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UK Poetry Competitions (currently (27)

Foyle Young Poets Competition.  Here’s a repeat of the annual poetry contest from the Poetry Society.  It is for poets between the ages of 11 and 15.  Entries can be up to 40 lines,  There is no theme.
    Closing : 31.7.24.
    Prizes: The 15 top winners will receive Poetry Society mentoring packages and their poems will be published in a print anthology.  All winners (100) will  receive youth membership of the Society, plus goody bags containing unspecified items (possibly sweets, weed, etc).   All will be invited to an awards ceremony.  Winning entries will appear in an online anthology.
    Entry Fee : None - free entry.
    Comp Page:  Folye Young Poets

Winchester Poetry Prize.  Back with a bang like a shot from a Winchester rifle is this annual contest from the Winchester Poetry Festival.  It is for poems of up to 40 lines.  Prizewinning poet Clare Shaw will be judging.
    Closing: 31.7.24..
    Prizes: £1,000, £500, £250.  Winners will be announced live at the Winchester Poetry Festival on Saturday, October 5, 2024.  Winning and commended poems will appear in an anthology which will be available on the day.  There is also a prize for the best poem written by a Hampshire-based poet.
    Entry Fee: £6 for the first, £5 thereafter.
    Comp Page: Winchester Fest.

Stephen Spender Prize for Poetry Translation.  This year’s contest has changed, with the Adult category now open worldwide, and additional categories added.  To enter, translate into English any poem from any language (60 lines max, extracts are accepted), then submit it together with a commentary of up to 300 words (see website for details) and the original poem.  There are other categories as well as Adult and Youth (one for schools, one for Teachers and one for poems celebrating Portuguese culture).  There is even a category for  BSL translations (you send in a link to a sign language video along with your entry).
    Closing: 31.7.24.
    Prizes: Adults - 1st - £1,000 and publication in Modern Poetry in Translation magazine.  2nd - £500.  3rd - £250.  All three winners will be published the Stephen Spender prize booklet, and there will be online publication for others.  The winning poem will be published in the print edition of Modern Poetry in Translation.  Youth Categories: 18 and Under - £100 each for three winners.  14 and Under - £75 each for three winners.
    Entry Fee: Adults - £10 for the first, £5 each for up to two more.  Entry is free if you are 18 or under.
    Comp Page: Spender Prize.

Clevedon Litfest Competition.  The open poetry category is for anyone resident in the UK, but the short story category is only for residents of North Somerset.  In both cases entrants must be 19 or over. Poems should run to no more than 40 lines, while stories can be up to 500 words.
    Closing: 12.8.24.
    Prizes (in each category): £100, £75, £50.
    Entry Fee: £5.
    Comp Page: Clevedon Litfest

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

SAW Summer Competitions.  You don't have to be a member of SAW (Scottish Association of Writers) to enter these two open contests, one for short stories, the other for poems, but you do have to be over 16.  Stories should be between 2,000 and 3,000 words.  Poems have a limit of 40 lines.  In both cases there is no theme.  Douglas Bruton will be judging the stories while Gail Anderson will assess the poetry.
    Closing: 24.8.24.  Open for entries from 5.6.24.
    Prizes: Stories - £100, £50, £25.  Poetry - £100, £50, £25.
    Entry Fee: £7.
    Comp Page: SAW Comps

Aesthetica Creative Writing Award.  The writing in question for this contest from Aesthetica Magazine is short fiction running to no more than 2,000 words, and poetry of up to 40 lines.  Submissions can be on any subject and may have been previously published.
    Closing: 31.8.24.
    Prize (in each category): £2,500 plus other writing related prizes.  Finalists will be published in the Aesthetica Creative Writing Annual.
    Entry Fee: £18 for fiction, £12 for poetry.
    Comp Page: Aesthetica Award.

