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My Novel

UK Poetry Competitions (currently 35)

Writers’ Forum Poetry Competition.  This monthly contest from the glossy magazine Writers’ Forum is for poems of up to 40 lines.
    Closing: Monthly.  Entries arriving too late for one month go forward to the next.
    Prizes: 1st - £100.  Runners-up - A Chambers Dictionary.
    Entry Fee: £5 each for the first three, £3 each thereafter.  Enclose sae for free critique.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Forward Press Animal Antics Competition.  This is for poems of up to 30 lines about your pet.  In addition to the poem, you are expected to send a photo (of the animal, not you, you vain fool).
    Closing: Unknown.
    Prize: £1,000.
    Entry Fee: None.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Envoi International Poetry Competition.  This one, from the well-known though small magazine Envoi, is for poems up to 40 lines.
    Closing: 20th February, June and October each year.
    Prize: £150, £100, £50.
    Entry Fee: £3.00 per poem or 5 for £12.00.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Whidbey Writing Competition.  This contest from Whidbey Writers Workshop in the USA is open worldwide and is for fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry and writing for children or young adults.  Up to 1,000 words.  I should point out that they have a rather strange - and if I may say so lazy - way of selecting a winner for this one.  The judge reads submissions until he or she finds one that ‘knocks his/her socks off’.  Never mind that the next one might have divested the judge of his/her pants and woolly vest, the remaining entries are tossed aside without so much as a glance.  However, you can submit you entry again if it isn’t selected (try to get it in early, as entries are read in order of submission).
    Closing: Monthly.
    Prize: $50.
    Entry Fee: None - free to enter.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

And now a word from our sponsor.  Hello.  I’m Michael Shenton, creator of this website and author of Stiff Competition, winner of the Peter Pook Humorous Novel Competition.  People who are looking for me through search engines can remember just about everything about the website save its name and, more distressingly for me, my name. They search for ‘Peter Pook author’, ’the man who wrote Peter Pook’, ‘that bloke who won the cars’ and all manner of other odd things, but never ‘Michael Shenton’. The sole purpose of this site is to get my name known in the hope that one day dozens of people will buy my current novel and any others I manage to get published.  So would you all kindly make a note of it.  Michael Shenton.  Thank you.

Cinnamon Press Poetry Collection Award.  Entries for ths one should comprise 10 poems of up to 40 lines.
    Closing: 30.6.10, 30.11.10.
    Prize: £100 and your collection published.
    Entry Fee: £16 per batch of ten (includes a free copy of the winners’ anthology).
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Writing Spirit Award 2010.  This international contest from the Irish writers’ website Writing4all is for short fiction of up to 4,000 words, and poetry collections of between 4 and 10 poems, each poem running to no more than 20 lines.
    Closing: 30.6.10, 30.9.10, 30.11.10.
    Prizes: In each category - 1000 euros, 200 euros, 100 euros.  Winners and 17 others will be published in an anthology.
    Entry Fee: 7 euros.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Dear Michael,
     I just wanted to tell you that I won first prize in the Charnwood Arts' miniWords Poetry Competition (£250), so thank you very much for that!
                                                                               -  Mary Whitsell

Essex Poetry Festival Open Poetry Competition.  This is the tenth of these annual contests from Chelmsford in Essex, and as usual the line limit is 40.  The judge has changed, however.  This year it’s Kathryn Simmonds.  Winners will be invited to read their poems at the Festival in October.
    Closing: 30.7.10.
    Prizes: £1,000, £500, £250.  Runners-up (3) - £50.
    Entry Fee: £6 each, £20 for five.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Hi Michael
     I discovered your website last year and entered lots of comps - no prizes in 2008. This year I decided just to enter The Trowell and District Writers Trust competitions - again directed from your site and also in the hope of bettering my marks compared to my entries last year.
     I am delighted to say I went along to the Presentation yesterday and received 1st prize in the Open Poetry competition - a lovely certificate, a shield and some prize money.
     I thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon which had a "Stand and Deliver" poetry competition as well as a raffle, refreshments, sales of Members poetry, and time to chat and get to know people.
     The comps are great - all entries receive a mark and a short critique - I found all these helpful and encouraging. I feel I have new friends and a lovely day to look back on.
                                                                                -  Kate Brumby

Cooldog Publications Poetry & Short Story Competition.  They’ve been hounding me to list this one, so here goes.  It’s for stories of up to 3,000 words and poems of up to 40 lines.  The theme is open for both categories.
    Closing: 31.7.10.
    Prizes (in each category) : £100, £50, £25.
    Entry Fee: £3.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

