Jonathan Edwards to judge Fair Acre Press pamphlet competition
Costa poetry prize winner Jonathan Edwards will be judging the Fair Acre Press poetry pamphlet competition. There will be two winners, with one category open to all and the other open only to those who have not previously had a pamphlet or collection published (this includes self-publishing). The entry fee is £12, and the deadline is 30 November. More details
25th November 2015
Deadline nears for £1,000 Plough poetry competition
The deadline is looming for the £1,000 Plough poetry prize, to be judged this year by the poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy. The closing date is 30 November. More details
23rd November 2015
Deadline nears for Out-Spoken's £500 poetry prize
A poetry prize has been launched by the organisers of a popular poetry and music night in north London. The £500 Out-Spoken poetry prize has four separate categories, and five judges – Sabrina Mahfouz...
31st October 2015
Poetry competition questions meanings of 'natural' and 'unnatural'
If something is unnatural, does that make it bad or wrong? What does natural mean anyway? The Nuffield Council on Bioethics is launching a poetry competition in collaboration with spoken word organisa...
28th October 2015
Search is on for poems to form poetry trail in Huddersfield park
A competition has been launched to find 25 poems for a poetry trail in a Huddersfield park. The 21-acre Beaumont Park, the first public park in Huddersfield, combines formal avenues and boulevards wit...
15th October 2015
Deadline nears for Troubadour prize
Jean Sprackland and John McAuliffe will be judging the £5,000 Troubadour international poetry prize. The deadline is 19 October. More details
14th October 2015
Billy Collins to judge Poetry Business book and pamphlet competition
Billy Collins will be judging the 30th annual international Poetry Business book and pamphlet competition. Entrants are invited to submit a collection of 20-24 pages of poems for the chance to win pub...
11th October 2015
Judy Kendall to judge £1,000 Cinnamon poetry prize
Judy Kendall will be judging the Cinnamon Press £1,000 single poem prize. The deadline is 30 September. More details
20th September 2015
Kei Miller, Olivia Cole and Adam O'Riordan to judge £10,000 Manchester poetry prize
Kei Miller, Olivia Cole and Adam O’Riordan will be judging the £10,000 Manchester poetry prize for the best portfolio of three to five poems (maximum combined length: 120 lines). The deadline is 25 Se...
19th September 2015
Deadline nears for poetry collection prize
The deadline is 30 September for the Geoff Stevens memorial poetry prize, run by publishers Indigo Dreams. The two winners will have their 52-page poetry collection published by Indigo Dreams and rece...
18th September 2015
Kim Moore to judge £100 Nantwich festival competition
Kim Moore will be judging the winner of the shortlist for the £100 Nantwich Words and Music festival poetry competition. The deadline is 30 September. More details
15th September 2015
Poetry School and publisher combine to guide three poets into print
The deadline is 1 September to submit to Primers, a new annual scheme run by the Poetry School and Nine Arches Press that aims to help talented poets to find publication and receive a programme of sup...
30th August 2015
Deadline nears for £1,000 Oxford Brookes poetry competition
Bernard O’Donoghue and Hannah Lowe will be judging the £1,000 Oxford Brookes Poetry Centre poetry competition, which has a separate category for those with English as a second language. The closing da...
28th August 2015
Deadline nears for £1,000 Flambard prize
Cynthia Fuller and Jacob Polley will be judging the £1,000 Flambard poetry prize, awarded annually to the best group of five poems submitted by a poet who has not yet published a single-authored pamph...
13th August 2015
Deadline nears for £700 Torbay poetry festival competition
John Greening will be judging this year’s £700 Torbay poetry festival competition. The deadline is 28 August. The first prize winner also receives a free weekend at the poetry festival, (22 -26th Octo...
11th August 2015
Poetry book fair seeks £200 poem to 'inspire visitors'
Organisers of Free Verse, the poetry book fair that will be held in London on Saturday 26 September this year, are looking for a short poem (maximum 10 lines) on the subject of “books” to “welcome and...
11th August 2015
Deadline nears for £600 Buzzwords poetry competition
Alison Brackenbury will be judging the £600 Buzzwords poetry competition. The deadline is 23 August. More details
10th August 2015
Billy Collins to judge €10,000 Ballymaloe poetry prize
Billy Collins will be judging the €10,000 Ballymaloe poetry prize for a single unpublished poem. The competition is run in association with The Moth magazine. The four shortlisted poems will appear in...
