Our Judges
Mimi Khalvati has published ten collections with Carcanet Press, including The Meanest Flower, shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize, and Child: New and Selected Poems 1991-2011, a Poetry Book Society Special Commendation. She is the founder of The Poetry School and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. In 2023 she received the King’s Gold Medal for Poetry and in 2024 Carcanet Press published her Collected Poems, for which she was awarded the inaugural Jhalak Prize for Poetry 2025.
David Morley is the author of FURY, a Poetry Book Society Choice and Forward Prize finalist; and winner of the Ted Hughes Award for The Invisible Gift: Selected Poems. His other collections from Carcanet Press include Passion, The Magic of What’s There, The Gypsy and the Poet and The Invisible Kings, both Poetry Book Society Recommendations. Originally trained as a zoologist, he researched acid rain in the tarns of the Lake District, a deep engagement with the natural world that informs his poetry. He is a Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Warwick and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Bethan Laughlin is an environmental policy expert whose work sits at the meeting point of people, politics and the natural world. Over the past decade, her career has taken her from grassroots community organising, to providing policy advice in the halls of the UK Parliament to the negotiation tables of global UN climate and nature summits. As Senior Policy Specialist at international conservation charity ZSL (Zoological Society of London), Bethan specialises in translating scientific research and evidence into the urgent, practical policy solutions needed to repair our planet and create a world where nature and people can thrive.
As ZSL marks its 200th anniversary year, Bethan’s role as judge reflects a long tradition of creative engagement with the natural world, recognising the power of poetry to stir emotions, deepen connections with nature and help us imagine more hopeful futures for wildlife and people alike.