The Canterbury Festival Poet of the Year Competition 2023 will be launched on Monday 6 March 2023.

The Competition is open to everyone over the age of 18 years to submit their poems which may be on any subject and in any format, but must be no more than 60 lines long.

All poems entered will be registered, numbered and then judged totally anonymously by this year’s panel of judges: Luigi Marchini (Chair of SaveAs Writers) Greta Ross (Poet of the Year 2022) and Clifford Liles (Award Winning Poet). 

From the entries received around 35 poems will be chosen for the long list which will be published in an anthology. From these a shortlist of around 15 poems will then be selected and the poets invited to read their work during our on-line Awards Evening on National Poetry Day, Thursday 5 October 2023, when the winners will be announced.

The first prize for the Poet of the Year is £200, with £100 for second and £50 for third place. 

The Competition deadline is Friday 2 June 2023. Terms and Conditions may be found here, please read these carefully. You may submit as many poems as you like, the fee for entry is £5 per poem and all entries must be accompanied by an entry form which can be found here.   

For further information contact Tina at the Festival Office.

We look forward to receiving your poems.