My Novel

My Novel

UK Poetry Competitions (currently 31)

Writers’ Forum Poetry Competition.  This monthly contest from the glossy magazine Writers’ Forum is for poems of up to 40 lines on any thme.
    Closing: Monthly.  Entries arriving too late for one month automatically go forward to the next.
    Prize: £100 and a Chambers dictionary.
    Entry Fee: £4 each, or £6 if you want a short critique (enclose sae for the critique if entering by post).
    Comp Page: Click Here .

Cinnamon Press Debut Collection Prize.  This annual contest from Welsh publisher Cinnamon Press is for poetry collections comprising 10 poems of up to 40 lines.
    Closing : Annually - end of November.
    Prizes: A publishing contract and 100 copies of the collection.
    Entry Fee: £12 for one collection, £22 for two.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Cinnamon Press Poetry Pamphlet Prize.  Entries for this one are invited from beginners and established poets. Submit 15 to 25 poems of up to 50 lines each.
    Closing: Annually (end of March).
    Prizes (4): A publishing contract plus 30 copies of the pamphlet.
    Entry Fee: £10.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Hour of Writes Competition.  To enter this new weekly peer-reviewed contest from Manchester you submit a piece of writing of any type you choose running to no more than 2,000 words. There is a different theme every week.
    Closing: 11pm every Friday.
    Prize: £50 (usually the minimum, they say; prize increases if more entries are received).
    Entry Fee: £3.
    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.

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

PENfro Open Poetry Competition.  This contest from the PENfro Book Festival in Pembrokeshire is for poems of up to 40 lines based loosely on a myth or legend.  The judge is poet, performer, educator and editor Susan Richardson.
    Closing: 30.7.17.
    Prizes: £300, £125, £75.
    Entry Fee: £4.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Budlitfest Writing Competition.  This contest from the Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival in Devon is for poems and short stories on the theme of Being There.  The precise location of ‘There’ is not specified, so you’ll have to use your imagination.  Stories can be up to 2,000 words while poems are limited to 600.  There are three age categories: 17+, 12 - 16 , 7.11.
    Closing: 31.7.17.
    Prizes: Age category 17+ - £1,000.  12 to 16 - £250.  7 to 11 - £100.
    Entry Fee: None - free to enter (one per person only).
    Comp Page: Click Here

Bradford on Avon Arts Festival Poetry Competition.  Here we have a poetry contest with a line limit of just 20 on the theme of Flights of Fancy.  Shortlisted poets will be invited to read their entries at prize-giving event at the festival.
    Closing: 30.7.17.
    Prizes: £500, £150, £100.  There are in addition prizes for local entrants.
    Entry Fee: £4 each, £10 for three.
    Comp Page: Click Here

Winchester Poetry Prize.  This contest from the Winchester Poetry Festival aims to ‘surprise and delight,’ they say.  However, don’t try to surprise and delight the judges by sending in a short story or a photo of your cat dancing in a tutu.  Stick to a poem of up to 40 lines.
    Closing: 31.7.17.
    Prizes: £1,000, £500, £250.  Winners will be invited to read their entries at special prize-giving event at Winchester Poetry Day on October 14.  Winning and commended poems will appear in an anthology.
    Entry Fee: £5 for the first, £4 thereafter.
    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

