THE 2020 COMPETITION IS NOW OPEN.
The deadline for the 2020 competition is 31st January 2020. The Judge is poet Carrie Etter, author of Imagined Sons, Divining for Starters, and The Tethers, and she will read all the submissions.
First prize: £1,000
Second prize: £300
Third prize: £100
Plus 4 x £50
How to enter –
A. By post
1. The competition is open to anyone aged 16 and over.
2. Poems should be in English, unpublished, not accepted for publication, and must be your original work.
3. Poems may be on any subject and in any form or style. They must be typed and not longer than 40 lines.
4. Each poem must be typed on a separate sheet of A4 paper. All poems are judged anonymously and should not bear your name, nor any other form of identification. On a separate sheet of A4 paper you should give a: your name and address, b: a list of poems submitted, and c: where you heard about the competition.
5. Please enclose a stamped addressed envelope for receipt of entry if required (marked RECEIPT).
6. Any number of poems may be submitted on payment of the appropriate fee: £5 per poem, or for 3 or more poems £4 each. Cheques and postal orders should be made payable to KENT & SUSSEX POETRY SOCIETY. No stamps or foreign currency accepted. Pounds Sterling or Sterling Drafts will be accepted.
7. The winners will be notified by post. No person may win more than one prize. The prize-winning poems will be published in the Society’s Poetry Folio in September 2020 (available £3 from the address below). Poems cannot be returned to the contestants. The decision of the adjudicator will be final, and there can be no correspondence concerning the result.
8. Entries should be addressed to: The Competition Organiser, 58 Glebe Lane, Maidstone, Kent, ME16 9BD. (Please note: A4 envelopes require ‘Large Letter’ postage)
Entry form not required.
B. On line
Rules as above but pay by Paypal (links below) and then e-mail your poems to us as an attachment, giving the Paypal receipt reference. Please submit your poems as a single Word file (but with each poem on a separate page), and submit (in the same e mail) a separate Word file giving your contact details and the list of titles.
Our e-mail is kentandsussexpoetry@gmail.com
No receipts will be sent. Winners will be contacted by post. Results will be published on our website mid-March.
Single Poem – £5
2 Poems – £10
3 Poems – £12
4 Poems – £16
5 Poems – £20
Hi, is it an international competition?
Will the competition run in 2020? And if yes when will people be able to enter?
Publicity will be circulated in September in readiness for our 2020 Open Competition.
people warn me away from paying into poetry competitions any advice?
We enable our programme of visiting poets for the year by running the competition, which is why there is a cost. We are highly respected. All entries are read by the judge, who is always a well-recognised figure in the world of poetry, and our results are published on the website along with the prizewinning poems. No member of the society is paid for the considerable work they do – they are lovers of poetry who come together to celebrate it. You can pay online by paypal, or send a cheque/PO by post, and if you want a receipt you enclose an sae marked receipt. I don’t think we can be more transparent or honourable!
Greetings. May we know if the winners have been informed yet? There are deadlines for some other big things pressing hard, and non-winning poems cannot be resubmkitted until we know that the winners of this have been informed.
Thank you.
The winners have been informed and the prizes awarded. The poems and adjudication report are now published on our website.
Where do you post the winners?
On this website. They will be posted after the announcement of the winners at our March meeting.
I tried to find a phone number to ask you is the 31st today as post marked acceptable or should you have received entries by 31st and I am too late? I have recently suffered a TIA and am struggling a bit….
All the best
Jeanna
Sorry, you are to late. We have to be strict on deadlines.
Hi there, what is the time of the deadline for submissions today? Can I enter any time before midnight?
Yes!
Hello, Can I submit poems that have won prizes at my local writing group? One has also been published in our writers group anthology.
Many thanks.
Poems must be unpublished and not accepted for publication.
Is it possible to include one or two words that are not in english in a poem that will be submitted for the competition?
Yes!
Hi. Does ‘Open Competition’ mean international entries will be accepted? I am resident in South Africa and a South African national.
Yes, international entries are accepted.
Hello, Iam trying to login to paypal to pay entry fee but paypal link is down. What can I do?
Sorry, that is down to paypal. Hope you got through.
Hello, I just submitted a poem ! But I was wondering : will you also notify the winners by mail, as I may be moving home soon, and would no longer receive any letter ? Thank you! Naïma
Winners will be notified by email and you can check the results on this website once they have been announced. The prizewinning poems will also be published here.
Hi, thank you ! Just another question : I paid with PayPal and sent you by mail the receipt number with my poem, but I checked my mails and I never received any confirmation from you. How do I know you received my entry?
It is not feasible to acknowledge all entries, I’m afraid. Postal entries which include an sae can receive a receipt of entry.
Forgive me, but I’m so inquisitive to know. Does The Kent and Sussex Poetry Society Open Competition happen every year?
Yes, it does.
Hi
I’ve emailed you twice but no reply yet, just wondered if you could confirm you’ve had my entries as the email you sent was rather confusing.
Thanks
Dave
If you sent an sae with your entries, marked receipt, as our information indicates, then you will be sent a receipt for your entry. I do not know what email you are referring to. Did you enter online?
Hi
Do we know when 2018 poetry comp results will be published. I am keen to see the winners.
The poems are available to read on our website.
Having never entered a poetry competition before and sending in the first poem I have ever written. Can I use my poem which has not succeeded somewhere else, another competition maybe. I would like to continue
writing as I so enjoy it.
Yes you can re-enter, as long as it has not been published or won a prize in another competition.
Just to be clear, I’m not asking to know who the winners are! Just if you could confirm here that they have been informed? Magazine deadlines are approaching fast, and the poems we entrants have sent to you are still officially ‘submitted’ and therefore can’t be submitted to a magazine, until we know winners have been informed. Many thanks.
The winners have been informed.
The prizewinners will be announced at our meeting on 17 April, and published on the website after that.
I hope it’s OK to ask for an update. Can we assume that the winners have been told now? I’m thinking if the website is due to publish the results, the letters must have been sent by now? Thanks!
Is it too late to enter this. Only just discovered your site.
Too late for this year. The next competition will have a closing date of Jan 2019. Details will be published on the appropriate website page.
Too late! Another competition same time next year.
To whom it may concern at Kentandsussexpoetry, Unfortunately I’ve only just received your email today 7/2/2018 telling me about this year’s open poetry competition. I know the deadline ended on the 31 Jan, would have liked to enter, but unfortunately it’s too late. Is there the possibility that you will be running any competitions later in the year? Thank you for all your time.
Kind regards,
Miss Maria Bertolone
Only one competition a year I’m afraid!
Next competition is same time next year – closing date Jan 31 2019.
Thank you for your reply, I look forward to entering the 2019 31st Jan Poetry contest.
Hi, by ‘unpublished’ do you in print only or do you include social media and online? Does this include a poet’s personal webpage etc?
I look forward to hearing from you
Ambre
Publication does include social media and online, including a personal webpage.
Thank you for your reply and clarification. I will know for again 🙂
You can send an sae with your entry for a receipt and for the results. Please look at the leaflet for details.
It would be helpful, but is not a condition of entry.
This is the situation at present.
Have a look at the results on the website and this may indicate how wide the subject matter can be. The high standard expected is also clear from these poems – it is the quality of the writing that is judged. The judge does read all the poems submitted – over 1400 this year. Catherine Smith’s adjudication report will be published shortly and will indicate her reasons for choosing the prizewinners.
I can’t help you with that one, Michael. Perhaps Paypal can.