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Poet of the Year Competition 2021

We are delighted to launch our 15th Poet of the Year Competition on 1 March! Managed by the Festival Friends, the competition has grown from small beginnings in 2007 and now attracts entries locally, nationally and internationally; Our Poet of the Year 2020 was local poet Charlotte Cornell, and in 2019 it was Mara Adamitz Scrupe from Philadelphia, USA.

Submit your poems to us, whether you have been writing for many years or have only recently been inspired to versify. Entries are £5 per poem and must be accompanied by an entry form.

All work is judged anonymously by our panel. A longlist (approximately 35 poems) will be announced later in the year and published in an anthology. From this list a shortlist will be drawn with  the selected poets invited to read their work at the Awards Evening, taking place on National Poetry Day, 7 October (Covid-19 restrictions allowing).

The winner, announced at the Awards, will become the Poet of the Year 2021 and receive a prize of £200. Second place receives £100 and third place £50. At the Awards Evening there are two more prizes; the Best-Read Poem receives a bottle of sparkling wine, and the People’s Choice- as chosen by the audience from the anthology – receives £25.

The competition launches on 1 March 2021 and entries must be received by 11 June 2021. So don’t be shy, send us your poems and maybe you’ll be our 15th Poet of the Year.  Good luck!

To enter or for more information please read the terms and conditions, complete an entry form and send it with your poems to [email protected]

To see last year’s winners reading their poems, click here