Competition for Poetry by Ages 12 to 17

Guernsey International Poetry Competition 2016 has Ian McMillan as the judge. The competition is free for poets aged 12 to 17. (There is a charge for adults to enter.) Deadline for entries: 15 January 2016. Winners will be contacted by 15 March 2016. Winning entries will be displayed on one of the 33 buses in Guernsey.
More information (the page is still showing last year’s winners): http://guernseyliteraryfestival.com/images/pom-competition2016.pdf (If this link doesn’t work, click on the download link on the page: http://guernseyliteraryfestival.com/index.php/2015-04-07-09-46-01/poems-on-the-move)

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William Soutar Writing Prize 2015

The William Soutar Writing Prize is run by Perth and Kinross libraries. Now in its fourteenth year, this annual competition alternates between poetry and short stories. The competition in 2015 is for poems. Entry to this Scottish-based competition is free, and open to anyone in the world over the age of 16yrs. Individuals are limited to two poems only. Entries may be in English or Scots. First prize is an Arvon Writing Course. Second Prize: £100 Book Token. Local Prize:£50 Book Token to be awarded for the best work from a resident of Perth and Kinross in Scotland. Deadline: 23 June 2015. More details and full rules here: http://www.pkc.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=29920&p=0 (I am having trouble with this link, which seems to change to a more generic council website link as I paste it in. The best thing seems to be to click on the link, and then, if the Prize doesn’t show up, do a search on the website.)

Award for African Poets living anywhere in the world

Run by the Babishai Niwe Poetry Foundation, this award is open to all African poets, living anywhere in the world, provided they will not have published (including self-publishing) a full-length collection by May 2015. The first prize winner will receive USD1,000, and the top ten will receive mentorship and publication. Deadline is May 15th 2015, 11.59pm Ugandan time. For more information, visit: http://www.bnpoetryaward.co.ug/submit-poems/
http://www.bnpoetryaward.co.ug/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Flyer-2015.jpg

2015 Camden/Lumen Poetry Competition

I’m breaking my own rules, with a competition that has an entry fee – proceeds to Homeless Cold Weather Shelters. I found this on the Poetry Library website (http://www.poetrylibrary.org.uk/competitions/). Closing Date: 14-Feb-15
Details: Judge:George Szirtes. Prize: 50 free copies of a perfect bound small collection of your poems plus a reading. Poems up to 40 lines. Poetry must not be previously published. No entry form is necessary. Entry Fee: £2.50 for single poems, 6 poems £10
Contact: Please make out cheques to Caris Camden and send to Ruth O’Callaghan, 49 Ripley Gardens, Mortlake, London SW14 8HF

The Christopher Tower Poetry Competition 2015 for 16-18-year-olds| Closing Date: 27-Feb-15

Again, from the Poetry Library competition listings. Looks like a UK-only comp:

Details:
Competition for 16-18 years of age. Theme: ‘Cells’. Prizes: The first prize is £3,000, with £1,000 and £500 going to the second and third prize- winners. In addition to individual prizes, the students’ schools and colleges also receive cash prizes of £150 and the three prizewinners are eligible for a place on the Tower Poetry Summer School.. Longlisted entrants’ poems are published on the Tower Poetry website. Judges: Ian McMillan, Helen Mort and Peter McDonald. The winners will be announced on Monday 20 April 2015.
Entry Fee: £0Contact: www.towerpoetry.org.uk/prize or email info@towerpoetry.org.uk or call 01865 286591.

Beatons Tearooms & Bookshop Second Poetry Competition 2014 | Closing Date: 27-Nov-14

Another one from the fab Poetry Library competition listings:
Details:

Adjudicators: Beatons House Poet, Liz Darcy Jones; Jon Amos, Nick Kelly. Prize-giving at Beatons Blandford Forumand recital Sat 13th Dec when winners invited to recite their poems publicly (or nominate reader in their stead) Theme: ‘Restoration’. Prizes: First Prize £50 Beatons voucher and poem framed/displayed in Beatons Blandford Forum; Young Aspiring Wordsmith Winner (13 – 17 year olds) £25 Beatons Voucher and poem framed/displayed in Beatons Blandford, adult runner up £25 junior £10 Beatons Vouchers respectively.
Entry Fee: £0Contact: For further details, rules & entry see website:
http://beatonstearooms.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/beatons-annual-poetry-competition-2014.html

Brunel University African Poetry Prize 2015 prize! Closing Date: 30-Nov-14

Copied and pasted from the Poetry Library newsletter:
Details:

The £3000 prize is open to poets who were born in Africa, or who are nationals of an African country, or whose parents are African. The prize is for ten poems exactly in order to encourage serious poets. These poems may, however, have been published. Only poets who have not yet had a full-length poetry book published are eligible. Poets who have self-published poetry books or had chapbooks and pamphlets published are allowed to submit for this prize.
Entry Fee: £0Contact: For full submission details see:
http://www.africanpoetryprize.org/rules
For full details of The Brunel University African Poetry and to see the winning and shortlisted poems: http://www.africanpoetryprize.org/

Exiled Writers Ink Free Poetry Competition Deadline midnight on 8th October 2014!

Sorry this is such short notice! Just spotted it on the Poetry Library competitions page. Copied and pasted from the competition site (http://www.exiledwriters.co.uk/):

Exiled Writers Ink is pleased to present the poetry competition for UK refugees, asylum seekers, migrants and exiles

Free entry First prize: £400 plus assessment of winner’s poetry collection by The Literary Consultancy.

Second Prize: £200. Third Prize: £100 Free membership of Exiled Writers Ink for a year. A special poetry night at which the winners will be announced and will perform their poetry. The competition will be judged by the distinguished poets:

Dajit Nagra – Michael Zand – Alev Adil

Daljit Nagra has published three collections of poetry with Faber and Faber and has won several prizes including two Forward Prizes, a South Bank Show Decibel Award and has been twice nominated for the TS Eliot Prize. He currently lives in West London.

Michael Zand is a writer, poet, editor and researcher. His published collections of poetry include lion – the iran poems (Shearsman 2010) and The Wire and other poems (Shearsman 2012). He won the 2008 Roehampton UniversityPoetry Performance prize.

Dr Alev Adil is Artist in Residence at the University of Greenwich where she is also Principal Lecturer in visual culture and creative writing. She has been widely published in academic and literary journals and has reviewed for many publications including The Independent and The Times Literary Supplement.  She is a juror on the 2014 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize (UK) and the 2014 Golden Island International Film Festival (Cyprus).

Black Country Poetry Competition 2014 closes 26th September

Competition run by the Black Country Living Museum (the Black Country is an area in the West Midlands, UK), this free-to-enter competition this year commemorates the anniversary of the start of WWI with the theme of ‘conflict and contemplation’. First prize is £100, plus a family ticket to the Museum. Only one poem per poet. Closing date is soon – 26th September. More information: http://www.bclm.co.uk/learning/annual-prize-poetry-competition/457.htm

UK Competition to raise awareness of homelessness

Open to poets over 16 and living in the UK, the SASH Writing Competition is free to enter. However, those who can afford to are asked to donate £10 to SASH, a Yorkshire-based organisation working to prevent homelessness and to help young homeless people. The winner will get a free place on an Arvon five-day residential writing course. Writers who are homeless or who have exprienced homelessness are particularly encouraged to enter. Deadline is World Homeless Day, 10th October 2014. More information: http://www.sash-uk.org.uk/homeless-writing-competition/