Judge: Clare Shaw
Entries for the Winchester Poetry Prize 2024 are now open.
First Prize £1,000, Second Prize £500, Third Prize £250.
All longlisted poems will be published in a printed anthology.
Writing Opportunities 2024
The Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2024
The Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2024 is open! Enter your poems by 31 July 2024 at foyleyoungpoets.org
The Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award is one of the biggest and most prestigious poetry competitions for 11-17 year olds in the world. Every year, 15 top winners and 85 commended poets are chosen; together, they represent some of the most exciting new voices writing today. This year's judges are the fantastic Vanessa Kisuule and Jack Underwood, and they can't wait to read your poems! If you're aged 11-17, send in your poems for the chance to be among the 100 winners and kick-start your writing career.
Poems can be on any theme and in any style but must be no longer than forty lines. You can submit as many as you like.
Winners of the award receive a fantastic range of prizes to help develop their writing. The top 15 poets receive a mentoring package with opportunities to receive support and feedback on their writing; and all 100 winners receive a year's youth membership of The Poetry SocietyLively and well-presented UK site supporting poetry with 4,000 members internationally and some thoughtful content. www.poetrysociety.org.uk and a bag full of books donated by generous publishers. The Poetry Society continues to support winners throughout their careers providing publication, performance and development opportunities, and access to a paid internship programme.
Since it began 26 years ago, the Award has kick-started the career of some of today's most exciting voices. Past winners include Jay Bernard, Sarah Howe, Helen Mort, Phoebe Power, Caroline Bird, Mukahang Limbu, Richard O'Brien and many more incredible poets. You can read last year's winning poems for inspiration in our new anthology, The Roots Belong to You.
Ledbury Poetry Competition 2024
The Ledbury Poetry Competition has opened for entries, with a closing date of 8 July. All poets writing in English are eligible, no matter where they live.
Poet Maya C Popa will be the judge:
"Audre Lorde remarked that ‘Poetry is the way we help give name to the nameless so it can be thought.' This is among the many profound and vital truths about poetry, that it rushes forth to dismantle a silence or otherwise render it on the page. There are just as many ways to name as there are poets to do the naming. I look forward to widening my own hearing, my own thoughts, by spending time with these poems."
The first prize for the competition is £1,000 cash and a week's poetry course at Arvon.
Second Prize is £500, and third prize is £250.
The winners will be invited to read at Ledbury Poetry Festival in 2025.