Enter free entry poetry competitions UK 2023 to enjoy free to enter poetry contests 2023. Submit to these and enjoy cash prizes and opportunities.
Free Poetry Competitions UK 2023
Free Poetry Competitions UK 2023 is a compilation of poetry competitions in UK that are available to writers who are residents. The poetry competitions UK 2023 comprises not only those that are organized in UK, but also those that are organized outside UK, and are made available to the residents to submit to.
Also Check: Poetry Competitions UK 2022
Getting a bunch of free entry poetry contests and writing competitions Uk 2023 can be a little bit tasking, taking into consideration, the numbers of poetry competitions online. While some may have some restrictions in respect of countries and age, others might be quite impossible to enter considering many factors.
Things we will be considering while compiling poetry competitions UK 2023 are:
- Writing contest/ Poetry competitions in UK 2023 with free entry and other international writing Competitions 2023 free entry
- Less restrictions
- Few writing or poetry competitions with non exorbitant entry fee.
- More accessible and accurate list of poetry competitions in UK
Writing Opportunities In 2023
Poetry Competitions In Nigeria 2023
Writing Competitions In Nigeria 2023
Poetry Competitions UK 2023
Magazines That Pay Per Poem In 2023
Short Story Competitions 2023
Literary Magazines Accepting Submissions 2023
Poetry Competitions In Africa 2023
Short Story Competitions In Nigeria 2023
Literary Magazines In Nigeria/ Africa 2023
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Note: This list comprises not only free poetry competitions UK 2023, but includes a very few paid competitions.
Enjoy these free to enter poetry competitions UK 2023!
List Of Free To Enter Poetry Competitions UK 2023
These poetry competitions are organized according to the days and months of deadlines.
January Poetry Competitions UK 2023
- Stacy Doris Memorial Poetry Award 2023
We are now accepting submissions for the Stacy Doris Memorial Poetry Award. The winning poet will receive $500 and publication in the Spring 2023 issue of Fourteen Hills. There is no submission fee. Poems not chosen for the award will be considered for publication in Fourteen Hills.
About Stacy Doris
Stacy Doris was a poet, translator, and an Associate Professor in San Francisco State University's Department of Creative Writing, where she taught for ten years. Her poetry is widely recognized; Fledge: A Phenomenology of Spirit, published shortly after her death, is available from Nightboat Books. Poet Maxine Chernoff has referred to it as “a miracle of attentiveness.”
She was also highly regarded for her writing in French and her contribution to interactions among contemporary French and American poetry and poets.
Doris created new worlds with her unexpected poetics. Following upon her spirit of creative invention, engaging wit and ingenious playfulness, discovery in construction, and radical appropriations based on classical forms, pastiche, etc., and love, the Stacy Doris Memorial Poetry Award is given to a poet with a truly inventive spirit.
Deadline: January 15, 2023
February Poetry Competitions UK 2023
- Deep Wild 2023 Graduate Student Poetry Contest
Grad students, send us your three best poems that are backcountry infused and inspired, and that together add up to no more than 100 lines. There are no fees to submit, and the top three winners will receive cash awards.
The winners will receive: The 1st Place prize is $300, 2nd Place $200, and 3rd Place $100.
The editors of Deep Wild: Writing from the Backcountry invite students currently enrolled in graduate studies to submit work for our 2023 Graduate Student Poetry Contest.
Timeline For Submission: Submissions will be accepted from November 1 through February 1 2023
- Center For African American Poetry and Poetics Book Prize 2023
Founded in 2020, the CAAPP Book Prize is a publishing partnership between the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for African American Poetry and Poetics and Autumn House Press with the goal of publishing and promoting a writer of African descent. The prize is awarded annually to a first or second book by a writer of African descent and is open to the full range of writers embodying African and African diasporic experiences.
