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Irish poet Seamus Heaney was recognised for the "sheer scale" of his literary achievements with the £40,000 David Cohen prize last week, reports the Guardian.

The prize, one of the most prestigious honours for living British writers, has been won in the past by Heaney's fellow Nobel laureates VS Naipaul and Harold Pinter. It is awarded biennially for a lifetime's excellence in literature. The prize is unusual in that the winner receives a further £12,500 to be donated either to a literature organisation that supports young writers, or to an individual writer under the age of 35. Heaney chose to give the £12,500 to an annual poetry speaking competition open to all post-primary students in Ireland, Poetry Aloud.