Fool for Poetry Competition.  To enter this international chapbook competition from Munster Literature Centre in southern Ireland you submit 16 to 24 pages of your work.  The poems can have been published before but they must not have appeared together in a book.
    Closing: 31.8.24.
    Prizes (in euroes): 1,000, 500.  The two winners will be published in chapbook form by Southword Editions.  Each will receive 25 free copies of their book.
    Entry Fee: 25 euros.
    Comp Page: Fool Poetry

SaveAs  International Writing Competition.  Here’s a repeat of the annual international contest from SaveAs Writers of Canterbury in Kent.  It is for poetry of up to 60 lines and stories running to no more than 3,500 words.  The theme this year is ‘risking all’, this being in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the 1924 British Everest Expedition.  So if you’ve got summit to say about that, now’s your chance. You can interpret the theme in any way you wish.  The email and postal entry addresses can be found in the T&Cs document (link at foot of the Saveas comp page).
    Closing: 31.8.24.
    Prizes (in each category): £200, £100, £50.
    Entry Fees: Poetry - £4 each, £10 for three.  Stories - £5 each, £12 for three.  Take note that there is an additional admin charge of 75p per entry for email submissions.
    Comp Page: Saveas Comp.

NAWG Open Competition.  Waking from hibernation is this annual contest from the National Association of Writers and Groups.  It is for poems of up to 40 lines and stories of between 500 and 2,000 words.  In both cases your efforts should be aimed at adults.
    Closing: 31.8.24.
    Prizes: £200, £100, £50.  Winning entries may be published on the website.
    Entry Fee: £5 each (story or poem).  In the poetry category, three poems can be entered for £10.
    Comp Page: NAWG Open

Shelley Memorial Poetry Competition.  Poems of up to 50 lines are invited for this year’s contest from the Shelley Memorial Project.  Your entry should give a 21st Century interpretation to the “impact of the seasons‘ cyclical rhythm” or in other words the changing seasons.
    Closing: 31.8.24.
    Prizes: £250, £100, £50.  Best poem from Sussex: a trophy (the Sussex Cup) to adorn your mantelpiece or bookcase.
    Entry Fee: £5
    Comp Page: Shelley Memorial

Letter Review Prize.  This regular international contest from the USA is free to enter this time round.  It has four categories: Short Fiction (up to 5,000 words, any genre), Poetry (all kinds, up to 70 lines), Non-fiction (up to 5,000 words), Unpublished Books.  Along with your entry, you need to include a cover letter with a short biographical note (fewer than 200 words).  There may be other requiremens in each category, so as usual you should check the T&Cs carefully.
    Closing: 31.8.24 (11.59pm ET).
    Prizes: There is a prize pool of $1,000 to be shared between 2 to 4 winners in each category.  Winning entries will be pubslished in the Letter Review online and in the winners’ anthology. All entries are considered for publication, and for submission to the Pushcart Prize and further anthologies.
    Entry Fee: Free for the first, $5 thereafter.
    Comp Page: Letter Review Contests

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.

Togetherness Poetry Challenge.   The theme for this one is, as the name implies, Togetherness.  There is a 45 line limit.  All submitted poems will be published online.  A selection from these will appear in an anthology.  You can if you wish use an image to illustrate your poem.
    Closing: 24.9.24.
    Prizes: £500, £100 x 5.
    Entry Fee : None - free entry.
    Comp Page: Togetherness

Oxford Poetry Prize.  Here’s another international contest from Oxford Poetry, the oldest dedicated poetry magazine in the UK (founded 1910).  It is for poems of up to 50 lines.
    Closing: 31.8.24 (midnight UTC).
    Prizes: £1,000, £200, £100.  The winner will be published in a print issue of Oxford Poetry and online.  Second and Third prize winners will be offered publication.
    Entry Fee: £10.
    Comp Page: Oxford Poetry

Troubadour Poetry Prize.  A poem of up to 45 lines could give you grounds for celebration in this annual competition from Coffee House Poetry of London.  This year’s contest will be judged by Jane Yeh and Glyn Maxwell.
    Closing: 23.9.24.
    Prizes: £2,000, £1,000, £500.
    Entry Fee: £6.
    Comp Page: Coffee House.

