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 - 30 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 open contest from Wales are invited from beginners and established poets. Submit 15 to 25 poems of up to 50 lines each.
    Closing: Annually - 31 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.

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

Secret Attic Competitions.  Here are two free monthly contests from Secret Attic Press, one for short stories of up to 1,200 words, the other for poems running to no more than 28 lines.
    Closing: End of each month.
    Prizes (in each category): £10.  Best entries will be published in the monthly magazine.
    Entry Fee: None - free entry.
    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.

Dream Quest One Writing Contest.  The requirement for this U.S. based contest is for poems of up to 30 lines and short stories of up to five pages, any subject or genre (fiction, non-fiction, essay, diary, blog, journal, short screenplay).  Entry is open worldwide.
    Closing: 23.4.18 (11.59pm PST).
    Prizes: Stories - $500, $250, $100.   Poetry - $250, $125, $50.  Winners will be published on the website unless the writers opt out.
    Entry Fee: Stories - $10 postal, $12 electronic.  Poetry - $5 postal, $7 electronic.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Red Shed Open Poetry Competition.  This contest from Currock Press of Wakefield is for poems of up to 50 lines on any subject.
    Closing: 28.4.18.
    Prizes: 1st - £100.  2nd - £50.  Shortlisted - £10.  Wakefield Postcode: £25.  There will be an awards event at the Mocca Moocho cafe in Wakefield.
    Entry Fee: £3 for the first, £2 thereafter.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Ware Poets Poetry Competition.  This annual contest from Ware Poets of Hertfordshire is for poems of up to 50 lines on any subject.  There is a separate category for sonnets.
    Closing: 30.4.18.
    Prizes: £600, £300, £150.  Ware Sonnet Prize - £150.
    Entry Fee: £4 each, £12 for four, £3 each thereafter.
    Entry Form and Details (pdf): Click Here.

Creative Writing for All Competition.  This contest in aid of the RSPCA animal rescue and rehoming centre in Kempsey, Worcestershire, has two categories: short story and poetry.  In both cases the theme is Cats and/or Dogs.  Stories should be (pun alert!) curtailed at 2,000 words, while poems can run fur as many as 40 lines.
    Closing: 30.4.18.
    Prizes (in each category): £60, £30, £15.
    Entry Fee: £5 for one, £3 thereafter.
    Comp Page: Click Here .

Grey Hen Poetry Competition.  This contest from Grey Hen Press is for poems of up to 40 lines by woman who are prepared to admit to being over 60.  There is no theme.
    Closing: 30.4.18.
    Prizes : £100, £50, £25.  Winners will be published on the website.
    Entry Fee: £3 each, £10 for four.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Southport Writers’ Circle International Poetry Competition.  As a child I lived for a while just up the road from Southport.  It was a cultural backwater then, often referred to as the poor man’s Blackpool.  Not any more.  These days, in addition to its renowned flower show (‘a horticultural hotbed’) it has a writers’ circle and not one but two international literary contests.  Some are now calling Blackpool the poor man’s Southport, although admittedly not many.  The latest contest is for poetry of up to 40 lines on any theme.  The judge is Alison Chisholm.
    Closing: 30.4.18.
    Prizes: £150, £75, £25.  Humour Prize - £25.  Winners will be published online.
    Entry Fee: Electronc - £3.40 each, £10.50 for four.  Postal - £3 each, £10 for four.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Belfast Book Festival Martin Crawford Awards.  This contest from the Belfast Book Festival is for poems and stories by writers who have not yet had a full collection published.  In the poetry category each submission should consist of between 6 and 10 poems, the poems to be no more than 60 lines each.  Stories (one per submission) should not exceed 2,000 words.
    Closing: 1.5.18.
    Prizes: The winners in each category will receive a six-month professional mentorship with editorial advice, plus help to achieve significant breakthroughs both creative and professional.  In addition the winners will receive other prizes which, at the time of writing, had yet to be announced.  Winners will also be invited to read live at the awards celebration one evening during the Festival.
    Entry Fee: £5 for each submission of one story or 6 to 10 poems.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Poetry London Clore Prize.  Poetry London, a magazine with nationwide and international scope despite its title, is seeking poems of up to 80 lines on any subject and in any style.  This year’s judge is award-winning poet Kwame Dawes.
    Closing: 1.5.18.
    Prizes: £5,000, £2,000, £1,000 and 4 x £500.
    Entry Fee: £7.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

