The Disabled Poets Prize – a new way of celebrating work by deaf and disabled poets

1 September 2022

This guest post was kindly written by Jamie Hale

When I started writing as a poet it was against the backdrop of constant inaccessibility. Open Mic nights that were upstairs, big showcases without British Sign Language interpretation. As a wheelchair user many opportunities were immediately closed off to me – and this is why I was so delighted to launch the Disabled Poets Prize.

With entries open until the 31st of October 2022, we are looking for the best poem, best unpublished pamphlet and best poem performed in British Sign Language by a UK-based deaf and/or disabled poet.

I founded it with Spread the Word, CRIPtic Arts and Verve Poetry Press & Festival as partners, with further financial support from myself, Nathalie Teitler, and others. We are currently fundraising to cover the remaining costs this year, and to support this as an annual award – donate here.

Starting these awards makes me feel very complete. When I started my career, I had a lot of support and mentoring from people and organisations, but I very much felt that I was creating a path against constant barriers. When I founded CRIPtic Arts, this was in an effort to dismantle some of these barriers, by creating accessible opportunities for development and showcasing for deaf and disabled people, while also working to challenge inaccessibility in the industry.

CRIPtic Arts works cross-genre, but my initial creative practice was in poetry. I continued working as a poet, including creating my solo poetry and monologue show NOT DYING, which featured at the Lyric Hammersmith and Barbican Centre in 2019 and for which I was awarded the 2021 Evening Standard Future Theatre Fund Award for Theatremaker/Director of the Year. I also completed my first pamphlet, Shield, an intimate exploration of shielding and mortality in the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic. This was published in January 2021 by Verve Poetry Press. I was also awarded one of the three Jerwood Poetry Fellowships in 2021, which gave me time to work on my own poetry, and bring a collection together. However, I was also committed to using some of the finances and my profile for other things – including launching the Disabled Poets Prize. I hope that it can bring to prominence the work of other deaf and disabled poets, who are constantly denied access to other opportunities.

With the three awards, we’re hoping to find and feature some very different work from a diverse range of deaf and disabled poets – but it was important to us that the awards were more than just a title, which is why for each category first prize is £500, second prize is £250, third prize is £100, and there are three ‘highly commended’ entries which will be awarded £50, as well as a range of professional development awards and opportunities. The best unpublished pamphlet will also receive a publication contract from Verve Poetry Press – the award-winning publisher of Shield and a press committed to finding and developing new work and new writers.

Find out more about the prize and how you can enter

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Read more blogs from Disabled poets, including Amander Wellings, Francesca Frawley and David Gilbert.