Please make sure that you have read and understood all of the following rules before you enter the competition. If you require clarity on anything, or additional assistance for accessibility, please email award@poetrywales.co.uk.
Remember that we receive hundreds of entries to Poetry Wales Award, so if your entry does not comply with these rules, Poetry Wales reserves the right to disqualify entries from the competition without notification or refund.
Competiton Terms:
- The Poetry Wales Award 2026 opens Monday 15th December 2025 (15/12/2025) at 00:01 GMT and closes Monday 16th February 2026 (16/02/2025) at 23:59 GMT. Entries received outside of these dates will not be considered.
- Simultaneous submissions are not permitted.
- Poems cannot have been previously published either in print or online, paid or unpaid – this includes social media and on personal websites.
- You may not submit more than five poems.
- All entries must be accompanied by the relevant entry form.
- Poems may not be edited once submitted.
- Poems will be judged anonymously on quality, style, and poetic impact. Please do not include your name anywhere on your entry.
- Poems submitted must be entirely your own work.
- Prizes may not be awarded if we do not receive a minimum number of entries. This decision will be made at the discretion of the organisers.
- By entering the Poetry Wales Award, writers of shortlisted, winning, and Highly Commended poems grant Poetry Wales Press Ltd. the unrestricted rights, in perpetuity, to publish and broadcast their poem in print, online, audio, performance and video. Copyright will remain with the author of the poem, in line with our contributors contracts. Find out more here.
- Winning poems may not be published elsewhere until after the Awarding Ceremony has taken place no later than July2026.
- Entrants will be notified of the results of their submissions by the end of April 2026, unless circumstances prevent this. Entrants will be notified of any changes to these dates as soon as possible.
- The First Award winner is entitled to a choice between a course at Tŷ Newydd Writing Centre or a Monday-Friday self-catered retreat at the dedicated writing retreat cottage, Nant, in 2026, courtesy of Literature Wales. Winners are responsible for their own travel arrangements and costs. Literature Wales reserve the right to exclude courses from the prize, for reasons including but not limited to the course requiring an assessed application process, courses being administrated by other organisations, and courses being sold out.
- Prizes cannot be exchanged for monetary value.
Format:
- Poems must be written primarily in English, with a key or footnotes included for any non-English words.
- Unless visual effects or font variations are part of the poem’s composition, entries must be typed, single-spaced, in 12pt Arial font and in black ink.
- Poems must not exceed 70 lines. This excludes titles and includes line breaks.
- If a poem exceeds one page, please number the pages with the title on each page.
- If you are entering multiple poems online, you must upload each as an individual documents in either .doc, .docx, or PDF format.
- Your name must not be visible on your entry as poems are judged anonymously. As a small team we do not have capacity to check every submission so failure to comply with this term may result in disqualification.
- Entries will not be returned, so please keep a copy for your own records.
Use of AI (Artificial Intelligence)
- Poems must be entirely the work of the entrant – poems generated in part or entirely by AI programming (e.g. ChatGPT etc.) may not be submitted.
- The use of certain AI programmes for accessibility or proofreading purposes (e.g. spellchecking, talk-to-text programmes, etc.) is permitted.
Entry:
- Entrants must be 18 or over at time of submission.
- A submission fee of £5 must accompany every poem submitted, with the exception of those entitled to free entry (see below).
- Entrants must be contactable via email or phone.
Exemptions:
- Entries are free to poets from low-income backgrounds, from households earning 16,000 GBP or less per year. We do not require proof of this.
- Entries are also free to subscribers using the link provided to them.
GDPR
Your contact details will not be used for anything other than to inform you about the status of your entry. We will never share, sell or misuse your personal information and all records of personal information will be deleted once the competition is completed.