The John Betjeman Young People’s Poetry Competition.  This contest in honour of one of Britain’s best-loved poets is open only to youngsters aged between 11 and 14.  Poems should be about the entrant’s local surroundings or any aspect of them (such as your house, street, local park, town/city, etc).  The idea behind this theme is to encourage ‘an understanding and appreciation of the importance of place’.
    Closing: 31.7.10.
    Prize: £1,000, of which half goes to the English department of your school (assuming it has one, innit?).  The winner and two runners-up will receive £50 in book tokens.  Commended entrants will be awarded books.  The prize-giving is to take place on St. Pancras International station, hopefully before the rush hour.
    Entry Fee: None - free to enter.  Only one entry per person.
    Comp Page: Click Here .

Dreamquest One Poetry and Writing Contest.  The requirement for this US contest is for poems of up to 30 lines and short stories of up to five pages, any style or theme.
    Closing: 31.7.10.
    Prizes: Stories - $500, $250, $100.   Poetry - $250, $125, $50.  Winners will be published on the website.
    Entry Fee: Stories - $10.  Poetry - $5.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2010.  This is said to be Britain’s most prestigious poetry prize for writers between the ages of 11 and 17.  Are there any others?  Can’t say I’ve come across any.  But hey, let’s give them the benefit of the doubt.  Let’s assume there are hundreds and this is the Big One.  There are two age categories: 11 to 14, and 15 to 17.  Poems can be any length and on any subject, and you can enter as many times as you like.
    Closing: 31.7.10.
    Prizes: 11 to 14 category (x 5) - A short residency at your school by some obscure, sorry leading poet.  15 to 17 (x 15) - A week long residential course at one of the prestigious Arvon writing Centres (more studying - just what any school kid dreams of).  Fifteen of the prizewinners will have their entries published in the winners’ anthology.  There are also prizes of books for schools which inspire the most entries (look out, kids: enter or die).
    Entry Fee: None - free to enter.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Slingink Prize 2010.  Here’s another contest from Slingink, this time with six categories.  The adult categories require stories of up to 3,000 words and poems of up to 40 lines.  Juniors, possibly because they are reckoned to have a shorter attention span, are limited to 1,500 words for stories and 20 lines for poems.
    Closing: 31.7.10.
    Prizes: Adults (in each category) - £80, £40, £20.  Juniors (in each category) - Amazon vouchers to the value of £20, £15, £10.  There will be a competition anthology.
    Entry Fee: Adults - £5.  Juniors - Free.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Norman MacCaig Centenary Poetry Competition.  This contest celebrates the centenary of the birth of Scottish poet Norman MacCraig whose work will no doubt be as familiar to you as it is to me.  Your poem should run to no more than 50 lines.  Alan Riach, professor of Scottish Literature at the University of Glasgow, will be one of the judges, as will Sandy Moffat, one-time head of the Glasgow Arts School.
    Closing: 31.7.10.
    Prizes: 1st - A week-long creative retreat at Glencanisp Lodge in Assynt, a sprawling metropolis/town/village/hamlet/couple of cottages (delete as appropriate) in the north-west Highlands of Scotland.  2nd - £200.  3rd - £100.  Runners-up (10) - £10 in book tokens.
    Entry Fee: £5 each, £12 for three.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Over The Edge New Writer of the Year Competition.  Cheerful Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop in Galway, Ireland is again sponsoring this contest from Irish literary organisation Over the Edge.  As in previous years the requirement is for stories of up to 3,000 words and 3 poems of up to 40 lines each (or one poem of up to 100 lines).
    Closing: 3.8.10.
    Prize: Fiction - 300 euros.   Poetry - 300 euros.  One of the category winners will be chosen as the overall winner and will receive a further 400 euros.
    Entry Fee: 10 euros.  Multiple entries will be charged at 7.50 euros each.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Manchester Poetry Prize.  This international contest from Manchester Writing School at the Manchester Metropolitan University celebrates ‘the substantial cultural and literary achievements of Manchester’ of which I am unable to give an example at this time.  My childhood memories of Manchester are centred around Moss Side where my father ran a fast-food business (chip shop, as we called it back then).  I was kept locked in the celler peeling spuds, with a 15-watt light bulb for company.  It was there in that creepy dungeon, while peering into the dark corners, that I developed my vivid imagination - not to mention my nervous twitches.  Culture?  Literature?  Be serious.  But times, I suppose, have changed.  So let us return to the competition. To enter you submit a portfolio of three to five poems running to no more than 120 lines in total.
    Closing: 6.8.10.
    Prize: £10,000.
    Entry Fee: £15.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Arvon International Poetry Competition.  This contest, founded by acclaimed poet Ted Hughes, is celebrating its 30th year by offering its biggest prize ever.  There is no theme - unless you want to try for the special prize detailed below.  Poems should be no longer than 42 lines.
    Closing: 16.8.10 (5pm GMT).
    Prizes: 1st - £7,500.  2nd - £2,500.  3rd - £1,000.  Commendations (3) - £500.  There is in addition a special prize donated by the Wenlock Poetry Festival for the best poem with the theme: The Pity of War.  If you win this you will be invited to read your entry at the Festival in 2011, so you might like to know that Much Wenlock is a medieval town in Shropshire, described on the tourst site as off the beaten track (therefore expect to have to complete your journey on the back of a mule or similar ... assuming there is any transport at all).
    Entry Fee: £7.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Dear Michael

