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Poet of the Year Competition 2020

Canterbury Festival’s Poet of the Year Competition 2020 launches on 2 March.

Now a truly international competition, entries are received from near and far, with energetic poets from all over the world sharing their work. In 2019 we had our first international winner from Philadelphia.  

Poems can be on any subject and in any form but no more than 60 lines long. Entries must be accompanied by an entry form but the poet’s name must not appear on the poems, to ensure that entries are judged anonymously.

Poet of the Year Competition 2020: Judges and Prizes

Our judges this year are Luigi Marchini, Chair of SaveAS Writers, Gary Studley, Chair of Dead Hoarse Writers, and Mara Adamitz Scrupe, Poet of the Year 2019. 

The Festival Friends are delighted to announce that the prizes for this year’s Poet of the Year Competition have been generously donated by Geralyn Pinto, Associate Professor and Former Head of the Post Graduate Department of English at St Agnes College, Mangalore, India. Professor Pinto is a published and award-winning short story writer and poet, who has entered the SaveAs Writers International Creative Writing contests for many years, as well as the Festival’s Poet of the Year Competition.

We are honored that she will be donating the prizes in memory of her beloved parents, the late Hugh Francis and Praxedes Mary Rose Pinto who were exceptionally intellectual and cultivated in her and her siblings a love of academics, the English language and its literature.   

This year’s first prize is £200, with £100 for second and £50 for third place.  There is also a £25 prize for the People’s Choice and the Best-Read Poem receives a bottle of sparkling wine.

Poet of the Year Competition 2020: Submission and Awards Evening

From the entries approximately 35 poems are chosen to appear in an anthology, which will be available from the Festival Office. Following this a shortlist of poets will be invited to read their poems at this year’s awards evening in October and the winner will announced on the night. Dates and times will be released soon.

The entry fee is £5 per poem, the entry form and Terms and Conditions can be downloaded below.

For more information contact Tina at the Festival Office on 01227 452853 or by emailing [email protected]