The Betjeman Poetry Prize.  This contest in honour of one of Britain’s most popular poets aims to foster creativity in young people.  Young people are apparently between 10 and 13, these being the age limits for the competition.  Old at 14, eh?  Too many crafty cigarettes behind the bike sheds, I reckon.  Entries should be on the theme of Place.  The place, say the promoters, ‘could be a country, a den at the end of the garden, Granny’s house or a hedge at the back of the school.’  They want to know what it means to you.  ‘It’s where I chill, innit?’ will not be sufficient.  There is no line or word limit. The judges are poet Rachel Rooney and former Children’s Laureate Chris Riddell.
    Closing : 31.7.17.
    Prizes: 1st - £1,000 to be shared equally between the winner and the English Department at his or her school, or the local library.  The winner and two runners-up will each receive four Eurostar tickets to Paris, Brussels or Lisle.  The runners-up also get £50.  There will be book tokens for Highly Commended entrants.  There is in addition a prize draw for teachers who manage to bully their classes into entering.  The top 50 poems will be printed in an anthology.
    Entry Fee: None - free to enter.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Green Alphabet Writing Prize.  This contest from Flipside, the East Anglian literary and arts festival, is for inspirational writing about the environment.  This can be poetry or prose, the former having a line limit of 40, the latter a word limit of 500.  You have to choose a letter from the alphabet and use it in some way in your green piece of writing.  There are two categories: Adult and Under 16.  I bought a ‘bag for life’ five years ago and it’s still going strong.  However, over the years I’ve used a whole roll of duct tape patching it up.  Does that count as green?
    Closing: 31.7.17.
    Prizes: Adult: £500.  Under 16: £200.  Runners-up will receive Waterstones vouchers.
    Entry Fee: Adult - £3.  Under 16 - free entry.
    Comp Page: Click Here

David Burland Poetry Prize 2017.  This international contest, now in its tenth year, is for poems of any length in any style.
    Closing: 31.7.17.
    Prizes: £200, £100, £50.  Runners-up - a copy of Michel Francois and Friends .  The winning writers will have their work published in the anthology: Poetic Art.
    Entry Fee: £8 for the first, £4 thereafter.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2017.  This one from the Poetry Society is said to be the UK’s largest poetry competition for writers between the ages of 11 and 17.  It certainly attracts a lot of entries.  Over 7,600 young people from across the world submitted their work last year.  Poems can be any length and on any subject.
    Closing: 31.7.17.
    Prizes: The top 15 winners will be invited to attend a week-long residential writing course at a prestigious Arvon Centre, or they will receive mentoring from a professional poet.  The top 15 poems will be published in a print anthology which is sent out to over 20,000 school libraries and poetry enthusiasts.  The 85 commended poets will have their entries published in an online anthology.  There will be an awards ceremony in London on National Poetry Day.  I’ve been to some of these events and there’s generally free booze.  Fellow poets can usually be relied upon to supply some weed too.  Best not mention this to your parents.
    Entry Fee: None - free to enter.  You can enter up to six poems but they make it clear they don’t want you bunging in any old rubbish to make up the numbers (they put it more subtly than that, but that’s what they mean).
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Artificium Short Fiction & Poetry Prizes.  This one from Artificium, a journal of new fiction and poetry, has two categories: Short Story and Poetry.  The former is for stories of up to 4,000, while the latter has a line limit of 40.
    Closing: 31.7.17.
    Prizes (in each category): £350, £75, £50.  Winners will be published on the website.
    Entry Fee: £5 for one, £9 for two, £12 for three.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

WB Limerick Competition.  This contest from Writers Bureau is for limericks.  Not much more I can say really ... although your entry does have to be your own work.
    Closing: 31.7.17.
    Prizes: 1st - £100 plus a Writers Bureau course.  Runners-up (2) - £50 plus a year’s membership to the Association of Freelance Writers.
    Entry Fee: £5 for four limericks (or fewer if you can’t manage four), then £1 for each additional entry.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

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

Limerick Competition.  This contest from Limerick I swear
                                         Is for those with a Limerick flair.
                                         I’ve just heard a rumour
                                         If you throw in some humour
                                         You could win quite a wad over there.
    Closing: 11.8.17.
    Prize: 500 euros.  Note that to qualify for the prize you must be able  to attend the final in Limerick, Ireland, on 16.8.17 (Saturday).
    Entry Fee: None - free to enter.  You can enter up to three limericks.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Buzzwords Poetry Competition.  This contest from Buzzwords Poetry of Cheltenham in Gloucestershire is for poems of up to 70 lines.
    Closing: 26.8.17.
    Prizes : £600, £300, 5 x £50.  Gloucestershire Resident Prize - £200.
    Entry Fee: Postal - £4 for one, £10 for three.  Online - £4.35 for one, £8.70 for two, £11 for three.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Oxford Brookes International Poetry Competition.  Two categories in this one from Oxford Brookes University: Open, and English as a Second Language.  If you are a young Internet user/texter who only seems to have English as a second language, then you should enter the Open category.  Whichever category you choose, your poem should run to no more than 50 lines.
    Closing: 28.8.17.
    Prizes (in each category): £1,000, £200.
    Entry Fee: £5 each for the first three, £4 each thereafter.
    Comp Page: Click Here

