The Women Poets’ Prize 2020 is now open for submissions.

The Rebecca Swift Foundation Women Poets’ Prize 2020 opens for applications on July 2nd at 9 am, with a closing date of August 14th, 11 pm. Applications and entries after the deadline are not eligible. There is no entry fee for the Women Poets’ Prize. The organizers strongly encourage applications from poets belonging to marginalized or underrepresented communities, at all stages of their professional development.

Criteria

• The Women Poets’ Prize is open to all women poets resident in the UK and Northern Ireland.
• Applicants must be aged 18 or above at the time of entering the Prize.
• All applications must be submitted via the website by 11 pm (GMT) on 14th August 2020.
• All submissions are final – it will not be possible to accommodate alterations to applications once they have
• been submitted. Only one submission is permitted per poet.

Rules

• All poems must be original, single-authored pieces of work, submitted in English. Unfortunately, the program does not accept translations.
• Single poems must not exceed 40 lines in length (see the Women Poets’ Prize page for more on what exactly to include in your submission).
• Each poem must have a title. If there is no title, the first line of the poem may be used.
• Poems should each begin on a new page; applicants are encouraged to use the ‘Page Break’ function to ensure that each poem appears separately from the previous one.
• Submitted poems must not previously have been published in a pamphlet or full collection under the name of the poet submitting, with the exception of self-published works, which are accepted.
• Poems previously published in magazines/journals, either in print or online, will be accepted, but please indicate clearly if your poem has been previously published in one of these formats.
• Poems may cover any topic, theme or subject matter.
• As all submissions will be read anonymously, poets are asked not to include their names anywhere in the body of their submission.
• All copyright remains with the poets. The Rebecca Swift Foundation reserves the right to use for promotional purposes only the poems of shortlisted and winning poets throughout the duration of the mentorship period offered by the Women Poets’ Prize. Permission will be sought from the poets before any such use of original materials.

For further inquiries

If you have any access requirements or questions concerning the application process which you would like to discuss in confidence, please get in touch by emailing Victoria Adukwei Bulley on [email protected].