My Novel

My Novel

UK Poetry Competitions (currently (16)

Stephen Spender Prize for Poetry Translation.  This year’s contest has changed, with the Adult category now ‘paused’ and additional categories added.  As well as the Youth category, there is now one for schools, one for Teachers and one for poems celebrating Portuguese culture).  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.
    Closing: 31.7.25.
    Prizes (in each category): 18 and Under, 14 and Under - Publication on the website, and book prizes, plus Commendations.  Winners will be invited a Celebration Event and will have a video reading of their entry featured on YouTube.
    Entry Fee: None - Free entry.
    Comp Page: Spender Prize

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 Fiona Benson will be judging.
    Closing : 31.7.25.
    Prizes: £1,000, £500, £250.  Winners will be announced live at the Winchester Poetry Festival on October 12, 2025.  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 Poetry.

Foyle Young Poets Competition.  Here’s a repeat of the annual 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: 31.7.25.
    Prizes: The 15 top winners will receive Poetry Society mentoring packages and their poems will be published in a print anthology.   Commended poems (85) will appear in an online anthology.  All winners (100) will  receive youth membership of the Society, plus goody bags containing books and unspecified treats (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

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 ‘facing the storm’,   The email and postal entry addresses can be found in the T&Cs document (link on the Saveas comp page).
    Closing: 31.8.25.
    Prizes (in each category): £200, £100, £50.
    Entry Fee: Stories - £5 each, £12 for three.  Poems - £4 each, £10 for three.
    Comp Page: SaveAs Writing

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 : 31.8.25 (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 in the print issue.
    Entry Fee: £10.
    Comp Page: Oxford Poetry

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: 31.8.25.  Opens for entries 1.6.25.
    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, plus a featured reading at the Cork International Poetry Festival with 3-night hotel stay (full board).
    Entry Fee: 25 euros.
    Comp Page: Fool 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

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: 8.9.25.
    Prize (in each category): £2,500 plus other writing related prizes.  Finalists will be published in the Aesthetica Creative Writing Annual.
    Entry Fee: Up to 31.8.25 - £18 for fiction, £12 for poetry.  Between 1.9.25 and 8.9.25 - £24 for fiction, £18 for poetry.
    Comp Page: Aesthetica Award. 

Edward Thomas Poetry Competition 2026.  The Edward Thomas Fellowship is running another of its annual poetry contests.  As usual, entries are limited to 40 lines, and there is no set theme.  Well-known poet Daljit Nagra will be judging.
    Closing: 20.9.25.
    Prizes: £250, £100, £100.
    Entry Fee: £5 each (maximum three entries).
    Comp Page: ETF Poetry.

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 Secrets.
    Closing: 30.9.25.
    Prizes: Short Story - £1,000.  Poetry - £500.  Script - £250.  Songwriting - £100 in each sub-category, plus the song will be played at the 2026 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: 30.9.25.
    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 $500.  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.

Moth Nature Writing Prize. This annual contest from Irish magazine The Moth is for nature writing of up to 4,000 words.  Entries can be prose or poetry.  I should perhaps mention for the uninitiated that the magazine is not devoted to the subject of moths, fascinating though these creatures may be.  It is an arts and literature magazine.  But you can write about moths if you wish as there is no set theme.  The contest is open worldwide.
    Closing: 30.9.25.
    Prizes: 1st - 1,000 euros.  The winner also gets a week at The Moth Retreat in Ireland.  Runners-up - 500 euros, 250 euros.  Winning entries will be published online.
    Entry Fee: 15 euros.
    Comp Page: Moth Nature Writing.

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

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: 30.9.25.
    Prizes (in neach category): £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

Eyelands Book Awards.  This is the eighth of these international book award contests from literary magazine Eyelands and Strange Days Books in Greece.  There are three main categories: Published Book, Unpublished Book, Writers’ Choice.  Acceptable genres include Poetry Collection, Novella, Short Story Collection, Novel, Children’s and YA books, Historical Fiction, Memoir, Graphic Novel.
    Closing: 20.10.25 (midnight PST).
    Prizes: Unpublished Book Grand Prize - Translation into Greek and publication by Strange Days Books.  Published Book Grand Prize - a 5-day holiday in Athens.  Writers’ Choice (as voted for by other prizewinners) - a 5-day stay in Athens.  There are 14 other prizes of a special handmade ceramic.  Selected texts from prizwinners will be published online, and there will be translation into Greek for poetry and short story winners.   All winners and finalists receive an online certificate, ideal for printing and 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.
    Comp Page: Eyelands Comp

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.  There is also the Cygnature story and poetry contest, open to young writers aged 17 to 25.  Plus there is the Bedford Prize for Bedford residents.
    Closing: 31.10.25..
    Prizes in each category (Poetry, Short Story): £1,500, £300, £200.   Cygnature Short Story and Poetry - £200 in each category.  In addition there is £100 in each category for the Bedford Prize..  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.

National Poetry Competition. The National Poetry Society is once again running its prestigious international contest for poems of up to 40 lines.  As usual there is no theme.  This year’s judges are Denise Saul, Ian Duhig and Susannah Dickey.
    Closing: 31.10.25.
    Prizes: 1st - £5,000,  2nd - £3,000.  3rd - £2,000.   Commended - £500.
    Entry Fee: £8 for the first, £6 thereafter.
    Comp Page: NPC

Paul Cave Prize for Literature.  Here’s a repeat of the new contest from Tim Saunders Publications of Southampton.  It has six categories: novellas of up to 10,000 words, novelettes of up to 7,500 words,, short stories of up to 1,000 words, flash fiction up to 300 words, micro fiction of up to 100 words, and poems of no more than 30 lines.
    Closing: 30.11.25.
    Prizes: Novella - £200.  Novelette - £100.  Short story - £75.  Flash Fiction - £35.  Micro Fiction - £25.  Poem - £35.  Winners in each category will receive feedback, and publication in the anthology and on the website.  A free copy of the anthology will go to all contributors.
    Entry Fees: Novella - £26 for one, £42 for two.  Short story - £15 for one, £25 for two.  Poem/Flash Fiction - up to 3 for £15.  Micro Fiction - up to 8 for £25.
    Comp Page: Paul Cave Prize

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.