Young Critics Scheme 2026

Since 2022, the T. S. Eliot Prize (the most valuable prize for new poetry collections in the UK and Ireland) and Young Poets Network, The Poetry Society’s platform for poets aged up to 25, have run an exciting collaboration to support the next generation of poetry reviewers: the Young Critics Scheme. Applications for the 2026 Scheme close at noon on Monday 17 August.

About the programme
The Young Critics Scheme will offer you the chance to develop your skills in reviewing, creating video content, and writing for publication. You’ll attend a series of intensive online workshops in October and November 2026, including sessions with critics Kadish Morris and Helen Bowell. The workshops will help you to create a video review of one of the books shortlisted for the 2026 T.S. Eliot Prize: your review will be viewed widely among readers, publishers, poets, and critics. You don’t have to share your face in your review if you don’t want to!

You’ll receive copies of selected titles from this year’s shortlist – please note that once this year’s shortlist is announced in early October, we will ask reviewers to rank the collections in order of preference, but you may be asked to review a book you didn’t choose. You can find T. S. Eliot shortlists dating back to the 1990s here to get a sense the kind of work that might appear on the 2026 shortlist.

You will also receive two free tickets each to the hugely exciting T. S. Eliot Prize readings at Southbank Centre, London on Sunday 17 January 2027. The Poetry Society and T. S. Eliot Prize will contribute towards travel and accommodation expenses (where necessary) and a group meal for the cohort beforehand. Participants who are unable to travel to the readings will receive a free link to the livestream.

Beyond January 2027, you’ll be part of a network of poetry critics including your peers and the alumni of the programme, many of whom have since reviewed for leading magazines including The Poetry Review, Poetry London and Magma.

About you
This programme is open to young people aged 18-25 who live in the UK or Ireland.

The workshops will focus on critical writing around poetry. You don’t need any previous reviewing experience to take part, nor do you have to be a published poet yourself! We’re looking for young people who:

- are excited, engaged and thoughtful readers of contemporary British and Irish poetry

- can demonstrate good critical thinking and writing skills

- are committed to developing these skills and learning more about reviewing poetry

- are comfortable with video recording themselves and sharing those videos online

You’ll be expected to: attend all of the Zoom workshops; carry out tasks between sessions, including reading through the Prize shortlist; write and edit a review; record the review in video form; and communicate with The Poetry Society. Essentially, we’d be asking you to commit 25-30 hours of your time across September, October and November to the above.

More about the workshops
The workshops will take place over Zoom from 6-8pm on Monday evenings. You must be able to attend all sessions to take part.

Workshop 1: Monday 5 October
Workshop 2: Monday 12 October (featuring critic Helen Bowell)
Workshop 3: Monday 19 October (featuring critic Kadish Morris)
Workshop 4: Monday 26 October

Troubleshooting session: Monday 9 November
Final deadline: Monday 23 November