The National Poetry Competition

The National Poetry Competition

 總獎金: 8200(GBP)

最高獎金: 5000(GBP)

報名時間: 即日起 ~ 2022-10-31

主辦單位: Poetry Society

主辦單位Email:support@poetrysociety.org.ukmarketing@poetrysociety.org.uk

he National Poetry Competition 2022 is now open

2022 competition artwork by Wu He Ping

The National Poetry Competition is one of the world’s most prestigious prizes for an unpublished poem of up to 40 lines, open to all poets worldwide aged 18 or over.

Ten Prizes

  • First Prize: £5,000
  • Second Prize: £2,000
  • Third Prize: £1,000
  • Commendations: £200

Deadline:

31 October 2022

Judges

From left: Greta Stoddart (image: Robin Mills), Michael Symmons Roberts (image: Andrew Crowley), Jason Allen-Paisant (image: Dimitri D’ippolito)

Jason Allen-Paisant

Jason Allen-Paisant is an award-winning poet and non-fiction writer. His critically acclaimed debut collection, Thinking with Trees, won the Poetry category of the 2022 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature. His work has been published or anthologised in Granta, The Guardian, The Poetry Review, Callaloo, New Poetries VIII, The BBC, More Fiya: A New Collection of Black British Poetry, among others. His second collection, Self-Portrait as Othello, will be published by Carcanet in March 2023. Jason holds a Doctorate in Medieval and Modern Languages from the University of Oxford and is currently Associate Professor of Aesthetic Theory and Decolonial Thought in the School of English and the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies at the University of Leeds.

Greta Stoddart

Greta Stoddart’s first collection At Home in the Dark(Anvil) was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection and won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize in 2002. Her second book, Salvation Jane(Anvil), was shortlisted for the Costa Book Award 2008 and her third, Alive Alive O(Bloodaxe, 2015), was shortlisted for the Roehampton Poetry Prize 2016, and included a poem shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Individual Poem. Her latest work, a radio poem ‘Who’s there?’ broadcast on BBC Radio 4 was BBC Pick of the Week and shortlisted for the 2017 Ted Hughes Award. Her fourth book Fool will be published in September 2022. She lives in Devon and teaches for the Poetry School.

Michael Symmons Roberts

MSR is from Preston, Lancashire. He has published eight books of poetry including Drysalterwhich won the Forward and Costa Poetry Prizes and Corpus which won the Whitbread Poetry Award and was shortlisted for the Griffin International Prize. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Professor of Poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University. A regular broadcaster and dramatist, his work includes essays for Radio 4’s Something Understood, an adaptation of Paradise Lost for BBC radio with Sir Ian McKellen as Milton and an original verse drama – Men Who Sleep in Cars– for BBC TV, filmed in Manchester starring Maxine Peake. His work as a librettist has been performed in concert halls and opera houses across the world and his English versions of the poems for Schubert’s Winterreise will be performed this year by Lyric Opera Chicago. His Selected Poemswas published by Cape in 2016 and his most recent collection – Ransom– in 2021.

Rules

We recommend all entrants read the rules carefully before entering. If you have any questions please see our Frequently Asked Questions page.

Rules: General

  1. The competition is open to anyone aged 18 or over at the time of entering. International entries are welcome.
  2. The closing date of the competition is midnight (UK time), 31 October 2022.
  3. There is no limit on the number of entries a single entrant can make. All entries will be considered anonymously by the judges.
  4. Entries will not be returned, so please keep a copy.
  5. Under no circumstances can alterations be made to poems once entered.
  6. Online entries made via the website will receive automatic confirmation at the time of submission.
  7. Telephone or email confirmation of receipt is not available. Poetry Society staff are unable to confirm the content of documents submitted online, so please ensure you send the correct version.
  8. The competition organisers reserve the right to change the judging panel without notice and not to award prizes if, in the judges’ opinion, such an action is justified.
  9. The judges read all the entries; their decision is final. Neither the judges nor Poetry Society staff will enter into any correspondence.
  10. No current employee or Trustee of The Poetry Society is eligible to enter the National Poetry Competition.

