Writing Prizes

We invite you to submit entries for the University’s three Writing Prizes, the Grierson Verse Prize, Sloan Prize, and Lewis Edwards Memorial Prize. These Prizes have been established to recognise and encourage our students’ remarkable talent in prose and verse.

About the Prizes

The competitions are open to original and previously unpublished pieces and give our students a chance to explore and showcase their creativeness.

Each Prize has its own eligibility and form requirements detailed below. Please read these and the submission guidelines carefully before submitting your entry.

This year's Prizes were judged by Michael Pedersen, our Writer in Residence. They opened for submissions on 10 December 2024, and the deadline was 21 March 2025.

This prize, estimated value £900, is awarded to a matriculated student of the University of Aberdeen or the University of Edinburgh.

It is given for a poem or series of poems, using any recognised verse form other than free verse, totalling no more than 80 lines on a given theme. When submitting your entry, please note which form you used in your email and in the document above your poem.

The theme for 2025 is "'Love, Life, and Loss", and any valid interpretation of the theme is acceptable.


What an honour to be considered for the Grierson Prize alongside so many talented student writers. I am grateful for the guidance of the University’s creative writing professors, without whom I would not have applied for this award.

It’s such a pleasure to be co-winner for the prize this year… It’s been a goal of mine since for some years now so I’m stunned to have actually done it this time. Thank you Michael for your support and to the writing prizes for the opportunity!

Past winners

YearName
2025Aoibh Downey and Malika McKenney (special mention: Kaja Kubickova)
2024Emily Wheeler (special mention: Malika McKenney)
2023Rachel Rankin (special mentions: Kate Genevieve, Malika McKenney and Alice Eaves)
2022Olivia Thomakos (special mentions: Beth Grainger, Carl Alexandersson and Tim Tim Cheng)
2021Maria Henry (special mentions: Amy Doyle, Kiefer Holland and Adam Vaughn)
2020Rhiannon Auriol Williams (special mentions: Jane Jia Hui, Hayley Bernier and Alex Aldred)
2019Alycia Pirmohamed (special mentions: Roshni Gallagher, Hattie Atkins, and Sarah Stewart)
2018Paige Smith
2017Tim Craven
2016Marianne MacRae

This prize was established in memory of Lewis Edwards, who died while a student of English Literature at the University of Edinburgh. It is open to any matriculated undergraduate student of the University.

The award, estimated value £1,400, is offered for a composition in English verse (including free verse) or prose (fiction). Poetry submissions must be no more than 80 lines, and prose (fiction) submissions must be no longer than 2,000 words. Please feel free to not use the maximum word capacity.


I am honoured to be one of the co-recipients of the Lewis Edwards Prize. I am thrilled by the room this door opens into, and how much growth it will take to fill it. More to come.

Thank you so, so much for this prize! It’s so kind, to even be considered – what a privilege! Thank you Michael!

Past winners

YearName
2025Ignacio Gil Pineda and Grace Murray (special mentions: Anjali Klinder)
2024Pollyanna Jackson (special mentions: Maya Engwell, Grace Murray)
2023Pollyanna Jackson (special mentions: Rosie Gandon, Devki Panchmatia and Holly Sargent)
2022Armaan Verma (special mentions: Hattie Atkins, Siru and Ailsa Fraser)
2021Jamie Perriam (special mentions:  Murdoch Stanfield, Millie Graham, Ally Shilson and Armaan Verma)
2020Albertine Clarke (special mention: Armaan Verma and Millie Riddell)
2019Snigdha Koirala (special mention: Polly Smythe)
2017Paula Colmenares-León
2016Quentin Scobie

This prize, estimated value £1,500, is awarded annually for a prose or verse composition in Lowland Scots vernacular to a matriculated student of the University of Edinburgh, or to a graduate of the University of Edinburgh of less than three years’ standing.

Poetry submissions must be no more than 80 lines, and prose (fiction) submissions must be no longer than 2,000 words. Please feel free to not use the maximum word capacity.

You should include a statement about the particular dialect chosen as accuracy plays a big part in determining the award (along with the literary and imaginative interest of the composition).


I am so grateful to receive this award and am very excited to see Glaswegian writing be recognised! Writing Afters was my slightly silly attempt at suggesting not all Scottish Literature comes from a place of great trauma or anguish. We (just like everyone else) sometimes find ourselves in strangely decorated and dusty flats with stranger and dustier companions.

Past winners

YearName
2025Catherine Hodge (special mention: Evan Law)
2024Suzy Enoch (special mention: Declan Kelly)
2023Declan Kelly (special mentions: Edward McLaren, Suzy Enoch and Meghan Link)
2022Jo Higgs (special mentions: Dorothy Lawrenson, Heather Dunnett and Declan Kelly)
2021Alice Orr (special mention: Alex Day)
2020Kirsty Souter (special mention: Declan Kelly)
2019Charles Lang (special mentions: Laurie Chetwood and James McPherson)
2018Miriam Huxley
2017Duncan Sneddon
2016Dominic Hale and Zoe Ramsey

Past winning and shortlisted entries

Browse winners from recent years on our Writing Prizes blog. Immerse yourself in their stories, and learn more about the people behind the words and what inspires them.

How do I enter a Prize?