SaveAs Writers - Love and Freindship Competition.  Here we have an international contest commemorating the 200th anniversary of the year of Jane Austen’s death.  It is for poems of up to 60 lines and stories running to no more than 3,500 words on any aspect of the author’s life and works.  ‘Love and Freindship’, incidentally, is the title of a story Austen wrote for her family when she was 14.  The spelling is hers, and it seems the error went uncorrected because she had her wordprocessor’s spellchecker switched off at the time.
    Closing: 31.8.17.
    Prizes: £100, £50, £25.
    Entry Fee: Poetry - £3 each, £8 for three.  Short Story - £4 each, £10 for three.  Note that for online entries you are required to add a 50p admin fee per entry.
    Comp Page: Click Here

Aesthetica Creative Writing Award.  This annual contest from Asthetica magazine is for Short fiction running to no more than 2,000 words and poetry of up to 40 lines.
    Closing: 31.8.17.
    Prize (in each category): £1,000 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: Click Here.

Hysteria Writing Competition.  This annual contest from the Hysterectomy Association is for short stories of up to 2,000 words, flash fiction of up to 250 words and poems of up to 20 lines written by women of any nationality.  Entries can be in any genre except horror or erotica.  The promoters say they are not looking for stories or poems about hysterectomy but ones that will appeal to their website visitors who are mostly women aged between about 25 and 65.
    Closing: 31.8.17.
    Prizes: Short Story - £150.  Flash Fiction - £75.  Poetry - £75.  Nine runners-up from each category will be published in an anthology and will receive a free copy.  I assume the winners will also appear in the anthology as in previous years, but this was not stated on the website when I checked.
    Entry Fees: Short Stories - £5.  Flash Fiction and Poetry - £3.
    Comp Page: Click Here

Melita Hume Poetry Prize.  Here’s one with good specs.  It’s the sixth contest from Eyewear Publishing Ltd.  As always, it’s for first full-length collections of poetry by writers of vision who are under the age of 36 and reside in the UK or Ireland, or have UK or Irish citizenship.  If you can see your way clear to writing your poems in English you will avoid displeasing the judges.
    Closing: 31.8.17.
    Prizes: £1,500 and publication by Eyewear.
    Entry Fee: An eye-watering £20.  Alas, I have now run out of eye puns and so I must go.
    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

