A National Competition to Discover the Best International Poetry

Update 29.04.24: Wales Poetry Award 2023 is now closed, and all submissions are being sent to judging.

We aim to be in touch with all entrants by the end of May to let you know the outcome of your entry, and we ask for your patience in the meantime as our judge has a lot of poems to read!

If at any point from now until then you decide that you want to withdraw your poem for any reason, or if it is no longer eligible for the competition, please let us know ASAP

Wales Poetry Award is back for 2023!

Wales Poetry Award is a single-poem competition open to poets worldwide to share their new, never-before-published work

This year, the competition will be open from 2^nd October 2023 to 5^th February 2024

Read on to find out more about the competition, meet the judge, read the rules and terms, and find out how to enter your work

If you have any questions about Wales Poetry Award that are not covered below, please email francesturpin@serenbooks.com. If your question is about your entry, please include how you entered (post/email/Submittable/Google Form) in your email

Good luck!

Judge

Wales Poetry Award 2023 will be judged by Denise Saul (she/her)

Denise’s debut collection The Room Between Us (Pavilion/Liverpool University Press, 2022) was shortlisted for TS Eliot poetry prize 2022, longlisted for Jhalak prize 2023 and a Poetry Book Society Summer Recommendation 2022. The Room Between Us was highly commended in Forward Poetry Prize 2022. She is the author of two pamphlets: White Narcissi (flipped eye,2007), a Poetry Book Society Pamphlet Choice; and House of Blue (Rack Press, 2012), a PBS Pamphlet Recommendation. A recent guest editor for The Poetry Review, Denise is a past winner of The Poetry Society’s Geoffrey Dearmer Prize and a Fellow of The Complete Works. Denise holds a PhD in Creative Writing (poetry) from the University of Roehampton. She received an ACE Grant for the Arts Award for her video poem collaborative project. She has been the judge of TS Eliot Prize. Visit her project, Silent Room: A Journey of Language Denise lives in Surrey.

"Bring me your poems that insist on being re-read. I am looking for work that exists beyond the page: poems that command attention, poems that embrace ownership of voice and space, unsettling poems, quiet poems, loud poems, surprising poems. All forms and styles are welcome, so bring me your best poems." - Denise Saul, Wales Poetry Award 2023 Judge

Prizes

First Award

£500
Their choice of either a course (excluding those with application processes) at Literature Wales’ Tŷ Newydd Writing Centre or a week-long self-catered retreat at their dedicated writing retreat cottage, Nant
Seren Book Bundle
Publication in Poetry Wales

Second Award

£100
Seren Book Bundle
Publication in Poetry Wales

Third Award

£50
Seren Book Bundle
Publication in Poetry Wales

& Ten Highly Commended Poets

will be invited to read at our Awarding Ceremony, and have their poems published in an online booklet on poetrywales.co.uk

Rules

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 info@poetrywales.co.uk

Remember that we receive hundreds of entries to Wales Poetry Award, so if your entry does not comply with these rules, it may be disqualified from the competition without notification

Competition Terms:

Wales Poetry Award 2023 opens 2^nd October 2023 (02.10.2023) at 00:00 GMT and closes 5^th February 2024 (05.02.2024) 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
Prizes may not be awarded if we do not receive a minimum number of entries
Poems submitted must be entirely your own work
By entering Wales Poetry Award, authors of shortlisted, winning, and Highly Commended poems grant Poetry Wales the unrestricted rights in perpetuity to publish and broadcast their poem in print, online, audio, performance and video. Winning poems may not be published elsewhere until after the Awarding Ceremony has taken place in 2024
Poetry Wales reserves the right to disqualify entries for any reason
Entrants will be notified of the results of their submissions by the end of April 2024, unless circumstances prevent this
The First Award winner is entitled to a choice between a course (excluding those with application processes) at Tŷ Newydd Writing Centre or a week-long self-catered retreat at the dedicated writing retreat cottage, Nant, courtesy of Literature Wales. This cannot be exchanged for a monetary prize

Format:

Poems must be written primarily in English, with a key or footnotes included for any words translated
Unless visual effects or font variations are part of the poem’s composition, entries must be typed, single-spaced, in 12pt Arial font and printed in black ink
Poems must not exceed 70 lines, excluding titles
If a poem exceeds one page, please number pages with the title on each page
Poems entered online must be sent as separate documents in either .doc, .docx, or PDF format
Your name must not be visible on entries as poems are judged anonymously
Entries will not be returned, so please keep a copy for your own records

Entry:

Entrants must be 17 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
Entries are free to UK residents from low-income backgrounds, from households earning £16000 or less per year. We do not require proof of this
Entry fees may be paid via our website, Submittable, or using the postal entry form
Your contact details will be used to inform you about the status of your entry
Entrants must be contactable via email or phone

How to Enter

Our preferred methods of submission are Submittable or Google Form. However, if neither of these are accessible to you, please submit via email or post

If you are eligible for free entry, please submit by Google Form, post, or email. Please note you do not need to provide any evidence or request permission to make a free entry, simply leave that space blank on the form you choose to use.

SUBMITTABLE (PAID ENTRIES ONLY)

Submittable will ask for a £5 fee per entry. Please upload each poem as a separate document and entry

Submit via Submittable (paid entries only)

GOOGLE FORM (FREE OR PAID ENTRY)

Google Form is a quick and easy way to fill in your details and upload your entry/entries all in one go

Before submitting paid entries by Google Form, please first pay your entry fee (unless exempt), then click through to the form and follow the instructions

Pay for Google Form entry

Submit by Google Form

EMAIL (FREE OR PAID ENTRY)

Please submit by email only if Submittable and Google Forms are inaccessible to you. This helps us to process entries quickly when it comes to judging

If you are submitting via email, please first pay your entry fee (unless exempt):

Pay for Email entry

Email info@poetrywales.co.uk with the subject line WALES POETRY AWARD 2023 ENTRY by 5^th February 2024 with the following information:

Your name
Your address
Your contact number
Your submission title
Your order number (if you have paid the entry fee)

We will follow up about any other details as required. The following additional rules apply for email entries:

Include your poem entry/entries as an individual .doc or .docx attachment(s) only
Do not paste your poem(s) into the email
Do not place multiple poems in one document
Ensure each poem is correctly titled to avoid confusion
By submitting an entry via email, you accept our rules, terms and conditions as stated above

BY POST (FREE OR PAID ENTRY)

Print out our entry form below, fill in all of your details including payment type, and send along with your entry/entries to:

Wales Poetry Award 2023
Poetry Wales
Suite 6
4 Derwen Road 
Bridgend
CF31 1LH

Wales Poetry Award 2023 | Entry Form onlyDownload

If you do not have access to a printer, please include the same information as requested in block capitals. Please only send printed or typewritten versions of your poems so that the judge can read them clearly