Forgotten Ground Regained

The Cædmon Prize

The Cædmon Prize is a biennial competition run by Ða Engliscan Gesithas, a British society devoted to all things Old English, and is awarded to the best poem written in the Old English style, either in Old English or in modern English. Submissions are printed in the society's magazine, Withowinde.
From 1984 to 1996, the Cædmon Prize competition was judged by a committee. Through most of that period, the committee included Dr. O.D. Macrae-Gibson, a prominent scholar of Old English, and the prize competition was publicized in the Old English Newsletter and various other outlets. As a result, Cædmon Prize winners during this period included noted scholars like Charles R. Sleeth and Chris McCully, non-members with an interest in Old English, and active members like Pat Masson and Ian Greenwood.
In 1996, the prize committee was unable to select a winner, due to a paucity of submissions, and the prize lapsed. It was not awarded again until 2012 (after a couple of unsuccessful attempts at revival). In the 2012 competition, submissions appear to have come primarily from members of the Gesithas. They were published in Withowinde, with the authors’ names attached, and society members then voted to determine the final winner. From 2015 on, a slightly different procedure has been followed: poems are submitted and published anonymously in Withowinde. After the winner has been determined, the winning poem is reprinted in the next issue with the author’s name attached. In some years the winning entry has been composed in Old English.
The winners of the Cædmon Prize inclulde the following modern English poems in alliterative verse:
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