A poem from The Empty Horizon, ‘Monster Child’ was longlisted for the National Poetry Competition in 2013.
Another Empty Horizon poem, ‘Half-remembered Books’, was longlisted for the National Poetry Competition twice, in 2014 and 2015.
‘Brian of the North’, from The Empty Horizon, was shortlisted for Live Canon’s International Poetry Competition in 2014, and won the Borough Prize, awarded in that competition to the best poem by an author living or working in Greenwich. (Paul immediately pointed out that he does not live or work in Greenwich and that some mistake had occurred. Live Canon boss Helen Eastman and judge Glyn Maxwell very kindly allowed the award to stand anyway.) The poem appears, with all the shortlisted poems, in their 2014 Anthology.
‘In a Dawlish Telephone Box’, also from The Empty Horizon, was shortlisted for Live Canon’s International Poetry Competition in 2015, and appears in their 2015 Anthology.
Paul’s poem, ‘Morning: Deptford’, was longlisted for the poetry section of the Bridport Prize in 2015.
In January 2015, Paul won the Pat Kavanagh Award, presented annually by United Agents, in partnership with Goldsmiths College, University of London, to “the most outstanding student” on Goldsmiths’ MA programme in Creative and Life Writing.
Here’s the report on the Pat Kavanagh Award from the Goldsmiths College website.
And here’s a report from the South London Press. (For the record, Paul absolutely did not, at this or any other time, ever, say “words come easy to me”.)
Paul’s poem, ‘A Room In the City’, from The Empty Horizon, was awarded Third Prize in the Poetry London Competition in 2015. In his report on the competition, published in Poetry London Magazine, judge Glyn Maxwell described the “exhilarating skill” of the poem and remarked, “I keep noticing Paul Carney’s poems, and I believe you will, too.” The full Judge’s Report can be read here.
Here’s Paul reading the poem at the Poetry London prizegiving ceremony and magazine launch at King’s Place, 9th November 2015 (photograph by Derek Harper, who has somehow made Paul look like a Warhol screenprint and transformed the red and black stripes of his shirt into red and white stripes).
Here’s Paul after the Poetry London prizegiving, with First Prize winner Geraldine Clarkson, 9th November 2015 (photograph by Bernadette Reed).
In December 2015, The Empty Horizon won Live Canon’s First Collection Competition.