30th July 2015
Deadline nears for Carers UK competition
Cheryl Moskowitz will be judging the Carers UK creative writing competition for poems and short stories. The organisers say: "While we're inviting entries about all aspects of caring, this year we're ...
27th July 2015
Deadline nears for £500 Wells literature festival competition
Peter Oswald will be judging the £500 Wells festival of literature poetry competition. The deadline is 31 July. There will be a poetry reading and prizegiving on 11 October. More details
23rd July 2015
Deadline nears for Bare Fiction's £1,000 debut poetry collection competition
Andrew McMillan will be judging Bare Fiction magazine’s debut poetry collection competition. First prize is £1,000, publication of your first poetry collection, and 50 free copies. Second and third pr...
8th July 2015
Deadline nears for Live Canon first collection competition
Glyn Maxwell will be judging the Live Canon first collection competition, which has a deadline of 15 July. In the first instance, you are asked to submit 16 A4 pages of the manuscript. The longlist wi...
6th July 2015
Poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy to judge £1,000 Plough poetry prize
The £1,000 Plough poetry prize will be judged by the poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy. The deadline is 30 November. More details
PHOTOGRAPH: POETRY SOCIETY / HAYLEY MADDEN
6th July 2015
End of July deadline for Foyle Young Poets of the Year
Liz Berry and Michael Symmons Roberts will be judging this year’s Foyle Young Poets of the Year award which looks for 15 top winners and 85 commended poets aged 11-17 from all over the world.
This ...
4th July 2015
Deadline nears for £1,000 Ledbury poetry competition
Deryn Rees-Jones will be judging the £1,000 Ledbury poetry festival competition. The deadline is 9 July. More details
29th June 2015
Deadline close for £700 Battered Moons competition
Pascale Petit, pictured, and Cristina Navazo-Eguía Newton will be judging the £700 Battered Moons poetry competition. The deadline is 30 June. More details
28th June 2015
Deadline nears for £1,000 McLellan poetry competition
Simon Armitage will be judging the £1,000 McLellan poetry prize, part of the annual McLellan arts festival on the Isle of Arran. The deadline is 30 June. More details
PHOTOGRAPH: GREG FREEMAN...
21st June 2015
Deadline nears for Ambit's £500 poetry competition
Dan O’Brien will be judging Ambit magazine’s £500 summer poetry competition. The deadline is 15 July. More details
Background: the Write Out Loud interview
PHOTOGRAPH: GREG FREEMAN / WRITE...
19th June 2015
Write a short poem on reading and literature aimed at youngsters
The National Literacy Trust has launched its first poetry prize, in partnership with Bloomsbury Publishing, and is asking for short poems of up to 16 lines, on the themes of reading and/or literature,...
19th June 2015
Deadline nears for Mslexia poetry competitions
The Mslexia women’s poem and pamphlet competitions are open for entries, with a closing date of 15 June. Deryn Rees-Jones will be judging the £2,000 single poem competition, which has an etnry fee of ...
3rd June 2015
Deadline nears for £250 Wirral Festival of Firsts competition
Gladys Mary Coles will be judging the £250 Wirral Festival of Firsts poetry competition. The deadline is I June. More details
30th May 2015
End of May deadline for £5,000 Bridport poetry prize
Roger McGough will be judging the 2015 Bridport poetry prize. First prize is £5,000, and the deadline is 31 May. More details
PHOTOGRAPH: GREG FREEMAN / WRITE OUT LOUD
28th May 2015
David Wheatley, Esther Morgan and Sarah Howe to judge National Poetry Competition
The Poetry Society’s 2015 National Poetry Competition is now open and the judges this year are David Wheatley, Esther Morgan and Sarah Howe. The first prize winner will receive £5,000, publication in ...
22nd May 2015
Glasgow poet laureate Jim Carruth to judge £1,500 Wigtown poetry competition
Glasgow’s poet laureate, Jim Carruth, will be judging the £1,500 Wigtown poetry competition. Peter Mackay and Frances Robson will be judging the Scottish Gaelic and Scots categories. The deadline is 2...
