Catechism: Poems for Pussy Riot, a collection of poems assembled to support a jailed Russian punk band and published in association with English PEN, won the title of best poetry anthology at the Saboteur indie lit awards presented at the Book Club in London on Wednesday night.

The book was put together after Pussy Riot band members were arrested for staging a  "punk prayer" of poetry and music against Vladimir Putin and Russia's top religious official in Moscow's main cathedral. Three band members were convicted of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" for the performance, although one was later freed on appeal.

The award came as one of the jailed band members, Maria Alyokhina, was transferred to a prison hospital after going on hunger strike last week. At the presentation, one of the editors, Sophie Mayer, told the packed and enthusiastic audience: “We hoped that this would be the shout that would be heard around the world.”

The collection of 110 poets, edited by Mark Burnhope, Sarah Crewe and Mayer, includes poems by Jen Campbell, Tim Dooley, Sasha Dugdale, Adam Horovitz, Phill Jupitus, John Kinsella, Ira Lightman, John Siddique, Ali Smith, Steven Waling and Tony Walsh.

The Saboteur awards, organised by the Sabotage reviews website, were chosen by online voting. The award of best mixed anthology went to Estuary: A Confluence of Art & Poetry, a worldwide project involving artists and poets, while the title of best innovative publisher went to Penned in the Margins.

On the spoken word scene, best spoken word performer was won by Vanessa Kisuule. London's Bang Said The Gun took the title of best spoken word night, with Daniel Cockrill staging a silent acceptance to get over the point that it’s all down to the audience, while Martin Figura’s Whistle was awarded best spoken word show.

Charlotte Newman’s Selected Poems took the title of best poetry pamphlet, while Rising magazine’s Tim Wells received the award for best magazine. His acceptance speech included the following advice: “Websites and addresses make it easy for poets to find you, so are best avoided … Rising is free, but it ain’t cheap.”  Wells also asserted that “we favour working-class writers, and have consistently had a 50/50 female-male mix without even trying”. 

The award for best one-off project went to Shake the Dust for its poetry slam work with young poets around the country.

Pictures from the awards