The Page is Printed Creative Writing Competition.  This contest from Tacchi Morris Arts Centre in Taunton, Somerset, is for creative writing in any genre.  Your entry could be prose or poetry, a love letter, a list, etc.  Be bold, they say.  They also say confine your entry to one side of an A4 sheet, so along with being bold you will need to be brief.  The judges will be looking for something that ‘dares to be different’ and ‘comes alive when read aloud’.  A poem with farmyard noises, maybe (‘Moo ... cluck, cluck’, etc).
    Closing: 4.5.17 (10am).
    Prizes: Adult - 3 x £100.  Under 18 - 3 x £25.  Best on the Night - £50.
    Entry Fee: £5 for one, £10 for three.  Free if you are under 18.  The entry fee includes a free ticket to The Page is Printed Celebration Evening in Taunton on 15.6.18 at 7.30pm.
    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

Welsh Poetry Prize.  This is the twelfth of these poetry competitions from Wales, and as usual, despite the contest name, entries must be in English (all those years learning Welsh, eh?  You’d have done better studying Klingon).  There is a line limit of 50 but no limit on style and subject.  A word of caution before you enter: the rules state that the author must be living.  Are you sure you qualify?  Do people ignore you when you walk down the street?  Look in the mirror.  Be honest with yourself.  Is there really any sign of life there?  You may need to get a note from your doctor.
    Closing: 27.5.18.
    Prizes: £500, £250, £100.  Winners will be published in an anthology.
    Entry Fee : £5 postal, £6 online.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Frogmore Poetry Prize 2018.  This annual contest is run by Frogmore Press which was founded in 1983 in the Frogmore tearooms in Folkestone.  Well, what else can you do in Folkestone?  I’ll tell you what: you can fall in the sea - a feat I managed at the age of 8.  Will I ever forget that day?  Unlikely, for I had the misfortune to be rescued by my two sisters.  ‘No, no - let me drown!’ I cried.  ‘I’ll never be able to face my mates again.’  But I had the ice cream money in my pocket and so my pleas were ignored.  I later wrote a poem about the shame of it all but it would have been too long for this contest because it ran to 360 lines.  The line limit here is 40.
    Closing: 31.5.18.
    Prize: 1st - 250 guineas.  Classy.  You also get a two-year subscription to The Frogmore Papers .  2nd - 75 guineas and a year’s sub to the Papers.  3rd - 50 guineas and a year’s sub.
    Entry Fee: £3.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Yeovil Literary Prize.  This is the 14th of these international contests from Yeovil, the literary capital of the West Country where even the sheep appreciate poetry.  There are four categories: Short Story, Poetry, Novel and Unrestricted.  The stories can run to 2,000 words, while the poems should be no more than 40 lines.  Novels have a limit of 15,000 words for the opening chapters and synopsis.  The final category is unusual in that it’s for anything you have written - as long as it has ‘the Wow! factor’ (they mean ‘Wow - that’s brilliant!’ rather than, ‘Wow - you’ve really plumbed the depths with that one!’).  Your entry could be a particularly creative tax return, a witty note to the milkman, or that hilariously scathing critique of your former best friend’s new novel, etc.
    Closing: 31.5.18.
    Prizes: Short Story - £500, £200, £100.  Poetry - £500, £200, £100.  Novel - £1,000, £250, £100.  Writing Without Restrictions - £200, £100, £50.  In addition there is the Western Gazette Best Local Writer Award for someone living in Dorset or Somerset.  It isn’t worth moving down there however as the prize is only £100.
    Entry Fee: Short Story - £7.  Poetry - £7 each, £10 for two, £12 for three.  Novel - £12 each.  Writing Without Restrictions - £5.
    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

