Winchester Poetry Festival calls application for Winchester Poetry Prize 2020. The next festival takes place 9 – 12 October 2020. The Competition invites longlisted poets to read at a special prize-giving event on Saturday 10 October 2020 as a part of the 2020 Winchester Poetry Festival. Winning and commended poems will also be published in a competition anthology.

Prizes 

• First Prize: £1,000
• 2nd Prize: £500
• 3rd Prize: £250

Rules 

• The competition is open to anyone aged 16 or over.
• Entries may be submitted via email or by post.
• Poems may be on any subject and in any form or style.
• They must be typed and not longer than 40 lines (excluding title).
• Poems should be in English, must be the entrant’s own work and should not have been published or accepted for publication elsewhere (including online), should not have won another poetry competition or be the translated work of another poet.
• Entry fee: £5 for the first poem, £4 for subsequent poems in a single submission.
• Closing date: midnight on 31 July 2020. Entries received after this time will not be considered.
• Where a poem is longer than one page, please clearly include the title on each page.
• All poems are judged anonymously and should not bear your name, or any other form of identification. The judge will read all entries.
• No person may win more than one prize, though more than one poem may feature in the list of Commended and Highly Commended poems.
• Similarly, no changes can be made to a poem once it has been submitted.
• Entrants do not need to be resident in the UK to enter, but please note, travel expenses to read at the prize-giving in Winchester are not covered.
• The decision of the judge is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
• However, Winchester Poetry Festival Trustees, employees or associates, or members of their families, may not enter.
• The winners will be contacted by email or post by Wednesday 16 September 2020 and the result will be announced at an event in Winchester on Saturday 10 October 2020.

Entry by email

• Select the payment button for the number of entries you wish to submit and pay online.
• Send an email with the poems in a Word attachment.
• In the submission email candidate should give a: name, address, and telephone number, b: a list of the titles of the poems submitted, c: where they heard about the competition and d: the PayPal transaction reference number.
• Furthermore, send the entry to [email protected].

Entry by post

• Each individual poem should be typed on a separate page of A4
• On a separate sheet of A4 paper please provide a: applicant’s name, address, and telephone number, b: an email address if they have one, c: a list of the poems submitted, d: where they heard about the competition. (or candidates can download an entry form here.)
• Cheques should be made payable to the ‘Winchester Poetry Festival’.
• Furthermore, send the poems (2 copies), entry sheet and cheque in an envelope clearly marked Winchester Poetry Prize to: Winchester Poetry Festival, c/o Faculty of Arts, University of Winchester, Sparkford Road, Winchester, UK, SO22 4NR (Please ensure you pay the correct postage. We will be unable to pay postage surcharges and your entries may be returned by the Post Office.)