This year’s Poetry Business International Book and Pamphlet competition will be judged by Simon Armitage, with the deadline 29 November 2012 (post entries) and 1 December 2012 (online entries). Entrants are invited to submit a collection of 20-24 pages of poems to have a chance of winning a cash prize and publication by Smith/Doorstop Books.

Four first stage winners are selected and given the opportunity to submit a full-length manuscript to the second round of the competition, in which one of them can win book publication. The three first-stage winners receive pamphlet publication. 

All four winners will receive an equal share of £2,000, and have a launch reading at the Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere (spring 2013) and read alongside Simon Armitage at the 2013 Off The Shelf festival in Sheffield.

Entry costs £25 (or £20 for Friends of the Poetry Business and subscribers to The North poetry magazine). A surcharge of £1 is applied for entries submitted online. Previous competition winners include Daljit Nagra, Mimi Khalvati, Michael Laskey, Patrick McGuinness, Allison McVety, Pascale Petit, Kathryn Simmonds and Catherine Smith. To enter the competition, read the terms and conditions here and find the FAQs here. Entries can be submitted by post with an entry form, or online using the form here.