Deadline nears for €10,000 Ballymaloe poetry competition
The Ballymaloe international poetry prize – one of the biggest prizes in the world for a single poem – is to be judged by Forward and Costa prize winner Michael Symmons Roberts. The prize is sponsored by Irish celebrity chef Darina Allen and her Ballymaloe Cookery School in Ireland, and organised in association with The Moth magazine. There are four cash prizes for a single unpublished poem – €1...
27th December 2014
End of December deadline for Canterbury poetry competition
Helen Ivory will be judging Canterbury-based SaveAs Writers’ poetry competition. First prize is £100, and the deadline is 31 December 2014. More details
PHOTOGRAPH: DAVID ANDREW / WRITE OUT LOUD
27th December 2014
Helen Ivory to judge Prole Laureate competition
Helen Ivory will be judging the £200 Prole Laureate poetry competition. The deadline is 31 January 2015. More details
28th November 2014
John McCullough to judge £750 Four Counties competition
John McCullough will be judging the Four Counties Poets Competition, run by Rottingdean Writers’ Group, open to poets connected to Greater London, Kent, Surrey, and Sussex. The first prize is £750, an...
17th November 2014
'Keeping hope alive' is theme of Leeds Peace Poetry competition
The Leeds-based charity, Together for Peace, has launched its 2014 open poetry competition, and this year’s theme is Peace not War: Keeping Hope Alive 1914-18. Entries should be no longer than 24 line...
14th November 2014
Mario Petrucci to judge £1,000 Kent & Sussex competition
Mario Petrucci will be judging and reading all the submissions to the £1,000 Kent and Sussex poetry competition. The deadline is 31 January 2015. More details
5th November 2014
Billy Collins to judge Poetry Business book and pamphlet competition
Popular American poet Bill Collins is to judge the Poetry Business book and pamphlet competition, which has an end of November deadline. The other judges are Ann and Peter Sansom, directors of The Poe...
5th November 2014
David Morley to judge £1,000 Cafe Writers poetry competition
David Morley is the sole judge of the £1,000 Cafe Writers poetry competition. Categories include the funniest poem, and a Norfolk prize. The deadline is 30 November. More details
4th November 2014
Deadline nears for Bare Fiction magazine's £500 poetry prize
Adam Horovitz will be judging Bare Fiction magazine’s £500 poetry prize. The deadline is 31 October, and there are short story and flash fiction competition categories, too. More details
27th October 2014
End of October deadline for the £5,000 National Poetry Competition
Roddy Lumsden, Glyn Maxwell and Zoe Skoulding are the judges this year in the Poetry Society’s £5,000 National Poetry Competition - one of the biggest poetry competitions in the world. Last year it a...
23rd October 2014
Deadline nears for £5,000 Troubadour poetry prize
Poetry editors Neil Astley (Bloodaxe) and Amy Wack (Seren) will be judging this year’s Troubadour poetry prize, and reading all the entries. The top prize has been increased to £5,000, and the deadli...
16th October 2014
Publication prize for Geoff Stevens competition winners
The closing date is 30 September for a competition in which two winners will have their poetry collections published. The Geoff Stevens Memorial poetry prize is organised by publishers Indigo Dreams. ...
22nd September 2014
Deadline nears for Black Country museum competition
There's till time to enter the third Black Country Living Museum £100 annual poetry competition - the deadline is 26 September. This year’s theme, “conflict and contemplation”, is inspired by the stor...
7th September 2014
Kate Tempest joins Slambassadors search to find new young performers
Performance poetry star Kate Tempest will be on the judging panel for Slambassadors UK, the Poetry Society’s national youth slam championships, aimed at finding and nurturing the next generation of sp...
28th August 2014
Deadline nears for Nantwich poetry competition
Luke Wright will be judging the shortlisted entries at the Nantwich Words and Music festival poetry competition. The deadline is 19 September, and the winners will be announced at the festival on 7 Oc...
21st August 2014
Pollard, Horovitz, and O'Riordan to judge £10,000 Manchester poetry prize
Clare Pollard, Adam Horovitz, and Adam O’Riordan will be judging the £10,000 Manchester Writing Competition, organised by Manchester Metropolitan University's Writing School. The deadline is 29 August...
18th August 2014
Deadline nears for £700 Torbay poetry competition
RV Bailey will be judging the £700 Torbay poetry competition. The deadline is 15 August, and the winners’ names will be announced on 25 October at the Torbay poetry festival. More details
6th August 2014
Mid-August deadline for £600 Buzzwords competition
Jonathan Davidson is the judge of the £600 Buzzwords competition, organised by the Cheltenham open mic night. Poems can be up to 70 lines, and the deadline is 17 August. More details
4th August 2014
Last few days before Foyle Young Poets deadline
Grace Nichols and Simon Barraclough will be judging the Poetry Society’s Foyle Young Poets of the Year award, open to those aged 11 to 17. The deadline is 31 July, and the winners will be announced o...
