Oswald wins inaugural Ted Hughes prize

31.03.10 | Victoria Gallagher in The Bookseller

Nature poet Alice Oswald has won the inaugural Ted Hughes award for work in poetry.

The £5,000 prize, which was founded by poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy, aims to reward "the most exciting contribution to poetry" in the last year.

Oswald picked up the prize for Weeds and Wild Flowers (Faber) in which she imagined the characters behind common plants and flowers and is interspersed with illustrations from Jessica Greenman.

According to The Guardian the judges considered radio poems, film poems, public art inscriptions and works for the stage. Oswald managed to ward off competition from other shortlisted poets including former laureate Andrew Motion with his collection The Cinder Path (Faber), and Jackie Kay's bringing together of verse, music and theatre The Maw Broon Monologues.

Judge Jo Shapcott said Oswald's collection crossed "artistic boundaries and age boundaries and is unsettling and unsettled in every good way".