Competitions

  • 2024 Open Poetry Competition

    Enter our 2024 Open Poetry Competition to make sure you are in with a chance of winning one of our generous cash prizes. First Prize is a whopping £1000, followed by £500 for second prize and £250 for third prize. There’s even £100 for the best local poet! Our competitions are now closed. To be…

  • 2024 Book for Children

    The winner of our 2024 Book for Children Competition will receive £750. £300 is second prize with £200 being offered as third prize. There is even a prize for the best local writer. Our competitions are now closed. Alex Campbell currently writes middle-grade novels under the name Alex Cotter. Her recent novel, The House on the…

  • 2024 Short Story Competition

    Enter our Short Story Competition and be in the running for winning one of our prizes to celebrate your success. First Prize is £750. Second and third prizes £300 and £200. Plus £100 for a local author. Our competitions are now closed. Susmita Bhattacharya’s debut novel The Normal State of Mind was long-listed at the…

  • 2023 Open Poetry Competition

    First Prize £1000! Second and third prizes – £500 and £250 respectively. Plus £100 for a local poet. To be judged by William Sieghart, founder of the Forward Prizes, the UK’s biggest poetry prizes. William also instigated National Poetry Day which is now celebrated in the UK every October. Last year William joined our anniversary…

  • 2023 Young Poets Competition

    First Prize £150. Second and third prizes £75 and £50. Plus a year’s subscription to the Poetry Society. Deanna Rodger won the UK Poetry Slam when she was 18 and since then has pushed down closed doors and held them open for others, curating spoken word events, facilitating workshops, writing commissions, and mentoring. Most recently,…

  • 2023 Book for Children Competition

    First Prize £750. Second and third prizes £300 and £200. Plus £100 for a local author. Rachel Hamilton is a part-time literary agent, a lecturer in Creative Writing and the author of six books. Rachel’s experience includes editing and mentoring and, as a literary consultant, she loves helping authors refine their manuscripts and find their…

  • 2023 Short Story Competition

    First Prize £750. Second and third prizes £300 and £200. Plus £100 for a local author. Claire Fuller’s much anticipated fifth novel The Memory of Animals will be published in April this year and her fourth (Unsettled Ground) featured at our Festival Book Group event last year – the subject of a fascinating discussion! Unsettled…