Winchester Poetry Prize 2022

To enter please first read the competition rules. Scroll down for more information and the entry mechanism.

RULES  ​

• The competition is open to anyone aged 16 or over

• Entries may be submitted via email or by post

• Poems may be on any subject and in any form or style

• They must be typed and not longer than 40 lines (excluding title)

• Poems should be in English, must be the entrant’s own work and should not have been published or accepted for publication elsewhere (including online)

• Poems should not have been submitted for or won another poetry competition at the time of submission. Poems may be submitted for other competitions after the closing date, but entrants must withdraw their poems from the Winchester Poetry Festival in the event of being shortlisted for any other prize.

• Poems should not be the translated work of another poet.

• A number of free entries are available for poets to whom an entry fee would be a barrier. [Thanks to the 2020 winner Lewis Buxton who initiated this scheme] Online entrants can select the option to subsidise fees for other poets under the ‘Pay It Forward’ scheme.

• Closing date: midnight on 31 July 2022. Entries received after this time will not be considered.

• All poems are judged anonymously and should not bear your name, or any other form of identification.

• Our judge will read all qualifying entries.

• No person may win more than one cash prize, though more than one poem may feature in the list of Commended and Highly Commended poems.

• No changes can be made to a poem once it has been submitted.

• Travel expenses to read at the prize-giving in Winchester are not covered.

• The decision of the judge is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

• Winchester Poetry Festival Trustees, employees or associates, or members of their families, may not enter.

• The winners will be contacted by email or post by mid September 2022 and the result will be announced on Saturday 8 October 2022.

• Your entry in the competition indicates acceptance of these rules.