View source for Newdigate Prize

{{Short description|Award}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2017}}
{{More citations needed|date=November 2011}}

'''Sir Roger Newdigate's Prize''', more commonly the '''Newdigate Prize''', is awarded by the [[University of Oxford]] for the Best Composition in [[English poetry|English verse]] by an undergraduate student.<ref>{{cite web |title=Prizes and Studentships |url=https://www.english.ox.ac.uk/prizes-and-studentships#collapse385931 |access-date=2023-04-28 |website=www.english.ox.ac.uk |language=en |quote=The prize is open to current matriculated undergraduate students of the university.}}</ref> It was founded in 1806 as a memorial to [[Roger Newdigate|Sir Roger Newdigate]] (1719–1806).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oxfordpoetry.co.uk/history.php?issue=newdigate |title=Sir Roger Newdigate's Prize |work=Oxford Poetry |quote=Sir Roger Newdigate's Prize for English Verse was founded in 1806 as a memorial to Sir Roger, fifth baronet (1719–1806) and Oxford university politician. |access-date=15 September 2012  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120218163110/http://www.oxfordpoetry.co.uk/history.php?issue=newdigate |archive-date=18 February 2012 }}</ref> The winning poem is announced at [[Encaenia]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Newdigate Prize {{!}} British literary prize|url=https://www.britannica.com/art/Newdigate-Prize|access-date=2020-12-12|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref> Instructions are published as follows: "The length of the poem is not to exceed 300 lines.<ref name=":0" /> The metre is not restricted to [[heroic couplet]]s, but dramatic form of composition is not allowed."

==Overview==
The first winner was [[John Wilson (Scottish writer)|John Wilson]] ("Christopher North"). Notable winners have included [[Robert Stephen Hawker]], [[John Ruskin]], [[Matthew Arnold]], [[Laurence Binyon]], [[Oscar Wilde]], [[John Buchan]], [[John Addington Symonds]], [[James Laver]], [[Donald Hall]], [[James Fenton]], [[P. M. Hubbard]], and [[Alan Hollinghurst]].

The parallel award given at the University of Cambridge is the [[Chancellor's Gold Medal]].

==Past titles and winners==
Where known, the title of the winning poem is given, followed by the name of the author. Each year links to its corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:

===Notable 19th-century winners===
* 1813: [[Francis Hawkins (physician, 1794–1877)|Francis Hawkins]]
* 1827: 'Pompeii', [[Robert Hawker (poet)|Robert Stephen Hawker]]
* 1829: 'Voyages of Discovery to the Polar Regions', [[Thomas Legh Claughton]]
* 1830: 'The African Desert', [[George Kettilby Rickards]]
* 1834: 'The Hospice of St. Bernard', [[Joseph Arnould]]<ref>{{cite book |author=Boyd Litzinger |author2=Donald Smalley | title = Richard Browning: The Critical Heritage | date = 1995 | publisher = Routledge | isbn = 0-415-13451-X | page = 93 }}</ref>
* 1837: 'The Gypsies', [[Arthur Penrhyn Stanley]]
* 1838: 'The Exile of St. Helena', [[Joseph Henry Dart]]
* 1839: 'Salsette and Elephanta', [[John Ruskin]]<ref>{{Cite ODNB|title=Ruskin, John (1819–1900), art critic and social critic|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-24291|access-date=2020-12-12| year=2004 |language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/24291| isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 | last1=Hewison | first1=Robert }}</ref>
* 1843: 'Cromwell', [[Matthew Arnold]]<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=p0gOAAAAIAAJ ''Cromwell: A Prize Poem, Recited in the Theatre, Oxford; June 28, 1843''] at Google Books</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|date=2009-03-22|title=Review: Stanley, I Presume by Stanley Johnson|url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/mar/22/biography-father-stanley-johnson-boris|access-date=2020-12-12|website=the Guardian|language=en}}</ref>
* 1844: 'Battle of the Nile', [[Joseph Lloyd Brereton]]
* 1845: 'Petra', [[John William Burgon]]
* 1852: 'The Feast of Belshazzar', [[Edwin Arnold|Sir Edwin Arnold]]
* 1853: 'The Ruins of Egyptian Thebes', [[Samuel Harvey Reynolds]]
* 1857: 'The Temple of Janus', [[Philip Stanhope Worsley]]<ref>{{cite book|last1=Abbott|first1=Claude Colleer|title=The Correspondence of Gerard Manley Hopkins and Richard Watson Dixon|date=1955|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|page=5|edition=2nd}}</ref>
* 1860: 'The Escorial', [[John Addington Symonds]]
* 1868: 'The Catacombs', [[John Alexander Stewart (philosopher)|John Alexander Stewart]]
* 1875: 'David Livingstone', [[George Earle Buckle]]
* 1877: [[John Brooks (lawyer and politician)|John Brooks]]
* 1878: 'Ravenna', [[Oscar Wilde]]<ref name=":1" />
* 1880: 'Raleigh', [[Rennell Rodd]]
* 1883: [[John Bowyer Buchanan Nichols]]
* 1886: 'Savonarola', [[R. L. Gales]]
* 1887: 'Sakya-Muni: The Story of Buddha', [[Sidney A. Alexander]]
* 1888: 'Gordon in Africa', [[Arthur Waugh]]
* 1898: 'The Pilgrim Fathers', [[John Buchan]]
* 1890: 'Persephone', [[Laurence Binyon]]
* 1895: 'Montezuma', [[J. S. Arkwright]]
* 1900: 'Robespierre', [[Arthur Carré]]