Bridport Prize.  This international competition from the Bridport Arts Centre is one of the most prestigious writing contests in the British literary calendar.  Everyone in the trade whose mind is not addled by drugs has heard of it, and they will be impressed if you can claim to have won it.  The good news is that winning it is easy.  All you have to do is submit the best poem or short story, the former having no more than 42 lines, the latter running to no more than 5,000 words.  For those who find 5,000 words too tiring to write there is now a flash fiction category for stories of up to 250 words (if that’s too much, consider becoming a poet).  There is also a First Chapter Award (see separate listing below) for a novel opening of between 5,000 and 8,000 words, plus a 300-word synopsis.  Writers from beyond the veil should note that the Bridport rules forbid posthumous entries.  Shame: the awards ceremony would be so much more interesting with a couple of ghosts in attendance.
    Closing: 31.5.18.
    Prizes: In each of the main categories (Short Stories, Poems Flash Fiction) - £5,000, £1,000, £500.  There are also ten runners-up prizes of £100.   The Peggy Chapman Andrews First Novel Award: 1st - £1,000.  2nd - £500. Runners-up (3) £100.  There will be an awards ceremony at the Bridport Arts Centre on Sunday October 20.  Winning entries are usually published in an anthology.
    Entry Fees: Poems - £9.  Short Stories - £10.  Novel - £20.  Flash Fiction - £8.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Battered Moons Poetry Competition.  Part of the Poetry Swindon Festival and supported by Arts Council England, this contest is for poems of up to 40 lines on any subject and in any style.
    Closing: 31.5.18.
    Prizes: £700, £200, £100, and 4 @ £25.  Winners will be published in the Battered Moons pamphlet.  Losers will simply be battered (metaphorically speaking).  In addition, all prize-winners will be invited to read their poems at the above-mentioned Festival.
    Entry Fee: £5 for the first, £3.50 thereafter.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Cybi Festival Poetry Competition.  This contest in celebration of the works of R. S. Thomas is for poems of up to 30 lines inspired by the R. S. Thomas quotes on the comp page.
    Closing: 15.6.18.
    Prizes: £300, £30.
    Entry Fee : £4 each, £5 for two.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Segora Writing Competition.  This is the twelfth of these contests from Poetry Prose and Plays, which is based in France.  It is for short stories of between 1,500 and 3,000 words, poems of up to 50 lines, one-act plays with a running time of up to 35 minutes, and vignettes of up to 300 words.  Not many vignette contests about these days.  This is because hardly anyone knows what a vignette is.  You do of course, and in fact you probably have a dozen or so already written.  For the rest, I’ll give by way of enlightenment a definition from Collins: ‘A short piece of writing that clearly expresses the typical characteristics of something or someone.’  You can read last year’s winners for all categories on the website.
    Closing: 15.6.18.
    Prizes: Short Stories and Poetry - £300, £50, £30.  Vignettes - £100.  Plays - £100.  Wnners will be published on the website.
    Entry Fees: Short Stories - £7 each, £13 for two, £19 for three.  Vignettes and Poems - £5 each for the first, £2.50 each thereafter.  Plays - £12.  Winners will be published on the website.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Canterbury Festival Poet of the Year Competition.  Poems of up to 60 lines are required for this annual offering from the Canterbury Festival.  The contest is refreshingly different thanks to the broad spectrum of verse forms it invites: limerick, ballad, hiaku, ode - and in case your favourite is not actually specified, it is covered by the word ‘whatever!’
    Closing : 18.6.18.
    Prizes: £200, £100, £50.  There are also prizes for People’s Choice (£25) and Best Read Poem (bottle of sparkling wine).  Longlisted entries will be published in an anthology.  Shortlisted poets will be invited to read at the adjudication event on October 4.
    Entry Fee: £5.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

