The Drowned Book was awarded both the T. S. Eliot Prize and Forward Prizes for Poetry in 2007. The T. S. Eliot Prize is the highest award given to poetry written by an Irish or English poet. The Forward Prizes for Poetry is a British award given to works of poetry published in England; this was the third time O'Brien received the award (to his surprise, given the competition). The judges from the Forward Prizes panel said the book is "witty and heart-wrenching".
