The prize recognises the best, previously unpublished poetry in the UK, and is awarded for a representative selection of a poet's work.

Paterson, also chair of the judges, said of Meier: "While there was so much to admire in the work of everyone on the shortlist, in the end it was Richard Meier's quiet strangeness, the uncanny precision of his ear, and the tenderness and clarity of his address that made us want to read his
poems again and again."

The judging panel also comprised poets Jackie Kay and John Stammers, as well as Guardian books editor Sarah Crown.

Meier works in the policy department of a leading mental health organisation, and his poems have appeared in magazines such as the Reader, the Rialto and Smiths Knoll, as well as the 2002 Oxford Poets Anthology. He lives in North London with his wife and daughter.

The Bookseller