The MAG (Mines Advisory Group) Poetry Prize 2011 is now open for entries and looks set to build on the progress made in the first two years of this innovative poetry event.

The MAG Poetry Competition is certainly different, the entrants judge each others work through an anonymous peer review system similar to that which you might expect to find in academia. ”A rigorous process”, says organiser Peter Hartey, ”but the feedback from participants is consistently positive; people enjoy taking part.”

The competition closes on Saturday, 30^th April 2011, and the two month long evaluation process will begin immediately after that.

This year, the prize fund is also different, and the winning entry stands to take away a prize of at least £2,000; the prize fund will still accumulate at £2 per entry but this year there will be a guaranteed first prize of £2,000, in order to encourage more people to enter their work.

The competition supports the Mines Advisory Group (MAG), a global humanitarian organisation working to reduce armed violence and the devastating effects remnants of conflict have on communities struggling to recover after war. MAG is co-laureate of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize.

In 2010 the number of entries to the MAG Poetry Competition almost doubled and 591 entries were received from 27 different countries including Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Croatia, Hong Kong, India, Singapore, Uganda and the USA.

You can write on any subject or in any style, up to a maximum of 42 lines, and each poem must be previously unpublished and accompanied by the £6 entry fee.

Please read the rules and regulations carefully; they can be found, along with details of how to submit your poem at: www.poeticrepublic.com