Lydia Kennaway has won this year's £1,000 Flambard poetry prize, it was announced on Thursday night. She is a New Yorker living in Yorkshire, and is a student on the Writing Poetry MA at Newcastle University. Her poems have been published in Pennine Platform, The Rialto and the Hippocrates prize anthology.

Her collection of poems, which are all linked by the theme of travelling on foot, were praised by judges Ellen Phethean and Rebecca Goss. "Her idea to document different bodies walking through an array of landscapes was fascinating and highly original," said Rebecca Goss. "Every time I read Kennaway's entry, I put the poems down wanting more."

Ellen Phethean said: "Lydia Kennaway took us on a journey of discovery. The theme of walking that linked the poems gave them a coherence, and meaning was strengthened by rhythm and thoughtful line breaks, leaving us wanting to read the rest of the collection."

The Flambard poetry prize is awarded annually to the best group of up to five poems submitted by a poet who has not yet published a single-authored pamphlet or collection. It is run by Newcastle University's Centre for the Literary Arts (NCLA), and was created in recognition of the achievements of the independent Flambard Press, which published acclaimed poetry and fiction before it closed in 2012.

The judges also praised runner-up Natalie Ree's work.  Rebecca Goss said: “Her hugely imaginative poems burst with engaging detail and tender observation.” Ellen Phethean said: “They moved and intrigued us and left a sense of mystery, of more to be discovered.”

PHOTOGRAPH: LUCREZIA LAMANNA