SLQ Poetry Competition.  This contest from Sentinel Literary Quarterly is for poems of up to 50 lines on any subject.  Entry is open worldwide.
    Closing: 31.8.17.
    Prizes: £200, £100, £50, 3 x £20 and 3 x £10.  Winners will be published in the mag (online).
    Entry Fee: £4 for one, £7 for two, £9 for three, £11 for four, £12 for five ... and so on.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Overton Poetry Prize.  Here we have an annual contest from Loughorough University for sequences of poems running to no more than 300 words.
    Closing:  1.9.17.
    Prizes: The winning entry will be published as a chapbook by the university’s Lamplight Press.   The winner receives 50 copies of this.  Two runners-up will receive £50 each.
    Entry Fee: £12 per sequence of poetry.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Cheshire Prize for Literature.  This contest from the University of Chester is for a piece of writing for children (age range 7 to 14), either in prose or verse, the former having a word limit of 1,500, the latter a line limit of 100.  To be eligible to enter you need to have lived, studied or worked at some point in Cheshire, Wirral, Warrington or Halton.  Documentary evidence may be requested, they say.  So if nobody made a documentary about you while you were there, I’m afraid you’ve had it ... although it’s possible I’ve misunderstood this requirement.
    Closing: 1.9.17.
    Prizes: 1st - £2,000.  Additional prize money of £750 will be awarded, but the precise details were not revealed to me at the time of writing.  The best entries will be published.
    Entry Fee: None - free to enter.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Making Waves Poetry Competition.  This contest from Falmouth Poetry Group is for spoken word poems.  These are to be entered on digital sound files with a duration of up to 200 seconds. The poem can be spoken by someone other than the writer if required and it is even possible although not obligatory to have other participants including musicians.  Well, it’s different.
    Closing: 3.9.17.
    Prizes: £600, £250, £150.
    Entry Fee: £6 for the first, £4 thereafter.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Manchester Writing Competition.  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 for a time ran a fast-food business (chip shop, as we called it back then).  I was kept locked in the cellar peeling spuds, with a 15-watt incandescent 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, which is for poems and short stories.  To enter the Poetry Prize you submit a portfolio of three to five poems, these to consist of no more than 120 lines in total.  For the Fiction Prize the requirement is for a story running to no more than 2,500 words in any genre.
    Closing: 29.9.17.
    Prize (in each category): £10,000.
    Entry Fee: £17.50.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Hello Michael
     Just writing to let you know that my poem was "Highly Commended" in a Poem Pigeon contest I found on your site. This was pleasing to me, but what was even better was to become part of such a friendly, hospitable group. Every one is so supportive of and kind to each other. They put up some pretty good poems too.
     Best wishes
                                                                                -  Penny Turner

Bedford International 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: 30.9.17.
    Prizes (in each cetegory): £300, £150, £100.  In addition there is the Bedford Prize for local residents: Story - £100.  Poem - £100.
    Entry Fee: £6 each, £12 for three.  Net proceeds will be donated to charity.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

SPM Publications Poetry Book Competition.  This contest from Sentinel Poetry Movement Publications is for full-length collections of poetry in any style and on any subject.  For the first stage of the competition you send in 20 pages of poetry from your full collection.  Note that for this initial stage you must submit your entry under a pen name (one you’ve made up for yourself, not Bic, etc).
    Closing: 30.9.17.
    Prizes: £300, £200, £100.  The three winners will also receive publishing contracts for their collections and 20 copies of their published book.
    Entry Fee: £25 per collection.
    Comp Page: Click Here

Troubadour International Poetry Prize.  Time to roll out the old 'grounds for celebration’ pun again.  Yes, it’s the annual contest from Coffee-House Poetry, with its usual generous prizes.  And as usual, it’s for poems of up to 45 lines on any subject.  These lines, take note, must fit on an A4 or US letter size page, so you can forget about having lines that are 200 words long (and if you want to know why, here’s a clue - the judges will be reading all of the submitted poems).  The judges are Imitiaz Dharker and Michael Symmons Roberts.
    Closing: 16.10.17.
    Prizes: £2,000, £1,000, £500.  There are also numerous runners-up prizes.  Winners wll be invited to read at Coffee-House Poetry on prize night in November.
    Entry Fee : £6 for the first, £4 thereafter.
    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 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.  The thing that makes me uneasy about this one is that the entry form always asks for your 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: 31.10.17.
    Prizes: £5,000, £2,000, £1,000.  Runners-up (7) - £200.  The top three winners will be published in Poetry Review.
    Entry Fee : £6.50 for the first, £3.50 thereafter.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

NAWG Open Writing  Competition.  This annual contest from the National Association of Writers’ Groups has two categories: short story and poetry.  Stories should be between 500 and 2,000 words, while the poems should have no more than 40 lines.
    Closing: 31.10.17.
    Prizes (in each category): £200, £100, £50.  Winning entries may be published in the anthology.
    Entry Fee: £5 for a single poem or short story.  You can enter three poems for £10.
    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

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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 competitions, see the full list of literary contests on my Writing Comps page.