Rules: Poems

  1. All entries are judged anonymously and the poet’s name must not appear on the poem itself.
  2. All poems must have a title and must not exceed 40 lines in length(excluding title). Entries can be on any subject.
  3. Poems must be the entrant’s original work.
  4. Entries must not have been published, self-published, published on a website or made public on social media, broadcast or featured among the winners in another competition before 31 March 2023.

Rules: Fees

  1. The first poem submitted costs £7. Subsequent entries in the same submission cost £5 per poem. Poetry Society members (including those joining at time of submission) get one free second poem, with subsequent poems at £5.

Rules: Winners

  1. Prizewinners will be notified by the end of February 2023 and invited to an awards event in spring 2023. All winners will be expected to provide a biography and photograph.
  2. All entrants who provide a valid email address will be notified about the outcome of their entry by the end of March 2023.
  3. The copyright of each poem remains with the author. However, authors of the winning poems, by entering the competition, grant The Poetry Society the right in perpetuity to publish and/or broadcast their poem. Use of the poems elsewhere for one year from March 2023 is subject to permission from The Poetry Society.

Peggy Poole Award

  1. The Peggy Poole Award is a talent development scheme running alongside the National Poetry Competition. It is an additional prize, judged separately. It does not affect the judging process of the National Poetry Competition.
  2. The prize will be awarded to an entrant of the National Poetry Competition, who adheres to all its associated rules, and who is living in the North West of England at the time of entering. The full list of eligible UK postcode regions for the purposes of this Award is: BB, BL, CA, CH, CW, FY, IM, L, M, OL, PR, SK, SN, WA and WN. No additional fee is payable by the entrant.
  3. The prize is mentorship from a leading poet, who will also judge the Award.

FAQs

Have a question about the National Poetry Competition? See below for answers to the most common queries. If your question remains unanswered, please contact us.

1. Do line spaces between stanzas count as part of the 40 line limit? What about titles, epigraphs and dedications?

The forty line limit applies only to the written lines of the poem, not the lines between stanzas. Titles, epigraphs and dedications are not counted as lines either.

2. Can I make changes after my poem has been submitted?

Changes cannot be made to poems after they have been submitted. If you want to submit a more recent version of your poem please send it as a separate entry. Both versions will be seen by the judges.

3. I accidentally left my name or contact details on my entry, will my poem be disqualified?

Please contact us as soon as possible at support@poetrysociety.org.uk after making your entry so we can remove your contact details. If your contact details are left on your poem, this may result in your poem being disqualified.

4. Are simultaneous submissions allowed?

You may submit your poem to other competitions or publications at the same time you submit it to the National Poetry Competition on the understanding that if you win our competition you will immediately withdraw it from elsewhere. However, to avoid complications, we would strongly recommend you do not do this. If your poem wins another competition or is published before our winners have been announced, you’ll need to let us know as soon as possible.

5. How will you know which poems are mine if I don’t write my name on them?

Poems are coded by administrative staff so that they can be judged as anonymous works and then married back to your entry form once the judges have made their decision.

6. If my poem is a few more than 40 lines, will it be disqualified?

Yes. Poems longer than forty lines are not eligible to win the National Poetry Competition.

7. Can I use a pen name?

You may, although all entries are made anonymous before they are seen by the judges. When the winners are selected we will check how they wish to be referred to when their poems are published in The Poetry Review, in press releases and on the Poetry Society website.

8. Must entries be unpublished?

Yes. Poems that have already been published are not eligible to win the National Poetry Competition.

9. Does having a poem on my own blog, Twitter or Facebook page count as website publication?

Yes.

10. Can I send the same poem that I entered in last year’s competition?

Yes, so long as that poem hasn’t been published or placed in another competition in the intervening period.

11. Can I enter a revision of my first poem as a second entry?

Yes.

12. I accidentally submitted the wrong poem. Can I switch it?

Alterations cannot be made to poems once they have been submitted. If you’d like the judges to consider another poem, please send it as a new entry.

