National Poetry Competition 2014 - Now Open!

The competition has a first prize of £5,000 and the closing date is 31 October 2014.

You can enter online, or download a postal entry form here. Please make sure you have read the rules before entering.

The National Poetry Competition is an award for individual poems that are previously unpublished.

Each entry remains anonymous throughout the judging process.

Judges

The judges of the 2014 National Poetry Competition are: Roddy Lumsden, Glyn Maxwell and Zoë Skoulding.

Prizes

First Prize: £5000

Second Prize: £2000

Third Prize: £1000

Seven Commendations: £100

The top-three winning poems are published in the Spring issue of The Poetry Review.

The winners will be invited to appear at various events and festivals around the country, including Ledbury Poetry Festival.

Up to 150 longlisted entrants are also offered a discount on selected activities from the Poetry School.

Winning and commended poems will are published on the Poetry Society website.

Entry Fees

£6 for your first poem

£3.50 for each subsequent entry in the same submission.

FREE second entry for Poetry Society members (including those joining now).

About the National Poetry Competition

Established in 1978, the Poetry Society’s National Poetry Competition is one of the world’s biggest and most prestigious poetry contests.

Winners include both established and emerging poets, and for many the prize has proved an important career milestone.

Win, and add your name to a roll-call that includes the current UK Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, Tony Harrison, Ruth Padel, Philip Gross

and Jo Shapcott.

Read poems by previous winners of the National Poetry Competition.