Congratulations to Austin Spendlowe (2022) for being awarded second place in the Lord Alfred Douglas Memorial Prize for the poem, 'We Workshop Love'. The Lord Alfred Douglas Memorial Prize is awarded for the best sonnet or other poem written in English and in strict rhyming metre.
Austin said, "That my poem was the runner-up in the Lord Alfred Douglas Memorial Prize 2024 feels very special. I only started writing consistently about a year ago, largely without direction or even much conviction—what I have written to date feels, in the most part, like doodles in letters. Preparing an entry for the prize was my first experiment writing sonnets, one I found to be very rewarding. Writing strictly rhymed verse proved an interesting exercise in disciplining the divergent and wackadoodle thoughts I so often catch falling out of my head. I will, I think, keep the habit up, perhaps even attempt something like what Paul Muldoon did in his Prince of the Quotidian (1992) and write one every day for a month. For my poem to have been recognised by the brilliant poets on the judging panel is an especial joy—I’d like to thank them and the Faculty at large for their time and encouragement; it means a great deal.’