Just to let you know I’ve been entering writing competitions for several years and this year came second in the 19^th Feile Filiochta International Poetry Competition. Hurrah! I probably wouldn’t have heard about it but for your site (and I still don’t know how to say it). I don’t even consider it one of my better poems – but it was free to enter. It just goes to show that literary competition judges have to be very subjective in the end, so it’s worth carrying on even when you don’t feel that confident. Anyway, I’m off to spend my winnings of 500 euros (that’s very nearly £375 in real money). Keep up the good work!
     Here’s a link to the poem that won the prize
     All the best - Clare Kirwan

Sentinal Literature Festival Poetry Competition.  This is for poems of up to 40 lines on any subject.  The judge will be Roger Elkin, former editor of Envoi magazine, who is described on the website as legendary.  I’ve never heard of him myself, but I’m sure that in the right circles he needs no introduction.
    Closing: 20.8.10.
    Prizes: £250, £130, £70.  The three winners and seven highly commended poems will be published in the Festival Anthology.
    Entry Fee: £5 each, £13 for three, £20 for five.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Malton Literature Festival Open Creative Writing Competition.  I must confess I’ve never heard of Malton, and when I saw the three leeks on the homepage of the website, I assumed it to be in Wales.  But on further investigation I discovered that it’s in Yorkshire.  Fast becoming a gourmet’s paradise, apparently -  hence the leeks.  Now, you will perhaps be thinking that the theme of the contest is leeks, or at least food of some kind, but in fact there is no theme.  Just write a poem of up to 40 lines on any subject, or a short story running to no more than 2,000 words.  There are categories for young writers, and here the line limit for poems is 30, while stories should be curtailed at 1,000 words.  Award-winning writer Andy Humphrey, who knows his onions if not his leeks, will be the judge.
    Closing: 22.8.10.
    Prizes: In each adult category - £100, £150, £25.  The precise nature and value of the young writers’ prizes are not stated, so brace yourself for a colouring book and some crayons (plus of course the prestige of being a winner at the first ever Malton Literature Festival).
    Entry Fee: Adults - £4.  Young Writers - Free.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Aesthetica Creative Works Competition.  This one from Aesthetica magazine is, they say, an opportunity for new and established artists and writers to ‘nurture their reputations on an international scale’.  Get known, in other words.  The contest has three categories of which only the first two, Fiction and Poetry, need concern us here (the third is Artwork & Photography, in case you are wondering).  Stories should be no more than 2,000 words, while poems are limited to 40 lines.
    Closing: 31.8.10.
    Prizes: £500 in each category.  Winners will be published in the Aesthetica Creative Works Annual.
    Entry Fee: £10.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Nottingham Open Poetry Competition.  This hardy annual from the Nottingham Poetry Society is for poems of up to 40 lines.  You can read last year’s winners on the comp page.
    Closing: 31.8.10.
    Prizes: £300, £150, £75.  Merit Prizes: A year’s subscription to Assent.  Prizewinning poems will be published in the mag.
    Entry Fee: £3 each, £10 for four.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Tenby Arts Festival Writing Competition.  This one from Tenby (boldly billed on the tourist info site as ‘probably the prettiest town in Wales’), is for stories of up to 1,500 words and poems of up to 40 lines.  As you will note when reading the rules (you do always read the rules, right?) you are required to submit two copies of each entry.  Failure to do this will result in rejection.
    Closing: 31.8.10.
    Prizes (in each category): £150, £70, £30.
    Entry Fee: £4 each, £6 for two, £8 for three.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Baskalier Publishing Poetry Anthology Competition.  This is for poems of up to 40 lines on the theme of Extinction.  Note that for this contest spaces between stanzas count as lines.  There are two age categories: Schools (11 to 16), and Open (16+).  Traditional styles of poetry are welcome as well as contemporary.
    Closing: 31.8.10.
    Prizes: Open Category - £70, £30, £20.  Schools - £50, £25, £10, in book tokens.  Winners will be published in an anthology and will receive free copies as specified.  Other entries may be published, with the payment being a free copy.
    Entry Fee: £2.
    Comp Page: Click Here

