My Novel

My Novel

UK Poetry Competitions (currently 25)

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

Resurgence Poetry Prize.  This one from the Resurgence Trust with The Poetry School is billed as the world’s first major award for ecopoetry.  It is for poems of up to 54 lines which embrace ecological themes.  These ecopoems, if I may take a stab at clarifying the position, must in some way probe the relationship between human culture and the natural world, ‘thematically, linguistically, structurally or formally’.  Phew, that made me sweat.  Entries must be in English but can be in any dialect.
    Closing: 17.8.17.
    Prizes: £5,000, £2,000, £1,000.
    Entry Fee: £7 for the first, £4 thereafter.
    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

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

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

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: 30.9.17.
    Prizes: Tom Howard Prize (any style) - $1,500.  Margaret Reid Prize (traditional verse) - $1,500.  In addition there will be ten Honourable Mention awards of $100.  The Dishonourable Mention awards have been dropped this year following several suicides.  I wrote that last bit on April 1st.
    Entry Fee: $12.
    Comp Page : Click Here

Salopian Open Poetry Competition.  This contest from the Salopian Poetry Society in Telford, Shropshire, is for poems of up to 80 lines.  Allison Chisholm will be judging.
    Closing: 30.9.17.
    Prizes: £150, £100, £30, 10 x £20.
    Entry Fee: £3 each, £10 for four.
    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

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.

The Plough Poetry Prize.  Arr, it be that time again.  The Plough Prize is back for its umpteenth annual appearance.  It comes from the Plough Arts Centre in Torrington, Devon.  It is for poems of up to 10 lines (Short Poem) or up to 40 lines (Open Poem) in any style and on any subject.  The judge this year is Michael Symmons Roberts.
    Closing: 31.1.18.
    Prizes: I’m tempted to say ploughs, but I think I’ve done that one before.  The prizes are actually quite useful amounts of money: £1,000, £500, £250.
    Entry Fee: £5.
    Comp Page: Click Here

Prole Laureate Competition.  This annual contest from Prole, a print magazine that publishes high quality, accessible poetry and prose, is for poems on any subject and in any style.  There are no restrictions on length, although you might like to consider how far it is reasonable to expect the judge to wade through that 5,000-line epic of yours before letting out an anguished cry and writing something obscene on it.  As an occasional poetry judge, the most I have ever managed before turning nasty is 100 lines.
    Closing: 31.1.18.
    Prizes: £200, £50, £50.  Winners will be published on the website and in Prole 25.
    Entry Fee: £3 for the first, £2 thereafter.
    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.