2024 Young Poets Competition
Our Young Poets Competition is offering bigger cash prizes this year than ever before: First Prize will be £200, Second Prize will go up to £150 and the Third Prize will be £100. Entry costs just £3 a poem – and you can submit an entry as you long as you are aged between 16 and 22. Our competitions open on 1 April and close on 30 June. Make a note now.
Clare Shaw has four poetry collections with Bloodaxe. The latest collection – Towards a General Theory of Love (2022) – is a poetic exploration of love and love’s absence: it won a Northern Writers’ Award and was a Poetry Society Book of the Year.
Clare lectures at the University of Huddersfield, and runs courses for Wordsworth Grasmere, the Royal Literary Fund and the Arvon Foundation.
Clare is a dynamic and popular performer who has also written and presented for BBC Radio 3 and 4. A passionate advocate for accessibility in poetry, and for poetry as a tool of personal and social change, Clare has founded or directed numerous poetry initiatives including the Kendal Poetry Festival, Wonky Animals, the Lost Things Project and many more.
Make a note: Competitions open on 1 April, and close at midnight on 30 June 2024.
Prize Giving and Poetry Reading takes place on Friday 25 October starting at 10am as part of the Festival.
Please read the rules and terms and conditions before submitting your entry.
Competitions Archive
Winners of our previous Competitions