I’m only listing free-to-enter competitions as, if you are just starting out, you can otherwise spend a fortune. If you have anything poetry-related to share (free-to-submit listings only), please get in touch via email: rosiesandler@talktalk.net – thank you!
Please note: publication on this site does not mean publications/competition organisers have been vetted – please do your own checks before submitting.
Happy writing!
Rosie
Butcher’s Dog
Poets living in the UK or ROI are invited to submit up to three unpublished poems to issue 13 of this publication. Guest editor is Aoife Lyall. Deadline is midnight on 14 February 2020. Full details: https://www.butchersdogmagazine.co.uk/2020-submit
Bad Betty wants poetry manuscripts
Bad Betty Press is an independent UK poetry publisher, funded by the Arts Council. They are currently looking for full poetry pamphlets and collections. Send up to 10 pages of a completed poetry manuscript to be considered for publication in 2021. Deadline is 31 January 2020. Full details here.
Here Comes Everyone: The Green Issue
Worldwide submissions are invited by literary magazine Here Comes Everyone, on the theme of GREEN. Deadline for The Green Issue is 10th February 2020. From the editor: “Here Comes Everyone magazine is seeking submissions of poetry (plus fiction, artwork and non-fiction). We encourage bold/striking interpretations and reflections upon the theme. Environmentalism. Money. Envy. Plant-life. Nausea. Naivety. A political party. Kermit the Frog. What does ‘green’ mean to you?” POETRY: up to 3 poems of no longer than 30 lines each. Full information here.
Free Reads for Low Income Writers in Southeast of England
With a deadline of 7 January 2020, this is short notice from me – sorry. New Writing South has teamed up with The Literary Consultancy to offer free manuscript reads to low-income writers in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West Sussex. Entry guidelines here.
Bread Poetry – Luke Jerram
Do you want your poem to appear on rice paper, on 200 loaves of bread? If so, send it by 16 December 2019: https://www.lukejerram.com/breadpoetry/
Empty House Press
A new journal, Empty House Press encourages: “…broad interpretations of what the idea or image of an empty house might evoke.” Submit up to 3 poems in a single document. Full details here.
Ninth Letter
Published twice-yearly as a print journal by the University of Illinois, Ninth Letter is accepting poetry submissions until 28 February 2020. (It looks like there may be an annual submissions window of 1 Sept to 28 Feb.) Read full guidelines.
Shenandoah
A web magazine that publishes biannually, Shenandoah‘s editor is supported by students at Washington and Lee University’s English Department. From the website: “We will accept POETRY submissions from November 15 to December 15. We will also accept submissions in the same window for the GRAYBEAL-GOWEN PRIZE FOR VIRGINIA POETS, which was established to honor the memory of Washington and Lee graduate and lover of poetry, Howerton Gowen. Poets living in or born in Virginia, as well as those with long-term residency in the past, are eligible.” The editors stop accepting submissions once they receive 800, so submit sooner, rather than later. Full info here.
Bayou Magazine
Literary journal of the University of New Orleans, published biannually. Submit up to 5 poems in a single file via Submittable. The editors review submissions from 1 September to 1 May each year. Other forms of creative writing are also accepted. Read the full guidelines before submitting.
East Riding Festival of Words
With a theme of ‘My Mind, My Thoughts’, the 2019 East Riding Festival of Words poetry competition is free for school-age poets. (Otherwise, there’s a fee of £3 per poem.) Enter by 30 November 2019. Full info here.