The book can be of any genre that is, or intersects with, poetry, including poetry, hybrid work, speculative prose, and/or translation. The winning manuscript will be published by Autumn House Press and its author will be awarded $3,000.
Deadline: February 15, 2023
- Christopher Tower Poetry Competition 2023
The 23rd Christopher Tower Poetry Competition opened for entries on 10 October 2022, with students between 16-18 years of age challenged to write a poem on the theme 'The Planets.'
The competition will close at 12 noon on 24 February 2023.
About the Competition
The Tower Poetry Competition 2023 offers the UK’s most valuable prize for young poets. The competition is free to enter and it is open to students between 16-18 years of age who are educated in the UK.
The competition is judged anonymously by two guest judges, who are different each year, and the Christopher Tower Student. Each year the theme is chosen with the intention of giving entrants free rein to interpret it as widely as they like.
This year the Christopher Tower Poetry Prizes are blasting off to new heights with a newly increased first prize and a full set of awards worth more than £14000.
The poet who writes the best single poem on the theme of ‘The Planets’ receives £5000.
There will be a second prize of £3000, and a third prize of £1500. Along with these, there will be ten runners up, who will each receive £500
July Poetry Competitions UK 2023
- Stephen Spender Prize 2023
The Stephen Spender Prize is the leading annual prize for poetry in translation, with categories for pupils, teachers and individual young people in the UK and Ireland, as well as an Open category for adults from all over the world. The rules are simple: translate into English any poem from any language – from French to Farsi, from Spanish to Somali—and win publication and cash prizes!
Deadline: July 14
- 2023 Helen Schaible International Sonnet Contest
Helen Schaible was a poet, mother, teacher, classicist. The Helen Schaible International Sonnet Contest was established in her memory in 1998 by the Poets Club of Chicago and funded by a gift from Helen's daughters Jane Edwards, Lucy Parker, and Katherine Martin, and her son, the late David Schaible.
First Prize: $50. Second Prize: $30. Third Prize: $20.
Three Honorable Mentions and three Special Merits will be named per category, ranked.
Contest Rules & Submission Period
Submission Period: June 1 – July 15, 2023. Free and open to all!
- The Black Voices in Children’s Literature: Writing Contest 2023
Us&Canada
The Black Voices in Children’s Literature: Writing Contest 2023 is sponsored by Strive Publishing and Free Spirit Publishing.
Open for submissions from June 19 to July 24, 2023.
First Place: $1,000 cash prize, a T-shirt from Strive, a tote bag from Free Spirit, and a meeting with Mary Taris, founder of Strive, and an editor from Free Spirit to discuss the winner’s project.
The winning submission will be seriously considered for publication by Free Spirit, cobranded with Strive; however, publication is not guaranteed.
Second Place: $500 cash prize, a T-shirt from Strive, and a tote bag from Free Spirit
Third Place: $250 cash prize, a T-shirt from Strive, and a tote bag from Free Spirit
- Winchester Poetry Prize 2023
First Prize: £1,000, 2nd Prize: £500, 3rd Prize: £250.
A prize is also available for the best poem written by a Hampshire-based poet.
Closing Date: 31 July 2023 (11:59pm)
- The 1729 Book Prize in Poetry 2023
In collaboration with The Ivy Bookshop, the 1729 Prize is an annual contest provided by Mason Jar Press. Free to enter, with a $1,000 award and guaranteed publication, the Prize seeks the finest unpublished manuscripts of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.
The 1729 Prize alternates yearly between Poetry and Prose. Our inaugural Prize in Poetry is currently being judged by Diane Zinna and our forthcoming Poetry Prize will be judged by Chen Chen. More details within
Deadline: July 31
- SURGING TIDE: THE ANNUAL SUMMER WRITING CONTEST
Surging Tide is pleased to launch our Second Annual Writing Contest 2023 this summer.
Please find below a more detailed prompt as well as guidelines on how to submit.
Surging Tide editors will shortlist 3-5 writers in each category (poetry and prose).
