We are delighted to announce the winners of the Canterbury Festival Poet of the Year Competition 2020 today, National Poetry Day.

Poet of the Year 2020 is Charlotte Cornell for her poem The Gift of Mrs Anne Thwaytes, 1839.

Second place goes to David Simpson for Cold tea’s spring shadow and third is Ojo Taiye for How Tall is Truth?

We send our congratulations to them and hope to be able to broadcast videos of the three winners reading their poems soon, along with the judges’ notes for all the shortlisted poems – keep an eye on our website for updates!

You can explore all of this year’s longlisted poems in our 2020 Poet of the Year Anthology – available to buy for £5 from the Festival Office. Email [email protected] or call 01227 452853 to find out more.