===20th century===
* 1901: 'Galileo', [[H. W. Garrod|William Garrod]]
* 1902: 'Minos', [[Ernest Wodehouse]]
* 1903: not awarded
* 1904: 'Delphi', [[George Bell (bishop)|George Bell]]
* 1905: 'Garibaldi', [[Arthur E. E. Reade]]
* 1906: 'The Death of Shelley', [[Geoffrey Scott (architectural historian)|Geoffrey Scott]]
* 1907: 'Camoens', [[Robert Cruttwell]]
* 1908: 'Holyrood', [[Julian Huxley]]
* 1909: 'Michelangelo', [[Frank Ashton-Gwatkin]]
* 1910: 'Atlantis', [[Charles Bewley]]
* 1911: 'Achilles', [[Roger Heath]]
* 1912: 'Richard I Before Jerusalem', [[William Chase Greene]]
* 1913: 'Oxford', [[Maurice Roy Ridley]]
* 1914: 'The Burial of Sophocles', Robert William Sterling
* 1915: not awarded
* 1916: 'Venice', Russell Green
* 1917: suspended due to war
* 1918: suspended due to war
* 1919: 'France', [[P. H. B. Lyon]]
* 1920: 'The Lake of Garda', [[George Harcourt Vanden-Bampde-Johnstone, 3rd Baron Derwent|George Johnstone]]
* 1921: 'Cervantes', [[James Laver]]
* 1922: 'Mount Everest', [[James Reid (poet)|James Reid]]
* 1923: 'London', [[Christopher Scaife]]
* 1924: 'Michelangelo', [[Franklin McDuffee]]
* 1925: 'Byron', [[Edgar McInnis]]
* 1926: not awarded
* 1927: 'Julia, Daughter of Claudius', [[G. E. Trevelyan|Gertrude Trevelyan]]
* 1928: 'The Mermaid Tavern', [[Angela Cave]]
* 1929: 'The Sands of Egypt', [[Phyllis Hartnoll]]
* 1930: 'Daedalus', [[Josephine Fielding]]
* 1931: 'Vanity Fair', [[Michael Balkwill]]
* 1932: 'Sir Walter Scott', [[Richard Hennings]]
* 1933: 'Ovid among the Goths', [[P. M. Hubbard|Philip Maitland Hubbard]]<ref name="Times">{{cite news|date=19 March 1980|title=Mr. P. M. Hubbard|page=16|work=[[The Times]]}}</ref>
* 1934: 'Fire', [[Edward Lowbury]]
* 1935: 'Canterbury', [[Allan Plowman]]
* 1936: 'Rain', [[David Winser]]
* 1937: 'The Man in the Moon', [[Margaret Stanley-Wrench]]
* 1938: 'Milton Blind', [[Michael Thwaites]]
* 1939: 'Dr Newman Revisits Oxford', [[Kenneth Kitchin]]
* 1940–1946: suspended due to war
* 1947: 'Nemesis', [[Merton Atkins]]
* 1948: 'Caesarion', Peter Way
* 1949: 'The Black Death', [[Peter Weitzman]]
* 1950: 'Eldorado', [[John Bayley (writer)|John Bayley]]
* 1951: 'The Queen of Sheba', [[Michael Hornyansky]]
* 1952: 'Exile', [[Donald Hall]] (published in ''OP'' 1953)<ref>{{Cite book|last=Learning|first=Gale, Cengage|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hcIPDQAAQBAJ&q=newdigate+Prize+Donald+Hall&pg=PT5|title=A Study Guide for Donald Hall's "Names of Horses"|year=2016 |publisher=Gale, Cengage Learning|isbn=978-1-4103-5358-0|language=en}}</ref>
* 1953: not awarded
* 1954: not awarded