We will forward this list onto the judges, who will select a winner and a runner-up. All shortlisted writers and artists will be guaranteed publication in Surging Tide Issue 10, though all pieces submitted will be considered.
In addition, the winner and runner-up will receive written commentary from their respective contest judges.
Entrants can submit ONE piece per category per submission or up to FIVE pieces with a donation to Surging Tide. Multi-genre submissions allowed (i.e. you can submit one poem and one flash fiction, but not six poems.)
In addition to publication, the winner of each category will be awarded $100 and each runner-up will also be awarded $25.
Deadline: July 31
August Poetry Competitions UK 2023
- The Granum Foundation Prize 2023
The Granum Foundation Prize will be awarded annually to help U.S.-based writers complete substantive literary works—such as poetry books, essay or short story collections, novels, and memoirs—or to help launch these works.
Additionally, the Granum Foundation Translation Prize will be awarded to support the completion of a work translated into English by a U.S.-based writer.
Funding from both prizes can be used to provide a writer with the tools, time, and freedom to help ensure their success. For example, resources may be used to cover basic needs, equipment purchases, mentorship, or editing services.
Prize: One winner will receive $1,500 or more
Deadline: August 1
- Lucky Jefferson Poetry & Prose Summer Contest 2023
Lucky Jefferson is currently accepting submission for its inaugural poetry and prose competition. Interested writers are to read further on the guidelines for submissions.
20 finalists will receive publication in Lucky Jefferson's digital 365 Collection.
Two finalists from that group (one poetry and one prose) will each receive $100, publication, and a swag box.
Deadline: August 1
- Palette Poetry's Chapbook Prize 2023
Poetry chapbook manuscripts of all styles are accepted with no specific theme or aesthetic preference in request.
The winner will receive $2,000 and Summer 2024 publication, which includes a free, downloadable digital chapbook on their website, fifty physical author copies to share and sell, and the option to enable drop-shipping sales at Amazon, Bookshop.org, and Barnes & Noble, earning 50% royalties on your chapbook.
Additionally, thousands of readers, editors, and journals will receive chapbook access through our newsletter.
The winner will have creative agency over cover art/design, and also be offered the opportunity to work with Palette editors to revise the manuscript.
According to the Palette Poetry, there is an extended editorial process for any book that they believe in, so please feel welcome to submit promising work that may not be fully polished yet.
Deadline: August 20
- Aesthetica Creative Writing Award 2023
Aesthetica is looking for the best new writing talent. The £5,000 international literary prize is open to poetry and short fiction entries on any theme, celebrating innovation in content and form.
Deadline: August 31
September Poetry Competitions UK 2023
- The Gabo Prize for Literature in Translation & Multilingual Texts 2023
Lunch Ticket is honored to host The Gabo Prize for Literature in Translation & Multilingual Texts. The Gabo Prize is funded by writers, translators, and Antioch University Los Angeles MFA Alumni Allie Marini and Jennifer McCharen, who launched the prize to support the work of peer translators.
The winner, selected by a guest judge, will receive $200, and the winning piece will be published alongside two semi-finalists in the upcoming issue of Lunch Ticket. The Gabo Prize is awarded twice each year.
Deadline: September 1
- Frontier Poetry's Roots and Roads Prize 2023
Frontier Poetry is currently open for submission for its Root and Roads inaugural prize. Read further on the submission guidelines.
The submission is free for BIPOC writers. A total amount of $3000 will be awarded to the first place prize winner, $300 to second place, and $200 to third place.
About The Roots & Roads Prize
The organizers of the prize has the following to say about the prize:
"Not only are root systems vital for a tree to channel sustenance from the soil, but they are also communicators, connecting the plant to its environment and to other plants. Roads, too, are connectors, telling a story of movement and distances. This year, for our inaugural Roots & Roads Prize, Frontier Poetry invites you to imagine your poems as roots and roads, reaching both inward and outward.
