemporary Gaelic literature, and we hope to see good number of entries from new and established poets.”
A spokesperson for Scots Prize sponsors, The Saltire Society, said:
“We are delighted to support the prize and wish all the makars guid scrievin. We are sure Lesley will have her work cut out for her.”
Notes to editors
About Hugh McMillan
Hugh’s work has been published widely in Scotland and beyond, and he has won various prizes, most recently the Callum Macdonald Memorial Award in 2017 for Sheep Penned, published by Roncadora. He has featured in many anthologies, and three times in the Scottish Poetry Library’s online selection Best Scottish Poems of the year. His poems have also been chosen three times to feature on National Poetry Day postcards. In 2017 he was writer in residence at the Harvard Summer School. In 2020 he was chosen as one of four ‘Poetry Champions’ for Scotland by the Scottish Poetry Library. In 2021 he was given the role as editor of ‘Best Scottish Poems’. Most recently he became chair of the Saltire Poetry Award.
About Lesley Benzie
Many of Lesley Benzie’s poems are fiercely political, rich in social commentary and written in Scots. Her work has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies, three collaborative collections, and two poetry collections: Sewn Up and Fessen/Reared. She has been shortlisted for writer of the year in The Scots Language Awards, has been a runner-up for the McCash Prize, and in 2022 she was short-listed for two of the Wigtown Poetry Prizes, Scots Language and International. She won the Wigtown Scots Language prize in 2024 and makes a welcome return as judge for the Scots prize in 2025.
About Elissa Hunter-Dorans
'S e sgrìobhadair Gàidhlig agus Beurla às a' Ghàidhealtachd a th' ann an Elissa Hunter-Dorans, a’ leughadh Eachdraidh de Ealain aig Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann. B’ i a’ chiad Next Generation Young Makar airson bàrdachd Ghàidhlig aig Leabharlann Bàrdachd na h-Alba, agus tha i an-dràsta na dheasaiche Bàrdachd Ghàidhlig airson The Poets’ Republic le Drunk Muse Press. Tha i air leughadh aig Fèis Dandelion, StAnza, agus The Edinburgh Fringe.
Elissa Hunter-Dorans is a Gaelic and English writer from the Highlands, and is currently studying History of Art at the University of Edinburgh. She was the Scottish Poetry Library’s first Next Generation Young Makar for Gaelic poetry, and is currently the Gaelic Poetry editor for The Poets' Republic by Drunk Muse Press. She has performed at the Dandelion Festival, StAnza, and The Edinburgh Fringe.
About Tom Pow
Tom was born in Edinburgh in 1950. He has written picture books, young adult novels, travel books and radio plays, but is primarily a poet. He has published many collections, including In The Becoming, New and Selected Poems (Polygon, 2009). Dear Alice – Narratives of Madness (Salt) won the 2009 Scottish Poetry Book of the Year award. His latest publications are the collection Naranjas (Galileo, 2021), the pamphlet Svetlana’s Dance (Mariscat, 2022) and the collection Ghosts at Play (with translations by Nao Miyouchi) (Giovanni Publishing, Japan, 2024).
The 2025 awards
Wigtown International Prize
Winner: £1,500
Runner-up: £200
Wigtown Scots Prize
Winner: £500
Runner-up: £200
Supported by Saltire Society
Wigtown Scottish Gaelic Prize
Winner: £500
Runner-up: £200
Supported by The Gaelic Books Council
Dumfries & Galloway Fresh Voice Award
Professional support including mentoring by Wigtown Festival Company and a retreat at Moniack Mhor Creative Writing Centre.
Alastair Reid Pamphlet Prize
Winner: Publication of a pamphlet set by Gerry Cambridge.
Plus - a winner of one or more categories will be selected at the discretion of StAnza, Scotland's International Poetry Festival and Wigtown Festival Company.
Entries close at noon (UK time) on 7 May, 2025.
Full details at www.wigtownpoetryprize.com
About the Wigtown Poetry Prize
Founded in 2005 and refreshed and rebranded in 2019, Wigtown Poetry Prizes welcome entries from poets writing in English wherever they may live. Separate categories celebrate the best of Scottish Gaelic and Scots language poetry, a special category acknowledges a rising talent in Dumfries & Galloway, and a pamphlet prize is named in memory of Alastair Reid - local poet and one of Scotland's foremost literary figures.
Website: www.wigtownpoetryprize.com
Email: [email protected]
The competition takes place in association with:
The Gaelic Books Council https://www.gaelicbooks.org
Moniack Mhor Creative Writing Centre https://www.moniackmhor.org.uk
Saltire Society https://www.saltiresociety.org.uk
Scottish Poetry Library https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk
StAnza, Scotland's International Poetry Festival http://www.stanzapoetry.org
About The Gaelic Books Council
Comhairle nan Leabhraichean (The Gaelic Books Council) is the lead organisation with responsibility for supporting Scottish Gaelic authors and publishers, and for raising the profile and reach of Scottish Gaelic books in Scotland and internationally. Established in 1968, Comhairle nan Leabhraichean is a registered charity and receives support from Creative Scotland and from Bòrd na Gàidhlig.
About The Saltire Society
The Saltire Society seeks to encourage everything that might improve the quality of life in Scotland. It works to preserve all that is best in Scottish traditions and to encourage new developments which can strengthen and enrich the country’s cultural life. It acts as a catalyst, celebrant and commentator through an annual programme of awards, lectures, debates and projects. Founded in 1936 is a non-political independent charity with membership branches throughout Scotland.
About StAnza
StAnza's mission is to celebrate poetry, to bring poetry to audiences and to enable encounters with poetry. The organisation works all year round to deliver poetry events and projects in Scotland and beyond. Its main focus is the annual festival in St Andrews each spring and it is recognised as one of the leading poetry festivals in the UK and Europe. StAnza also actively promotes readings in foreign or minority languages and has featured poets reading in many of the national languages of Europe, as well as in regional languages and dialects. We regularly include Gaelic and Scots language poets.
For media information and interview requests contact Matthew Shelley on 07786 704299 or [email protected]
Hugh MacMillan, Wigtown International Poetry Prize and Alastair Reid Pamphlet Prize judge.
Image by Colin Tennant
Lesley Benzie, Wigtown Scots Poetry Prize judge
Tom Pow, Dumfries and Galloway Fresh Voice Award judge
Ellissa Hunter-Doran, Wigtown Gaelic Poetry Prize judge