* 1955: 'Elegy for a Dead Clown', [[Stuart Evans (author)|(Edwin) Stuart Evans]]
* 1956: 'The Deserted Altar', David Posner
* 1957: 'Leviathan', [[Robert James Maxwell]]
* 1958: 'The Earthly Paradise', [[Jon Stallworthy]]
* 1959: not awarded
* 1960: 'A Dialogue between Caliban and Ariel', [[John Fuller (poet)|John Fuller]]
* 1961: not awarded
* 1962: 'May Morning', [[Stanley Johnson (writer)|Stanley Johnson]]<ref name=":1"/>
* 1963: not awarded
* 1964: 'Disease', [[James Hamilton-Paterson]]<ref>{{Cite web|last=Thomson|first=Ian|date=2004-06-05|title=Profile: James Hamilton-Paterson|url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/jun/05/featuresreviews.guardianreview8|access-date=2020-12-12|website=the Guardian|language=en}}</ref>
* 1965: 'Fear', [[Peter Jay (poet)|Peter Jay]]
* 1966: not awarded
* 1967: not awarded
* 1968: 'The Opening of Japan', [[James Fenton]]<ref name="CW">{{cite web|title=Professor James Fenton|url=https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/james-fenton|access-date=2016-01-14|website=British Council Literature|publisher=[[British Council]]}}</ref>
* 1969: not awarded
* 1970: 'Instructions to a Painter', [[Charles Radice]]
* 1971: not awarded
* 1972: 'The Ancestral Face', [[Neil Rhodes]]
* 1973: 'The Wife's Tale', [[Chris Mann (poet)|Christopher Mann]]
* 1974: 'Death of a Poet', [[Alan Hollinghurst]]
* 1975: 'Inland', [[Andrew Motion]]
* 1976: 'Hostages', [[David Winzar]]
* 1977: 'The Fool', Michael King
* 1978: not awarded
* 1979: not awarded
* 1980: 'Inflation', [[Simon Higginson]]
* 1981: not awarded
* 1982: 'Souvenirs', [[Gordon Wattles]]
* 1983: 'Triumphs', [[Peter McDonald (critic)|Peter McDonald]] (published in ''OP'' I.2)
* 1984: 'Fear', [[James Leader]]
* 1985: 'Magic', [[Robert Twigger]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=Learning curve {{!}} The Guardian {{!}} guardian.co.uk|url=https://www.theguardian.com/guardianeducation/story/0,3605,307920,00.html|access-date=2020-12-12|website=www.theguardian.com}}</ref>
* 1986: 'An Epithalamion', [[William Morris (Newdigate winner)|William Morris]]
* 1987: 'Memoirs of Tiresias', Bruce Gibson and [[Michael Suarez]] (joint winners)
* 1988: 'Elegy', [[Mark Wormald]]
* 1989: 'The House', [[Jane Griffiths (poet)|Jane Griffiths]]
* 1990: 'Mapping', [[Roderick Clayton]]
* 1991: not awarded
* 1992: 'Green Thought', [[Fiona Sampson]]
* 1993: 'The Landing', [[Caron Röhsler]]
* 1994: 'Making Sense', [[James Merino]]
* 1995: 'Judith with the Head of Holofernes', [[Antony Dunn]] (published in ''OP'' IX.1)
* 1996: not awarded
* 1997: not awarded
* 1998: not awarded
* 1999: not awarded