30th July 2014
Deadline nears for £1,000 Live Canon competition
Glyn Maxwell is the judge of the £1,000 Live Canon poetry competition, which has a deadline of 31 July. Twenty-five shortlisted poems are published in an annual anthology, and all 25 are also performe...
28th July 2014
Roll up for Stanza's digital slam - and share a virtual stage with some of Africa's finest poets
Stanza, Scotland’s international poetry festival, is staging a digital poetry slam with a Commonwealth theme to mark the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. It’s being run in partnership with the pan-Afri...
25th July 2014
End of July deadline for Ambit magazine's £500 competition
Do you like to write outside, inside, or off your head? Scrawling ink across paper, or scribbling in bed? Is it nature, is it nurture? What’s your influence? Roddy Lumsden is the main judge of Ambit m...
22nd July 2014
Soaking up the words: last chance to have your poem on beermat
You could have your poem printed on a beermat as one of 10 shortlisted poets in Bradford on Avon arts festival’s competition. Send in a poem of up to 12 lines on the festival’s theme of Light. If it’s...
20th July 2014
Kathryn Simmonds to judge £2,000 Charles Causley competition
Kathryn Simmonds will be the judge of the £2,000 Charles Causley poetry competition. The deadline is 6 November. More details
7th July 2014
Deadline nears for £1,000 Ledbury festival competition
Ian McMillan will be judging this year’s £1,000 Ledbury poetry festival competition, which has a deadline of 10 July. All winners will get a chance to read at the festival. More details
23rd June 2014
End of month deadline for poems 'in the spirit' of Wilfred Owen
The Wilfred Owen Association has launched a competition inviting poems “in the spirit” of the first world war poet, with a first prize of £500, and the chance to be published in an anthology. Owen's b...
22nd June 2014
John Evans to judge £400 Welsh poetry competition
John Evans will be judging this year’s £400 international Welsh poetry competition, which has a deadline of 15 June. Writer and competition organiser Dave Lewis said: “We do not use filter judges and ...
3rd June 2014
David Morley to judge £500 Battered Moons competition
David Morley will be the main judge in the £500 Battered Moons poetry competition. The deadline is 30 June. The three winners and four commended poets will be invited to read their poems at the Swindo...
29th May 2014
Deadline approaches for £2,000 Wigtown festival competition
WN Herbert will be the main judge in the £2,000 Wigtown book festival poetry competition. The deadline is 30 May. More details
25th May 2014
Deadline approaches for £5,000 Bridport poetry prize
Scotland’s makar – poet laureate - Liz Lochhead will be the judge of this year’s £5,000 Bridport poetry prize. The cost is £8 per entry, and the top four poems are submitted to the Forward Prize for b...
24th May 2014
Deadline approaches for 250-guinea Frogmore poetry prize
The Frogmore poetry prize has been launched, with the winner receiving the sum of 250 guineas. The deadline is 31 May, and the judge will be Abegail Morley. More details
23rd May 2014
Check out Roger McGough's poems at Waitrose, and have a go yourself
The deadline is Thursday 15 May for the first round of a poetry competition in which winning poems will be displayed in the aisles of Waitrose stores. A selection of short and light-hearted poems by t...
14th May 2014
Southbank's poetry film competition on the theme of love
Southbank Centre in London has launched Shot Through The Heart, a poetry film competition on the theme of love - the joy of first love, the pain of lost love, the confusion of displaced love, the pur...
12th May 2014
'Yes. I remember Adlestrop.' Village's competition to mark poem's centenary
One of England’s most famous poems is the subject of a competition on its centenary. ‘Adlestrop’, by Edward Thomas, was written about a stop made by his train at a deserted country station in June 191...
27th April 2014
Forward and Costa winner to judge Poetry London competition
Forward and Costa poetry prize winner Michael Symmons Roberts will be judging Poetry London magazine’s £1,000 competition. The deadline is 2 May. More details
20th April 2014
Roddy Lumsden to judge Ware poetry competition
Roddy Lumsden will be judging the £600 Ware Poets open competition. The deadline is 30 April. More details
20th April 2014
Deadline nears for Cornwall poetry competition
Imtiaz Dharker will be the judge of the £500 Cornwall contemporary poetry festival competition, with a deadline of 30 April 2014. The festival, organised by Falmouth Poetry Group, will take place on 2...
20th April 2014
Emily Berry to judge £1,400 Melita Hume prize
Forward prize winner Emily Berry will be judging the £1,400 Melita Hume poetry prize, open to those up to the age of 35 who have not yet published a full poetry collection. Entry is free, and the firs...