Togetherness Poetry Challenge.  The theme for this one is, as the name implies, Togetherness.  There is a 45 line limit.  All submitted poems will be published online.  A selection from these will appear in an anthology.  You can if you wish use an image to illustrate your poem.
    Closing: 24.9.24.
    Prizes: £500, £100 x 5.
    Entry Fee: None - free entry.
    Comp Page: Togetherness

Plaza Poetry Prize.  You have just 20 lines to impress the judge in this contest from Plaza Prizes Ltd.
    Closing: 30.9.24.
    Prizes: £1,000, £300, £100.  The ten shortlisted entries will be published in an anthology.
    Entry Fee: £10 for the first, £5 thereafter.
    Comp Page: Plaza Poetry 20

Hammond House International Writing Competitions.  This annual offering from Hammond House Publishing at University Centre Grimsby is for short stories of between 1,000 and 5,000 words, poems of up to 40 lines, scripts (theatre, radio, short film or TV) of up to 10 pages (approx. 10 minutes duration), and Songwriting in the form of just lyrics or complete songs.  In all categories the theme is Time.
    Closing: 30.9.24.
    Prizes: Short Story - £1,000, £100, £50.  Poetry - £250, £50, £25.  Script - £500.  Songwriting - £100 in each sub-category, plus the song will be played at the 2025 Literary Festival and released worldwide on the Hammond House record label.  All shortlisted entries in the Story and Poetry categories will be published in the anthology, as will the scriptwriting winners.  There will be a televised awards ceremony (so get your politically correct, virtue signalling acceptance speech ready - and don't forget to thank the train/taxi driver, etc, without whom you wouldn’t be there).
    Entry Fee: £10.
    Comp Page: HH Lit Prize

Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Prize.  This regular visitor from the USA has now become two competitions in one: the Tom Howard Prize and the Margaret Reid Prize.  The former is for poems in any style, while the latter is for traditional verse as defined on the competition page.  In both cases the line limit is a very generous (some might say extravagant) 250.
    Closing : 30.9.24.  Opens for entries 15.4.24.
    Prizes: Tom Howard Prize (any style) - $3,500 + gift certificate.  Margaret Reid Prize (traditional verse) - $3,500 + gift certificate.  In addition there will be ten Honourable Mention awards of $300.  The Dishonourable Mention awards have been dropped this year following several suicides.  I wrote that last bit on April 1st.
    Entry Fee : $22 per submission (one submission can contain up to 3 poems).
    Comp Page: TH & MR Poetry.

Waltham Forest Poetry Competition.  Here’s a contest from Waltham Forest in London.  It is open to poets worldwide.  The theme is FRIENDSHIP, and you can interpret this in any way you choose - as long as you confine your musings to no more than 40 lines.
    Closing: 14.10.24.
    Prizes: £400, £200, £100.  Funniest Poem - £100.  Local Prize - £50, £30, £20.  Young Poets - £50, £30, £20.  Young Poets local - £50, £30, £20.   Funniest Poem (on the main theme) - £100.  Winners will be published on the website.
    Entry Fee: £3 for the first, £1 thereafter (up to 6 poems).  Young poets (under 18) - Free.
    Comp Page: Waltham Poetry

Cheltenham Poetry Festival Competition.  This is the Cheltenham Poetry Festival’s second annual  international poetry competition.  Entries can be up to 50 lines.
    Closing : 20.10.24.
    Prizes: £300, £100, £50.  The first prize winner will be offered a guest slot at the 2025 Festival, either online or in person.
    Entry Fee: £4 each, £10 for three, £15 for five.
    Comp Page: Cheltenham Poetry

Eyelands Book Awards.  This is the seventh of these international book award contests from literary magazine Eyelands and Strange Days Books in Greece.  There are two main categories: Published Book and Unpublished Book.  Acceptable genres are Poetry Collection, Novella, Short Story Collection, Novel, Children’s Book, Historical Fiction, Memoir, Graphic Novel.
    Closing: 20.10.24 (midnight PST).
    Prizes: Unpublished Book Grand Prize - Translation into Greek and publication by Strange Days Books, plus a special handmade ceramic.  Published Book Grand Prize - a 5-day holiday in Athens, a special handmade ceramic.  Writers’ Choice (as voted for by other prizewinners) - a 5-day stay in Athens.  Runners-up (10) - A special handmade ceramic and a book.  A poem or short story from each prizewinner will be translated and published in an anthology, with every prizewinner receiving a free copy.  All winners and finalists receive a certificate, ideal for hanging on the wall where your visitors are sure to see it (i.e. next to the drinks cabinet or the television).
    Entry Fee: 30 euros up to September 1st, then 40 euros.  Free for writers from Ukraine.
    Comp Page: Eyelands Comp

