Ted Hughes Award judges Gillian Allnutt, Lemn Sissay and Sally Beamish said Bern ard’s work was, “riveting… propelled by a strong internal momentum”.
Jay Bernard is a poet, born in London in 1988. Their poetry has been published in Poetry London, Chroma, The Guardian, The Independent, and in several anthologies and have won the Poetry Society’s Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award in 2005, the Respect Slam in 2004, etc. Their works have been read at Buckingham Palace, the Globe Theatre, London, and at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s inaugural event at the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon. The Guardian named Jay Bernard one of the UK’s most inspirational 16-year-olds in 2004.
Jay Bernard also authored three poetry pamphlets: The Red and Yellow Nothing (Ink Sweat & Tears and Café Writers, 2016), English Breakfast (Math Paper Press, 2013), and Your Sign is Cuckoo, Girl (Tall Lighthouse, 2008).
ay Bernard was presented with the award by the Poet Laureate Carol Anne Duffy at a reception at the Savile Club, London on 28th March.
Note: Jay prefers gender neutral “they/them” pronouns.