===21st century===
* 2000: 'A Book of Hours'.
* 2005: 'Lyons', [[Arina Patrikova]]
* 2006: 'BEE-POEMS', [[Paul Thomas Abbott]]
* 2007: [[Meirion Jordan]]
* 2008: 'Returning, 1945', [[Rachel Piercey]]
* 2009: 'Allotments', [[Arabella Currie]]
* 2010: 'The Mapmaker's Daughter', [[Lavinia Singer]]
* 2011: not awarded
* 2012: not awarded
* 2013: 'Edgelands', Daisy Syme-Taylor<ref>{{cite web|title=Merton Student Wins Newdigate Prize|url=https://www.merton.ox.ac.uk/news/merton-student-wins-newdigate-prize|publisher=Merton College, Oxford|access-date=27 May 2016}}</ref>
* 2014: 'The Centrifuge', Andrew Wynn Owen<ref>{{cite web|title=Andrew Wynn Owen Wins the Newdigate Prize|url=http://www.magd.ox.ac.uk/news/andrew-wynn-owen-wins-the-newdigate-prize-2/|publisher=Magdalen College, Oxford|access-date=27 May 2016|archive-date=24 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160424161807/http://www.magd.ox.ac.uk/news/andrew-wynn-owen-wins-the-newdigate-prize-2/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* 2015: not awarded
* 2016: 'Sinai', Mary Anne Clark<ref>{{cite web|title=Prizes and Studentships|url=http://english.web.ox.ac.uk/prizes-and-studentships#collapse1-0|publisher=University of Oxford Faculty of English|access-date=27 October 2016|quote=In 2016 the Sir Roger Newdigate Prize was awarded to Mary Anne Clark for her entry 'Sinai'.}}</ref>
* 2017: 'Borderlines', [[Dominic Hand]] (published in ''Oxford Poetry'' XVII.i)<ref>{{cite web|title=Faculty Prizewinners Announced|url=https://www.english.ox.ac.uk/article/faculty-prizewinners-announced|publisher=University of Oxford Faculty of English|access-date=1 June 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Oriel Undergraduate Dominic Hand Wins University's Newdigate Prize for Poetry|url=http://www.oriel.ox.ac.uk/about-college/news-events/news/oriel-undergraduate-dominic-hand-wins-university%E2%80%99s-newdigate-prize|access-date=2 July 2017}}</ref>
*2018: not awarded<ref>{{cite web|title=Prizes and Studentships|url=https://www.english.ox.ac.uk/prizes-and-studentships#collapse385931|publisher=University of Oxford Faculty of English|access-date=4 March 2019|quote=In 2018 the Sir Roger Newdigate Prize was not awarded.}}</ref>
*2019: not awarded<ref>{{cite web|title=Prizes and Studentships|url=https://www.english.ox.ac.uk/prizes-and-studentships#collapse385931|publisher=University of Oxford Faculty of English|access-date=12 June 2019|quote=In 2019 the Sir Roger Newdigate Prize was not awarded.}}</ref>
*2020: 'the summer critter speaks not of frost.', [[Rachel Ka Yin Leung]]<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-06-02|title=Prizes and Studentships {{!}} Faculty of English|url=https://www.english.ox.ac.uk/prizes-and-studentships|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200602222852/https://www.english.ox.ac.uk/prizes-and-studentships|archive-date=2020-06-02|access-date=2020-06-02}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.english.ox.ac.uk/article/sir-roger-newdigate-prize-awarded-to-leung-rachel-ka-yin|date=10 June 2020|title=Sir Roger Newdigate prize awarded to Leung Rachel Ka Yin|website=University of Oxford|access-date=11 November 2020}}</ref>
* 2021: 'Koinobionts', Annabelle Fuller<ref>{{cite web|title=Prizes and Studentships|url=https://www.english.ox.ac.uk/prizes-and-studentships#collapse385931|publisher=University of Oxford Faculty of English|access-date=10 May 2021|quote=In 2021 the Sir Roger Newdigate Prize was awarded to Annabelle Fuller for her entry 'Koinobionts'.}}</ref>
* 2022: 'pecking orders', Maggie Wang<ref>{{Cite web |title=Maggie Wang wins the Sir Roger Newdigate Prize with her poem 'pecking orders' |url=https://www.english.ox.ac.uk/article/maggie-wang-wins-the-sir-roger-newdigate-prize-with-her-poem-pecking-orders |access-date=2023-04-28 |website=www.english.ox.ac.uk |language=en}}</ref>
* 2023: 'The girl I saw through the James Webb Telescope', Nicholas Stone<ref>{{Cite web |title=HMC Law student wins Sir Roger Newdigate Prize |url=https://www.hmc.ox.ac.uk/article/hmc-law-student-wins-sir-roger-newdigate-prize |access-date=2023-05-26 |website=www.hmc.ox.ac.uk |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Sir Roger Newdigate Prize 2023: winner announced |url=https://www.english.ox.ac.uk/article/sir-roger-newdigate-prize-2023-winner-announced |access-date=2023-05-26 |website=www.english.ox.ac.uk |language=en}}</ref>
* 2024: 'After 'Horses, Peacefully Farting and Snoring' and 'At the Papal Palace', Shaw Worth <ref>{{Cite web |title=Prizes and Studentships|url=https://www.english.ox.ac.uk/prizes-and-studentships#collapse385931|access-date=2024-05-03|website=www.english.ox.ac.uk |language=en}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of British literary awards]]
*[[List of literary awards]]
*[[List of poetry awards]]
*[[List of years in literature]]
*[[List of years in poetry]]
*[[Oxford Poetry]]
*[[Prizes named after people]]

== References ==
'''Notes'''
{{Reflist}}

'''Sources'''
* Richter, editor, Annie J. (1946). ''Literary Prizes and Their Winners''. R. R. Bowker Co.

[[Category:1806 establishments in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Awards and prizes of the University of Oxford]]
[[Category:Awards established in 1806]]
[[Category:British poetry awards]]