30th April 2015
Deadline close for £1,000 Poetry London competition
Glyn Maxwell will be judging the £1,000 Poetry London magazine competition. The deadline is 1 May. More details
30th April 2015
Julie Mellor the judge as deadline nears for £100 Red Shed competition
Julie Mellor will be judging the Wakefield-based Red Shed poetry competition. The first prize is £100, and the deadline is 25 April. More details
20th April 2015
Deadline nears for £600 Ver Poets competition
Anne-Marie Fyfe, poet and host of Coffee-House Poetry at the Troubadour, will be judging the £600 Ver Poets competition. The deadline is 30 April. Entry form
15th April 2015
Deadine nears for £600 Ware poetry competition
Carrie Etter will be judging the £600 Ware open poetry competition. The deadline is 30 April 2015. Entry form
12th April 2015
Deadline nears for £300 Buxton festival poetry competition
Helen Mort will be judging the £300 Buxton festival poetry competition, which has the theme of Time. The deadline is 20 April. More details
12th April 2015
Deadline nears for £1,000 Philip Larkin poetry competition
Jean Sprackland will be judging the £1,000 Philip Larkin Society and East Riding poetry competition. The closing date is 10 April. More details
27th March 2015
Deadline extended for £500 Wenlock poetry festival competition
The deadline of the Wenlock poetry competition has been extended for a few days to 29 March. The recipient of this year’s Queen’s Medal for Poetry, Imtiaz Dharker, will be the lead judge of the £500 W...
22nd March 2015
Deadline extended for film poem competition aimed at poets in north
The deadline has been extended to 23 March for a £100 film poem competition aimed at performance poets in the north. Performance poetry organisation Apples and Snakes says: “We believe that a film poe...
1st March 2015
Deadline nears for York literature festival's £400 poetry competition
The deadline for the York literature festival / YorkMix open poetry competition is 28 February. The judge is Carole Bromley, and the first prize has been increased to £400. More details
25th February 2015
Deadline nears for Poets and Players £400 competition
Paul Muldoon will be judging Manchester’s Poets and Players 2015 poetry competition. The first prize is £400, and the deadline is 9 March. More details
25th February 2015
Sally Spedding to judge £400 Welsh poetry competition
The £400 Welsh poetry competition is open for entries. The judge is Sally Spedding, and the deadline is 31 May. More details
10th February 2015
Simon Armitage to judge £1,000 Rialto nature poetry competition
Simon Armitage will judge the 2014 £1,000 Rialto Nature poetry competition, which is offering an additional prize of a tour with wildlife writer Mark Cocker of his most cherished places in East Anglia...
5th February 2015
George Szirtes to judge poetry competition in aid of cold weather shelters
George Szirtes will be judging the 2014-15 Camden/Lumen poetry competition, with all proceeds going to two London homeless cold weather shelters. The deadline is 14 February 2015. The prize is public...
30th January 2015
Deadline nears for £5,000 Hippocrates poetry prize
Rebecca Goss will be one of the judges of the £5,000 Hippocrates poetry prize. The other judges are author, journalist and broadcaster John Humphrys and psychiatrist Femi Oyebode. The deadline is 31 J...
29th January 2015
Deadline nears for The Interpreter's House £500 competition
Forward prize winner Liz Berry is the judge of The Interpreter’s House poetry competition. First prize is £500 and the closing date is 1 February 2015. More details
28th January 2015
Still to publish? Could you be a Faber New Poet?
Faber and Faber in partnership with Arts Council England is now accepting submissions for the 2014–15 Faber New Poets scheme. The closing date is 30 January 2015. Faber New Poets is open to those who ...
27th January 2015
Penelope Shuttle to judge £500 Teignmouth poetry competition
Penelope Shuttle is to judge Teignmouth poetry festival’s inaugural poetry competition. First prize is £500, and the closing date is 31 January 2015. More details
25th January 2015
Kim Moore to judge Manchester Cathedral poetry competition
Kim Moore will be judging this year’s £450 Manchester Cathedral poetry competition. Winners and seven runners-up will be invited to read their poetry at the Manchester literature festival event in Oct...
17th January 2015
Deadline nears for £1,000 Basil Bunting poetry award
The 15 January deadline is close for the £1,000 Basil Bunting poetry award. This year’s judge is WN Herbert. More details
11th January 2015
Toby Martinez de las Rivas to judge Melita Hume prize for younger poets
Toby Martinez de las Rivas, whose first collection, Terror, was published by Faber in 2014, will judge the £1,500 Melita Hume poetry prize for best first collection by younger poets aged 35 or under. ...
9th January 2015
Jo Shapcott will be judging £1,000 Magma poetry prize
Jo Shapcott will be judging Magma poetry magazine’s prize for poems of 11 to 50 lines. Poems of up to 10 lines will be judged by a panel of Magma editors. Both competitons have a first prize of £1,000...
2nd January 2015
