The Poetry Society Celebrating our centenary

 National Poetry Competition

The 2010 Competition

The National Poetry Competition 2010 will open for entries in April. You will be able to enter online from this page. Please keep checking back to find out who the judges will be and for details of how to enter.

The National Poetry Competition 2009

Daljit Nagra, Ruth Padel and Neil Rollinson judge the National Poetry Competition 2009.

All winners and commendations of the 2009 competition have now been notified. Winners will be officially announced on 30 March 2010 at a prize giving event at the Savile Club in London's Mayfair, on the Poetry Society website on the 31 March and (the first, second and third prize winners) in the spring issue of Poetry Review.

About the National Poetry Competition

Established in 1978, the National Poetry Competition is one of the longest running and widely respected open poetry competitions. Winning has given an important boost to a plethora of now widely known poets. Past winners include the current UK poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy, Collette Bryce, Ruth Padel and T.S. Eliot Prize-winner Philip Gross. It is judged anonymously by a new set of judges each year. The top prize is £5,000, second prize £1,000, third prize £500. In addition there are 10 commendations of £50.

2009 Artwork

Our commissioned artwork for the National Poetry Competition 2009, The Reading Man, is made out of the winning poems of 2008 by Artist Tori Flower.

2009 Judges

Daljit Nagra

Ruth Padel

Neil Rollinson

The winners of the National Poetry Competition 2009 will be published in  Poetry Review, on the Poetry Society website, in Aesthetica Magazine and also get the chance to read at Ledbury Poetry Festival. 

 

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2009 Media Partner