13. Can you check you received my poem?

If you want confirmation of a postal entry please include an SAE with your poem and entry form, which we will post back to you. Online entries will be confirmed by email shortly after you submit. There is nothing more that Poetry Society staff can do; please do not telephone the office or email to ask if your entry has arrived unless you have not received automatic confirmation by email or your SAE (please allow a reasonable amount of time before chasing SAEs as entries are processed in batches).

14. Can you check that the poem I entered is the one I intended to enter?

The competition generally receives over ten thousand poems each year, which means we won’t be able to go through and check work once submitted.

15. Since entering my poem to the National Poetry Competition my poem has won another competition / been published elsewhere. What should I do?

Congratulations! You’ll need to contact us to let us know your poem has found a home, so we can withdraw your entry from the competition. Please be aware that refunds cannot be made for withdrawn entries.

16. Reading the poems that have previously won or been commended in the competition, I notice a lack of established poetic forms (sonnets, villanelle, roundel etc.) represented – why is this?

Of the large number of poems that are entered into the competition, a very, very small fraction of them are written strictly in an established form. However, the competition welcomes all entries, whatever their structure, form or rhyme scheme.

17. When will the competition winners be announced?

Competition winners are usually announced in the spring. Please check back to the website once the competition has closed for further details / specific dates.

18. Some competitions sift the entries before they send them to the judges. Will the judges of the National Poetry Competition definitely see my poem?

Yes. Unlike many poetry competitions, we do not implement an elimination round. The judges on the panel read all entries submitted into the competition.

19. My poems have been uploaded and are ready to be submitted. How do I pay?

Once you have submitted your first poem (click ‘Submit Poem’ at the bottom of the page – you may have to scroll down to see this), you will have the option to first see a preview of the poem(s), and then pay for your entry. Please take care at the preview stage of the process to check that your poem is as you would like it to be, as you will not be able to edit your work once it has been submitted.

20. Are subsidised entries available for low-income entrants?

Limited free places will be available for low-income applicants allowing low-income entrants to submit a poem to the competition for free. 50 places will be released on 31st August and further places released on 3rd October.

The Poetry Society is offering a limited number of entries of one free poem for UK residents of low-income backgrounds, from households earning £16,000 or less per year or in receipt of benefits such as JSA, ESA, Working Tax Credits, Universal Credit, Disability Living Allowance, or Carer’s Allowance. There is no need to declare or prove your income threshold. These are offered to entrants on a first-come first-served basis by ticking a box to claim a free poem entry when adding your personal details.

21. I have already entered once, paying the higher fee for an initial poem. Does this mean I can enter again paying the lower fee for subsequent poems?

You must enter your poems in one transaction if you want to take advantage of the lower price for additional poems. The first poem in each paid-for submission will always be at the higher rate, so it’s best to submit and pay for all your poems in one go to get the best price.

22. As a member entering online, how do I take advantage of the free second poem?

You must use this at the same time as you submit your first poem in the same entry. If you submit a second poem in that same entry, that second poem will be free. Please note that if you have already paid for an entry and wish to submit more poems, you’ll need to start a new entry, the first poem of which will be at the higher rate.

23. I am entering online. Do I need an entry form / to post you anything?

We’ll get all the contact information we need from your online entry -so if you’re entering online, please don’t send us anything in the post.

24. Why aren’t there any identifying marks on the poem preview?

Once your poem has been submitted and paid for, a simple code is added to it so that the winners can be identified.

25. Can I enter by post?

For speed of processing, payment and confirmation, we recommend that you enter the National Poetry Competition online. If you are unable to do so or are having trouble using the online entry system, you can contact us at support@poetrysociety.org.uk and we’ll do our best to help.

Postal entries must be sent in with a completed entry form. The entry form can be downloaded here.Please include a SAE if you would like confirmation of receipt.

The address is: National Poetry Competition, The Poetry Society, 22 Betterton Street, London, WC2H 9BX.

26. How will I receive confirmation that my entry has been submitted?

Once your payment has gone through, you will be sent a receipt via email from your chosen payment method. This indicates that you have successfully entered the National Poetry Competition.


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