Dear Michael
   I discovered your excellent site a few months back and entered some of the poetry competitions. I have in all my long years never received a payment for anything I have written, but I today received an email from Cooldog Publications to say I have won second prize in their E-mag Poetry Competition! £50! What a great way to start the new year.
   I just had to write and say thanks to you for the trouble you have taken with your site and how much I appreciate the sense of humour that underpins it.
  This has given me a terrific boost.
                                                                                -  Carol Browne

Countryside Tales Autumn Poetry Competition.  Poems of up to 40 lines about the countryside in autumn are required for this one.
    Closing: 31.8.10.
    Prizes: £50, £25, £15.  The winning entries will be published in Countryside Tales.  Shortlisted entries may also be considered.
    Entry Fee: £3.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Salopean Annual Poetry Contest.  This one comes courtesy of the Salopian Poetry Society and is for poems of up to 40 lines.
    Closing: 31.8.10.
    Prize: £200, £100, £50.
    Entry Fee: £3 each, £10 for four.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

The High Sheriff’s Cheshire Prize for Literature.  This contest, which is open only to writers with some connection to Cheshire, is for poems or collections of poems not exceeding 100 lines.  It is administered by the University of Chester and funded by Bank of America.  To be eligible you must have been born, work or have worked, live or have lived, study or have studied, in Cheshire.  If you lived there for just a fortnight while on holiday in Stockport, I’m afraid this doesn’t count, although you might be in line for a medal of some sort.
    Closing: 1.9.10.
    Prizes: 1st - £2,000.  Addtional prize money of £750 will be awarded to other entrants, and the best entries will be published.
    Entry Fee: None - free to enter.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Poole Literary Festival New Media Writing Prize .  This one, run in conjunction with Bournemouth University Media School, is for new ways of sharing writing with an audience.  None of that old-fashioned ‘you write, they read’ hardcopy stuff.  Your work has to be delivered by computer, mobile phone, Internet, etc, and should have an element of interactivity.  I used to think hardcopy was interactive.  You had to open a letter or go out and buy a newspaper or magazine to read what the writer had written, and you could drop it on the floor and stamp on it if you didn’t like it.  But interactive, it seems, is when you prod a button on a mobile phone or click a mouse to select some gimmicky option designed to liven things up.  No substitute for lively writing in my view, but I’m hopelessly old-fashioned.  Entries should be complete stories, poems or collections of poems.
    Closing : 15.9.10 (noon).
    Prizes: 1st - £250 and an Apple iPad.  Best Student New Media Writing - £250 plus Apple iPad.
    Entry Fee: None - free to enter.
    Comp Page: Click Here .

Tom Howard/John H Reid Poetry Contest.  This annual contest from American website Winning Writers is for poems of any length.
    Closing: 30.9.10.
    Prizes: $3,000, $1,000, $400, $250.  In addition there will be six ‘Most Highly Commended’ awards of $100 each.  The ten winning entries will be published on the website.
    Entry Fee: $7 for every 25 lines submitted.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Hi Michael,
     Thanks for a very useful website. Since finding the contact details on your site, I've won the Txtlit competition twice, and the Write Invite competition four times. With the prize money I'm now entering other competitions. Thanks for keeping us writers posted!
     Best regards, Uta Coutts

Pennine Ink Poetry Competition.  This freebie from Burnley is for UK poets only.  Entries should be limited to 30 lines, any style or subject.
    Closing: 7.10.10.
    Prize: £50.  The top three entries will be published in an anthology.
    Entry Fee: None - free to enter.
    Details: Email the co-ordinator, Laura Sheridan, at: sheridansdandl@yahoo.co.uk

