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Hi,
Holy smokes! We can't believe how quickly the deadline for the 2022 Women's Poetry & Pamphlet
Competitions has come around. They both shut up shop at
midnight tonight, so this is your final chance to toss your name in the
proverbial beret.
Our poetry category flaunts a juicy £2,000 top prize, with all
finalists published in Mslexia magazine (which we hope, at this point,
needs no introduction). Judged by poetry royalty Helen Mort, it's open
to poems of any length (!) on any subject, as long as they haven't been
published elsewhere before.
Helen says: ‘Please don’t change your style to please me! Whenever I
judge a competition, there’ll be a batch of poems about mountains, in a
style quite like mine – because I’ve written about rock-climbing. But
what I love best is encountering an approach, and subject matter, that
I’ve never tried myself.’
We accept simultaneous submissions, so if you've got a beloved piece
still under consideration elsewhere, why not wing it over to us? All we
ask is that you let us know if you're accepted somewhere else.
Next up is our pamphlet category, which sees a new pair of judging
hands for the first time in a decade. Imtiaz Dharker is an esteemed
poet, artist and filmmaker, and her fresh eyes will be combing entries
in search of the next winner – so if you've submitted to us before,
it's always worth another go. If you missed her wishlist on what she'd
like to see, you can catch up here.
It's well worth a punt, since we've negotiated a publishing deal with
the prestigious Bloodaxe Books for the best of the bunch.
Need a final pep talk? Our winning poem in 2019 was written by the
wondrous Regi Claire, who had NEVER written a poem before. (It's
completely devastating, by the way – you can read it here.)
And our 2020 Pamphlet winner, Alison Binney, had entered the
competition twice before – with the same pamphlet! – and hadn't won. It
was after some extra tweaking and a final surge of confidence that she
submitted for a third time. And it was, as they say, the charm.
All the finicky details on how to enter can be found below. Best of
luck – we can't wait to read your entry 💫
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