McLellan Poetry Competition.  This annual contest from the Arran Theatre and Arts Trust on the Isle of Arran is part of the McLellan Arts Festival.  It is for poems of up to 80 lines on any subject.  Award-winning poet Sinéad Morrissey will be judging.
    Closing: 21.6.18.
    Prizes: £1500, £300, £150, and 6 @ £25.
    Entry Fee: £6 for the first. £5 thereafter.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Prole Books Pamphlet Competition.  This poetry competiton from Prole Books of Abergele in Wales is for pamphlet collections of betwee 15 and 35 A5 pages.
    Closing: 30.6.18.
    Prize: £100 and 15 copies of the pamphlet.
    Entry Fee: £12 for one, £20 for two.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Wells Festival of Literature Competitions.  Here we have a return of  the famous Wells Litfest and its various competitions - Poetry, Short Story, Book for Children and Young Poets.  I should mention before we go any further that we are talking about Wells in Somerset, not Wells in Norfolk which also has an annual litfest (I wouldn’t want you turning up at the wrong event to receive your prize or to berate the judges for not awarding you anything).  Anyway, back to business.  For the Poetry you are allowed up to 40 lines, while the Short Stories should be between 1,000 and 2,000 words.  For the Book for Children, which must be suitable for children aged 9+, you need to submit the first three chapters plus a synopsis brief enough to fit two sides of a page (and don’t use that microscopic font that’s only suitable for the small print in dodgy contracts).  If shortlisted, you will be asked to submit the rest of your story.  The Young Poets category (for budding bards aged between 16 and 22) requires poems of no more than 35 lines.
    Closing: 30.6.18.
   Prizes: Poetry, Short Story, Children’s (in each category) - £750, £300, £200.  Additional prizes: Wyvern Prize for a local short story entrant - £100.  Hilly Cansdale Local Prize (for poetry) - £100.  Book for Children Local Prize - £100.  Young Poets - £150, £75, £50.
    Entry Fee: Aduls categories - £6.  Young Poets - £3.
    Comp Page: Click Here

Ledbury Poetry Festival Poetry Competition.  This annual contest from Ledbury in Wales is for poems of up to 40 lines.  It has three age categories: Adult (18 and over), Young People (12 to 17), and Children (11 and under).  The judge is Nia Davies, editor of Poetry Wales.
    Closing: 12.7.18 (5pm).
    Prizes: Adults: 1st - £1,000 plus a residential writing course at Ty Newydd, the National Writers’ Centre for Wales.  2nd - £500.  3rd - £250.   12-17 category - £100, £50, £25.  11 and under category - £25, £15, £10 (all in book tokens).
    Entry Fees: Adults - £5.75 for the first, £3.50 thereafter.  Young People and Children get the first entry free and pay £1.75 each for any subsequent entries.
    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

Wasafiri New Writing Prize 2018.  ‘Wasafiri’, according to the website, ‘is a literary magazine at the forefront of mapping new landscapes in international literature.’  Try saying that in Kiswahili, the language from which the magazine’s title comes.  Now, you are probably thinking that the magazine itself must hail from Africa, but this is not so.  It was born at the University of Kent in 1984, and as far as I know it has no African connection at all.  Nor, I might add, has the contest.  This has three categories (Poetry, Fiction, Life Writing) and is open to anyone anywhere in the world who has not published a complete book in their chosen category.  The word limit for the Fiction and Life Writing is 3,000.  In the poetry category, you can submit up to five poems for the same entry fee (use separate pages).  You can enter more than one category, but only once each.  Incidentally, ‘wasafiri’, in case your Kiswahili is a bit rusty, means ‘cultural traveller’
    Closing: 13.7.18 (5pm).
    Prize (in each category): £300 and publication in the mag.
    Entry Fee: £6.  If you enter two separate categories it’s £10 and for three it’s £15.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Snapshot Press Chapbook Awards 2018.  This contest from Snapshot press of Ormskirk is for chapbook-length collections of between 8 and 24 haiku, tanka and other short poetry up to 25 lines including any blank lines (prose poems and haibun up to 200 words).  Poems must not have been previously published in a collection.
    Closing: 31.7.18.
    Prizes: Online publication by Snapshot Press.
    Entry Fee: £12 per collection.
    Comp Page: Click Here.

Stroud Book Festival Writing Competition.  This contest from the Stroud Book Festival has two categories: flash fiction of up to 500 words and poetry of up to 40 lines.
    Closing: 31.7.18.
    Prizes (in each category): £500, £250, £100.
    Entry Fee: Flash Fiction - £5.  Poetry - £5 for the first, £3 thereafter.
    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: 31.7.18.
    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

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: 31.8.18.
    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.

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.