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2022 Open Poetry Competition

Our Open Poetry Judge Tristram Fane Saunders

This year we welcome Tristram Fane Saunders to our 30th Anniversary Festival as judge in the Open Poetry Competition.

Tristram Fane Saunders is a journalist and commissioning editor at the Telegraph.  As their poetry critic he also runs ‘Poem of the Week’.

His own poems appear in Carcanet’s New Poetries VIII: An Anthology.  His current pamphlet is Woodsong and The Rake is forthcoming in May 2022. He has recently edited Edna St Vincent Millay: Poems and Satires.

We are delighted to announce that the 1st prize in our Open Poetry Competition will again this year be £1000! Second and third prizes will also remain at £500 and £250 respectively. Plus £100 for a local poet.

Our International Competitions opened on 1 April 2022, and closed at midnight on 30 June 2022. Prizes for all four competitions will be presented on Monday 17 October 2022 during the Festival.  This special occasion is one of the highlights of the Festival when, for the first time, the winning writers are revealed and rewarded.

Please read the Terms & Conditions carefully to ensure your entry is accepted.