top of page
The McLellan Poetry Prize is now in its 18th year and is awarded by the Arran Theatre and Arts Trust.
This years Judge will be Gerda Stevenson
£1000 prizes for English poem and Scots poem
Commendations as Judge sees fit
COMPETITION ENTRIES ARE NOW CLOSED
Prize-winners will be notified individually before the end of July and invited to read at the award ceremony with Gerda Stevenson on the Isle of Arran on Friday, 4th September 2026. Electronic copies of the winning poems with biographies and photos will be required from the winners. The results of the competition with copies of the poems will be published on the festival website as soon as possible after the award ceremonies.
Scroll down for previous winners
Past judges have included Kathleen Jamie, Robert Crawford, Jackie Kay, Peter and Ann Sansom, Michael Laskey, Simon Armitage, David Constantine, Maura Dooley and Sinead Morrissey, Luke Wright, Hollie McNish, Joelle Taylor, Jim Mckintosh, William Letford and Jim Carruth.
Gerda Stevenson - 2026 Judge (attribution: Anna Wiraszka)
Previous Years Winners
First Prize Winner - 2025 McLellan Scottish Poetry Competition Criag Aitchison
First Prize Winner - 2025 McLellan English Poetry Competition
Cait O'Neill McCullagh
Judge Sean O'Brien with the many of the 2019 Winners and the Competition Organisers at the Prize Giving on Arran.
(from the right: Cicely Gill, Organiser; Sean O'Brien, Competition Judge; Jane Kinton, 3rd Prize; Kitty Donnelly, Commended; Pamela Brough, 1st Prize; James Caruth, Commended & David Underdown, Organiser.)
2018 winner Char March recorded her entry in Scots and English
Maura Dooley presents 1st Prize to 2017 winner Louise Greig
Jed Myers receiving 1st Prize from
David Constantine in 2016
John Foggin receiving 1st Prize from
Simon Armitage in 2015
bottom of page