The RSPB and The Rialto Nature Poetry Competition

As well as offering poets the chance to win considerable cash prizes and publication of their poems, this competition will raise money for conservation and poetry.

Prizes

1st PRIZE £1000
2nd PRIZE £500
3rd PRIZE A Place on a Creative Writing Course at Ty Newydd in 2015 (worth £550)

ADDITIONAL PRIZE, a personal tour with Mark Cocker of his most cherished wild life places in East Anglia. Mark is one of Britain’s most celebrated writers on nature.

The judge is celebrated poet, writer and broadcaster, Simon Armitage. 

The entry fee is £6 for the first poem and £3.50 for each subsequent entry.

Full details and the facility to enter online can be found on The Rialto website:

 http://www.therialto.co.uk/pages/the-magazine/nature-poetry-competition-2014/

Please do note the term ‘Nature Poetry’ will be given a wide interpretation by the judge. Here are some thoughts by Michael Mackmin in The Rialto editorial:

So what is Nature Poetry? As the flier says, the judge will give this a wide interpretation. I’d imagine it won’t have to be just poems about creatures and beings that share the planet, or about ‘environmental concerns’. We are all air and water, everything we eat comes from the earth or the sea, most people know the roughness of a leaf or the heft of a stone can change a mood or express a feeling. I asked a 16 year old, What is nature? and she said, insects and grass: I asked a 32 year old the same question and she said, the sun and the moon and the stars and flowers and fruit and babies. You might just have to write your poems and take a risk.

Closing date of the competition is midnight on March 1st 2015