Trio International Poetry Competition.  Trio Uganda is running this contest to raise money for books and other scholastic materials for a school being built by the impoverished community of Agaria Island in Uganda.  Poems, which should run to no more than 40 lines, can be on any subject.
    Closing: 31.10.24.
    Prizes: £1,000, £300, £100, 4 x £25.
    Entry Fee: £5 for one £8 for two, £10 for three.
    Comp Page: Trio Poetry

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

Poetry Society National Poetry Competition.  In 1983 Carol Ann Duffy won this contest, and 26 years later she became the Poet Laureate.  So if you’re hoping to become an overnight sensation, this is probably not the ideal starting point.  But there are compensations.  The top cash award is one of the best in the business, and the second prize isn’t bad either.  Your poem should run to no more than 40 lines.  The contest is open to poets from around the world ... as long as they can write in English.
    Closing: 31.10.24.
    Prizes : £5,000, £2,000, £1,000.  Commended prizes - £500.
    Entry Fee: £8 for the first, £5 thereafter.
    Comp Page: PSNPC

Bedford Writing Competition.  This annual not-for-profit contest from Bedfordshire, home of the famous Shuttleworth Collection (old aeroplanes and cars) is for stories of up to 3,000 words and poems running to no more than 40 lines.
    Closing: 31.10.24.
    Prizes in each category (Poetry, Short Story): £1,500, £300, £200.  In addition there are special prizes for young writers and Bedford residents.  Shortlisted and winning entries will be published in an anthology (e-book and hardcopy).
    Entry Fee: £8.50 each, £17 for three.  Full-time students: £6 each, £12 for three.
    Comp Page: BWC.

F(r)iction Writing Competition.  This international contest from the USA has three categories: Short Story (1,001 to 7,500 words), Poetry (up to three pages per poem), and Flash Fiction (up to 1,000 words).
    Closing: 1.11.24.
    Prizes: Short Story - $1,000.  Flash Fiction - £300.  Poetry - $300.
    Entry Fees: Short Story - $15.  Poetry and Flash Fiction - single entry $10, three-pack $12.
    Comp Page: F(r)iction Comps

Paul Cave Prize for Literature.  Here’s a repeat of the new contest from Tim Saunders Publications of Southampton.  It is for novellas running to no more than 10,000 words, short stories of up to 1,000 words, flash fiction up to 300 words and poems of no more than 30 lines.
    Closing: 30.11.24.
    Prizes: Novella - £150.  Short story - £75.  Flash Fiction - £35.  Poem - £35.  Winners will receive a free copy of the anthology.
    Entry Fees: Novella - £26 for one, £42 for two.  Short story - £13 for one, £20 for two.  Poem/Flash Fiction - up to 3 for £10, up to 8 for £20.
    Comp Page: Paul Cave Prize

Gregory O’Donoghue International Poetry Competition.  This annual contest from the Munster Literature Centre in Cork, Ireland, is for poems of up to 40 lines in English on any subject.
    Closing: 30.11.24.  Opens for entries 1.9.24.
    Prizes: 1st - 2,000 euros, featured reading at the Cork International Poetry Festival (with 4-night hotel stay and full board), plus publication in the Southword journal and featured in the Southword Poetry Podcast.  2nd - 500 euros and publication in Southword.  3rd - 250 euros and publication in Southword.  Runners-up (10) - 50 euros and publication in Southword
    Entry Fee: 7 euros each, 30 euros for five.
    Comp Page: Greg OD Poetry.

Hi Michael
     I spent a year or so reading all those comments on your website from people who, since consulting your list, seem have won just about every competition going. I read it and thought it must be too good to be true – but worth a try. Then, on my third submission, I have actually gone and won the Yeovil Literary Prize for Poetry. I am absolutely over the moon, unable to believe it, etc.  Thank you so much.
                                                                                   -  Andy Miller

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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 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 contests see the full list on my Writing Comps page.