The Poetry Society

 Discover your Potential...

 In 1951 a photographer took a photo of an undiscovered chorus girl...she became known to the world as Audrey Hepburn.

The Poetry Society's

National Poetry Competition 2008

is now open for entries!

Enter The National Poetry Competition 2008 here

(photo credit: Angus McBean photograph © Harvard Theatre Collection, used by permission)

This is the perfect  opportunity to have your poems read by three of today's leading poets, stand the chance to win £5000, and see your name added to the impressive list  of past winners, including Michael Hulse, Carol Ann Duffy,  Jo Shapcott, Ruth Padel,  Ian Duhig and our current winner Sinéad Morrissey.

Now in its 31st year, the Poetry Society's National Poetry Competition is one of the leading poetry prizes. It attracts entries from Nantwich to Nairobi and offers to anyone who enters the opportunity to discover their own potential as a writer. Whether you are an established poet or a budding writer, winning often provides that essential spur to take your writing further.

We also know through our Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award that potential can be discovered early. So with this in mind we have now lowered the entrance age for the National Poetry Competition to 17 years and over!

The Poetry Society is delighted to announce that Aesthetica Magazine, The Cultural Arts Magazine, are the new media partners of the National Poetry Competition.

"Aesthetica Magazine is proud to be supporting the National Poetry Competition in 2008. As part of the support, all three winners and commendations will receive a free annual subscription to Aesthetica Magazine".

Prizes

First prize £5,000
Second prize £1,000
Third prize £500

All three winners will receive a free annual subscription to Aesthetica Magazine.

plus ten commendations of £50

Winners also get the opportunity to read their winning poem alongside the judges at the 2009  at Ledbury Poetry Festival. For more information on the festival, described by Poet Laureate Andrew Motion as "the best in the country", call 0845 458 1743 or visit www.poetry-festival.com

The Poetry Society thanks long-time supporter Felix Dennis for sponsorship support of the National Poetry Competition, which helps us put on a prize-giving event at which the judges publicly announce our prize-winners and commended poets.

Judges:
 

Frieda Hughes 

Frieda Hughes’ first book of poetry, Wooroloo, received a Poetry Book Society Special Commendation. She has also published Stonepicker and Waxworks. Her most recent collection, Forty-Five, was published in the US in 2006. Her poems have been published in The New Yorker, Agenda, The Paris Review, Thumbscrew, Tatler, The Spectator and The London Magazine among others. A fifth collection of poetry, The Book of Mirrors, will be published by Harper Collins as a double book with Stonepicker in the US in autumn 2008.