We are in search of work that explores the tensions between these ideas, the relationships we have between origin and becoming, between our foundations and the possibilities that are sustained and/or troubled by them. We encourage you to interpret these words loosely and expansively, to let the poem take you where it wants. Bring us your ghosts, your maps, your homes, your alienations, your dreams of the future—lead us somewhere unexpected!"
Deadline: September 18
October Poetry Competitions UK 2023
- Jeffrey E. Smith Editors' Prize 2023
$5,000 Fiction | $5,000 Nonfiction | $5,000 Poetry
Winners receive publication, promotion, and a cash prize.
Deadline: October 1
- The Peter Poetry Prize 2023
The Peter Porter Poetry Prize is one of Australia’s most lucrative and respected poetry awards. It honours the life and work of the great Australian poet Peter Porter (1929–2010), an honoured contributor to ABR for many years. All poets writing in English are eligible to enter.
First prize: AU$6,000
Four other shortlisted poets: AU$1,000
Deadline: October 9
- The National Poetry Competition 2023
The National Poetry Competition is now open for entries until 31 October 2023
Judges: Jane Draycott, Will Harris, Clare Pollard
Run by The Poetry Society since 1978, The National Poetry Competition is one of the world’s most prestigious prizes for an unpublished poem of up to 40 lines, open to all poets worldwide aged 18 or over
November Poetry Competitions UK 2023
December Poetry Competitions UK 2023
- The Sarah Maguire Poetry in Translation Prize 2023
The Sarah Maguire Poetry in Translation Prize is offered biennially for the best book of poetry in English translation by a living poet from beyond Europe, published anywhere in the world. £1,500 is awarded to the winning poet and £1,500 to the winning translator (or shared if there is more than one translator).
Deadline: December 31
- North East Playwriting Award 2023
We are hugely excited to announce the inaugural North East Playwriting Award, presented by Live Theatre in partnership with The Catherine Cookson Charitable Trust. This brand new venture seeks to award commissions to two playwrights who are either from or based in the North East of England. The commissioned plays will then be produced for our stage.
Our main award will offer one playwright a full-length commission fee of £10,000 and ensuing production in our main theatre.
Furthermore, we are thrilled to build on our commitment to young talent by offering a second commission award of £7,000 to a young playwright (16-25 years) to write an under-70 minute play.
Deadline: Submission Closes Mon 7 August 2023
- Morley Prize for Unpublished Writers of Colour 2023
The prize is intended to nurture and provide opportunities for aspiring novelists of colour, promote diverse fiction across the broader literary landscape of Britain and continue Morley’s long history of educational excellence, community engagement, and support for social justice.
The winners will receive £500 prizes, but the real reward here is that those shortlisted will be given individual editorial consultations with an agent on their work, and the chance to ask any questions about the agent/editorial process and how to secure an agent - opportunities available to very few budding authors, but advice and connections which for those without access might mean the difference in achieving a career as a writer.
Deadline: 14th August 2023
- RSL Giles St Aubyn Awards for Non-Fiction 2023
Three annual awards — of £10,000, £5,000 and £2,500 — are available for authors engaged on their first commissioned works of non-fiction
These Awards are for writers with a publishing contract for their first work of non-fiction and can be entered by publishers, agents or writers. This year’s judges are Tom Burgis, Fiona St Aubyn and Kieran Yates.
Deadline: The closing date for entries is Friday 25 August 2023 at 5pm (BST).
- Nan Shepherd Prize 2023
We’re delighted to announce that the 2023 Nan Shepherd Prize is now open to entries. Between now and 25 August 2023, unpublished nature writers are invited to submit their book proposals.
The prize is open to previously unpublished writers based in the UK and Ireland who consider themselves underrepresented in nature writing, whether through ethnicity, disability, class, sex, gender, sexuality or any other circumstances.
Deadline: August 25