Best Poem and Best Collection 2012

As explained in the announcement of the shortlist for my website awards for 2012, these personal choices depend entirely on me having read them and, thus, having been aware of them and made the decision to read them in the first place. Last year would have been made even more competitive had I read the John Burnside book before the decision but, as it was, the result wouldn't have been any different.
This year has been quieter but that takes nothing away from the decision that The World's Two Smallest Humans by Julia Copus, the only collection on the shortlist, is well worth its place alongside the previous winners of the Best Collection prize.
And when I say 'prize', there isn't one.

Kate Bingham's poem, Open, has been a big favourite since the publication of the Forward anthology and I've read it most nights and love it. It has given the winner everything to think about in a tight finish but the award of this most obscure of honours goes to Julia Copus for Stars Moving Westwards in a Winter Garden from the winning collection. And so congratulations go to her on the first double in the short history of this feature.