Young Poets Competition
We are delighted to announce the 2026
Young Poets shortlist
Anti-sonnet – Katy Lotherington
Blueprints for a Girl Who Is Still Becoming – Tshego Moloto
Certainly – Poppy Fletcher
Eve – Esme Coulter
Father Figure – James Mulvihill
Happy to help – Cerys Chitty
I’m doing my homework – Katie Metcalfe
Inheritance – Hannah Kent
Quiet house – Mitra Javadpour
Rack ‘Em Up – William G Marshall
Strange Grief – Freya Beer
The Second Trip – Silas Mitchell
Thoughts at the family grave – Jasmine Kwak
Trapped Expectations – Milli Doshi
What Remains When I’m Not Looking – Mahir
Prize Giving and Poetry Reading will take place on Monday 19 October at 2pm as part of the Festival.
Tickets to this event are free but seats can be reserved here.
Young Poets Judge 2026
Julia Webb
Julia Webb is a writer and artist based in Norwich. She has four poetry collections with Nine Arches Press: Bird Sisters (2016), Threat (2019) The Telling (2022) and Grey Time (2025).
In 2011 she won the Poetry Society’s Stanza competition and in 2018 she won the Battered Moons Poetry competition. She has had two poems highly commended in the Forward Prize (2016, 2022).
Julia has taught creative writing for organisations such as Lapidus, MIND, Norfolk County Council, and The SAW Trust, and in 2016 she was writer in residence on Norwich market.
In 2024 she was commissioned by The National Centre for writing and Living wage Foundation to write a poem for Living Wage Week.
She currently runs real world and email poetry courses, and is a mentor for poets. She is steering editor for Lighthouse – a journal for new writers.