Canterbury Festival Poet of the Year Competition

This is the 12^th year of the Competition, which is widely respected and forms a major part of the Festival year.   

From the entries received about 35 poems are chosen for the long list and these are published in an anthology; copies are available from the Festival Office.  A shortlist of poems is then selected and from these the winners are chosen.  

The Competition is generously supported by the School of English at the University of Kent who donate the University of Kent Prize of £200 for the winner, £100 for second and £50 for third places, £25 for the People’s Choice and the Best-Read Poem receives a bottle of sparkling wine courtesy of the Wine Room, Tankerton.  

So send in your poems of all types, long, short, tragic, funny, whatever you are moved to write and you may find yourself crowned the Canterbury Festival Poet of the Year 2018.

The Competition deadline is Monday 18 June 2018.  

The fee for entry is £5 per poem and please don’t forget to attach an entry form which can be downloaded here.  

The poem or poem sequence may be on any subject and in any style but must not exceed 60 lines in length excluding title and line breaks.  

Entries are judged anonymously 

The Terms and Conditions can be downloaded here.