The Earth Vision Nature Writing Contest 2010.  This US competition is held ‘to support the cause of writing on the subject of nature and deep ecology’.  It is for fiction, creative non-fiction, poetic prose or poetry with some element of nature woven into it.
    Closing: 15.10.10.
    Prizes: 1st - $500.  2nd - $10.  3rd - $100.  Honourable Mentions (2) - An honourable mention.
    Entry Fee: $12.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Poetry Society National Poetry Competition.  In 1983 Carol Ann Duffy won this contest, and 26 years later she became the Poet Lauriate.  So if you’re hoping to become an overnight sensation, this is probably not the ideal contest.  But there are compensations.  The top cash award is one of the best in the business, and the second prize isn’t bad either.  In addition, Carol Ann Duffy is not one of the judges.  The thing that makes me uneasy about this one is that the hardcopy entry form asks for your age and ethnic background.  They say this is for statistical purposes only, but I still don’t think it belongs on a competition entry form.  However, I have no complaints about the line limit which is 40.
    Closing: 31.10.10.
    Prizes: £5,000, £2,000, £1,000.  Runners-up (7) - £100.  Winners will be published on the website and in Poetry Review.
    Entry Fee: £6 for the first, £3 thereafter.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Leaf Books Tiny Weeny Writing & Drawing Competition.  The writing can be in any form - poem, story, playlet, tweet - but must not run to more than 140 characters including spaces and punctuation.  Now, wouldn’t it be clever if I’d used exactly 140 characters here?  Ah well, you can’t have everything.
    Closing: 31.10.10.
    Prize: £75 and a year’s subscription to the Leaf Writing Magazine.  Selected entries will be published in the mag.
    Entry Fee: £2 each, £10 for six.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Ragged Raven Poetry Competition.  This is the 13th of these annual contests from Ragged Raven Press of Stratford-upon-Avon.  As usual there is no line limit.  You can ramble on to your heart’s content, confident in the knowledge that a warm welcome awaits you from judges with nothing better to do than spend signifcant portions of their lives battling their way through the obscurities of your endlessly convoluted thought processes.  So you toil mightily, send in your entry and wait, tingling with anticipation.  Then a bell rings.  There’s someone at the door.  It’s a Ragged Raven judge with a shotgun.  Have you perhaps overdone it?
    Closing: 31.10.10.
    Prizes: 1st - £300.  Runners-up (4) - £50.  Winners will be published in an anthology.
    Entry Fee: £3 each, £10 for four.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Envoi International Poetry Competition.  This one, from the well-known though small magazine Envoi, is for poems up to 40 lines.
    Closing: 20th February, June and October each year.
    Prize: Poetry books to the value of £150, £100, £50.
    Entry Fee: £3.00 per poem or 5 for £12.00.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Segora Poetry Competition.  Poems of up to 40 lines (in English) are required for this one from The International Writers Block based in France.  Roger Elkin, published poet, will be judging.
    Closing: 14.11.10.
    Prizes: £100, £30, £15.
    Entry Fee: £3.50 each, £6 for two, £8 for three, etc.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

The New Writer Prose & Poetry Prizes 2010.  There are three categories in this annual contest: Fact (essays, articles, interviews - up to 4,000 words), Fiction (stories - up to 2,000 words; serials/novellas - up to 20,000 words) and Poetry (singles - up to 40 lines, collections - between 6 and 10 poems).
    Closing: 30.11.10.
    Prizes: Fact - £150, £100, £50.  Fiction: Short Stories - £300, £200, £100; Novella - £300.  Poetry Single - £100, £75, £50.  Poetry Collection - £300, £200, £100.
    Entry Fees: Fact - £5.  Fiction - £5 for short stories, £15 for Serials/Novellaa.  Poetry - £5 for two single poems, £12 for collections.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

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Notes: Unless otherwise stated in the rules, poetry should be single-spaced.  It is sometimes the case that your name shouldn’t appear on the manuscript. Check the rules.  If you put your name on there after being told not to, you’re out.  Don’t use coloured paper or fancy fonts.  The colour and pizzazz to make you stand out from the crowd should be in the words.  Plain white A4 80gsm paper is the stuff to use, with plain black typing or print.  My preferred font for poetry manuscripts printed on an inkjet or laser printer is Gill Sans in 12 point (13 if I’m not pressed for space).  This gives a clear, dark print that’s easy to read.  Although publishers and agents sometimes demand the feeble Courier font, which comes out on my printers like something produced by a typewriter with an antique ribbon, I’ve never never known competition organisers to express any preference.  But as always, check the rules.  Finally, write on one side of the sheet only - unless asked to put your address, etc, on the back.
 

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Disclaimer

For other types of writing competitions, see the full list of literary contests on my Writing Comps page.