Managed by the Festival Friends, the competition has grown from small beginnings in 2007 and now attracts entries locally, nationally and internationally; Our Poet of the Year 2020 was local poet Charlotte Cornell, and in 2019 it was Mara Adamitz Scrupe from Philadelphia, USA.
Entries are £5 per poem and must be accompanied by an entry form.
All work is judged anonymously. A longlist (approximately 35 poems) will be announced later in the year and published in an anthology. From this list a shortlist will be drawn with the selected poets invited to read their work at the Awards Evening, taking place on National Poetry Day, 7 October (Covid-19 restrictions allowing).
The winner, announced at the Awards, will become the Poet of the Year 2021 and receive a prize of £200. Second place receives £100 and third place £50. At the Awards Evening there are two more prizes; the Best-Read Poem receives a bottle of sparkling wine, and the People’s Choice- as chosen by the audience from the anthology – receives £25.
Further details HERE
Listen to last year’s winner…
Abegail Morley 