Edwin Morgan Trust
Sanctuary Queer Arts worked with the Edwin Morgan Trust to form part of the nomination committee, and the judging panel for the Edwin Morgan Poetry Award [EMPA] 2022. The EMPA was inaugurated in 2014 and is held every two years.
Conceived by Edwin Morgan with the aim of supporting young poets to reach new heights, it has supported the work of over twenty young poets with a prize of £20,000 to the winning poet, £2,500 for runners up and £1,000 for shortlisted poets. The Trust recently reformatted the EMPA to address barriers to entry in order to actively reach communities that have been historically underrepresented in the prize; changing the entry criteria, assembling a Nomination Committee, and established an open stream for applications, which were reviewed by two Peer Reviewers to ensure all voices had a chance to be heard.
Sanctuary was delighted to be part of this process and nominated 3 artists for the award:
To find these spoken word artists, we met with a host of queer Scottish spoken word artists – whittling our list down to 3 for our nomination. We were so excited to meet with such an abundance of rich literary talent, and to engage with these artists in the future.
As a result of our nomination – Bibi and Michael were shortlisted for the award, and Michael was one of the winners of 2022 EMPA! Further details of this activity can be found here https://edwinmorgantrust.com/2022/08/24/empa-2022-winners/
Bibi June Schwithal
Bodh Mullan
Michael Mullen
In continuing this partnership, (alongside the Scottish BPOC Writers’ Network) Sanctuary was asked to nominate a poet over 30 for a Moniack Mhor residency for a writer from underrepresented Scottish identities through the Trust’s The Second Life Awards.
Having recently worked with Jamie McCormick as part of our activity in Aberdeen, we were bowled over by Jamie’s creativity, talent and energy. As an LGBTQIA+ artist in their late 40s – who came out later in life and who has raised 2 children as a single parent – Jamie has had to overcome many barriers to access traditional art spaces and opportunities, and this is an exciting time in their artistic life and is uniquely placed to take advantage of Moniack Mhor’s support.
Further details: https://edwinmorgantrust.com/2022/08/18/emt-x-moniack-mhor/