22nd March 2014
Lemn Sissay and Rhian Edwards to judge £5,000 Cardiff competition
Lemn Sissay and Rhian Edwards will be the judges of the £5,000 Cardiff international poetry competition, which has a closing date of 14 March. The filter judge will be Samantha Wynne Rhydderch. More d...
13th March 2014
Don Paterson to judge £1,000 Philip Larkin and East Riding prize
Don Paterson will be judging this year’s £1,000 Philip Larkin Society and East Riding poetry prize. The deadline is 14 April. More details
1st March 2014
Vona Groarke to judge £400 Poets and Players competition
Vona Groarke will be judging Manchester’s Poets and Players’ £400 poetry competition. The deadline is 16 April. All poems will be judged anonymously. Groarke has published five collections and teaches...
27th February 2014
Brittle Star launches first competition
Jacqueline Gabbitas, pictured, and Mimi Khalvati will be judging poetry entries in Brittle Star magazine’s first poetry and short fiction competition. First prize is £250 per genre, and the deadline i...
26th February 2014
Daljit Nagra to judge £500 Wenlock festival competition
Daljit Nagra is leading the judging panel for the £500 Wenlock poetry festival competition. The deadline is 17 March. Nagra said he was looking for poems “that come in any forms and sizes, that are co...
24th February 2014
Natural World is theme for £300 Buxton poetry competition
Buxton poetry competition is seeking entries on the theme of The Natural World. Helen Mort is the judge of the £300 competition, which has a deadline of 7 April. More details
23rd February 2014
End of February deadline for €1,000 Strokestown poetry competition
The deadline is 28 February for Ireland’s Strokestown poetry festival competition with a first prize of €1,000. The festival in County Roscommon takes place on 2-4 May. More details
19th February 2014
Manchester Writing School's £2,000 Writing for Children prize
Manchester Writing School has launched a £2,000 Writing for Children prize, open to new and established writers aged from 16 upwards. Entrants should submit a portfolio of three to five poems, to be ...
14th February 2014
York poetry judge Carole Bromley offers competition tips
A poetry competition judge has offered some tips, and an insight into how her own competition is going, a couple of weeks before its deadline. Carole Bromley, who is judging the £250 YorkMix / York li...
14th February 2014
Deadline nears for Camden/Lumen poetry competition
The judge is Sir Andrew Motion and the closing date is 14 February for the Camden/Lumen poetry competition, which raises money for cold weather shelters. The prize is 50 free copies of a perfect bound...
9th February 2014
Erbacce-press offers book publication prize
The erbacce-press poetry prize competition is now open, with the first prize being book publication of the winner’s poems. Entry is free, with the deadline 30 June. Erbacce-press is a writers’co-opera...
7th February 2014
Deadline extended for £5,000 Hippocrates poetry prize
The deadline has been extended to 10 February for the £5,000 Hippocrates international competition for an unpublished poem on a medical subject. Poems must be no more than 50 lines. More details
7th February 2014
Deadline nears for Poetry School/Pighog competition
Catherine Smith and Simon Barraclough are the judges of this year’s Poetry School / Pighog poetry pamphlet competition. Entrants should submit a maximum of 10 poems. The closing date is 31 January 201...
27th January 2014
Cathedral competition judged by Helen Tookey
Helen Tookey, managing editor of poetry publishers Carcanet, will be judging this year’s £450 Manchester Cathedral poetry competition. Poems submitted should be broadly religious or spiritual in natur...
24th January 2014
Kate Noakes to judge Prole Laureate competition
The deadline is 1 February for entry to the £140 Prole Laureate magazine poetry competition. The judge is Kate Noakes. The winning poem will be published in Prole 13 in April 2014. More details
22nd January 2014
End of January deadline for £1,000 Kent & Sussex poetry competition
The deadline is 31 January for the £1,000 competition run by Kent & Sussex Poetry Society. Pascale Petit will be the judge, and she will read all the entries. More details
16th January 2014
Templar launches quarterly short poetry pamphlets award
Templar Poetry has introduced a new poetry pamphlet award, that will result in four new short pamphlets each year. Submissions are open for the first award until 3 March 2014. Poets are invited to sub...
5th January 2014
Awards aimed at young writers aged up to 18 and living in north
The deadline is 17 January to apply for two awards aimed at young writers aged up to 18 living in the north of England. The Cuckoo Young Writers award offers a prize worth £500 to a promising young wr...
5th January 2014
Welcome to 2014! Here are some poetry prizes to try for
It’s 2014 – and a happy new year to you all from everyone at Write Out Loud. Hope it's a good one for you, and for us, too. So what about those New Year resolutions? Some of you might be hoping to win...
1st January 2014
