Current Competition - Poetry Competition 2024
Brief: Write an Open Themed poem
Word Count: Max:40 lines
Judge: Claire Dyer
Claire Dyer’s poetry collections are published by Two Rivers Press, her novels by Quercus, The Dome Press, Matador and Pegasus. Her latest novel is ‘What We Thought We Knew’ and this, plus a further collection from Two Rivers Press, ‘The Adjustments’, both published in early 2024. She teaches creative writing and runs Fresh Eyes, an editorial and critiquing service. She is Poetry Consultant to the Council of the SWWJ, Reviews Co-ordinator for Two Rivers Press, has an MA in Creative Writing from Royal Holloway, University of London and is represented by Broo Doherty at DHH Literary Agency. Her website is: www.clairedyer.com
Thoughts From The Judge
Video available of Claire Dyer’s thoughts on poetry. Note it was shot some years ago, but is still valid. See video on YouTube here.
Deadline:
Sunday 2nd June 2024
Results:
Monday 8h July 2024
Rules:
Open to members only.
One entry per member.
Email entry only.
No author’s name to appear anywhere on the poem
Title of piece and page number to appear on each page. (Footer or Header)
Title on Page 1 (Please do not use the title of competition as a title)
Line spacing – 1.5 (Minimum)
Insert line count at the end of your piece.
As this is a poetry comp please format as you wish (footer or header)
Submission Rules:
E-mail your entry as a word attachment to adjudicator Michael Pearcy
Your entry file should have the same name as the title of your entry prefixed by SWP24 (e.g. SWSP24 ‘It Doesn’t Have To Rhyme)
Once all the entries are in, Michael Pearcy will send them electronically to the judge.
Please note that Michael Pearcy will only check that your file opens and not carry out any formatting or corrections on your behalf, and refer them back to the author for amendment. So please ensure you check that you have adhered to the rules and check you presentation, spellings etc.
You will receive an e-mail from Michael Pearcy confirming both they have your entry and when it has been received by the judge.
For this competition, work may be discussed amongst members, but is entirely up to the individual and done on a mutual basis between writer and reader. Members should not discuss any other entries without the permission of the author to respect the privacy of those who wish to keep their work to themselves.
Failure to comply with any of the rules may result in your work being withdrawn from the competition.
Good Luck
Slough Writers Competitions (in general)
Each term and over the summer break the Group organises a competition for members. See below for the terms of the currently-active competition.
Article over the Autumn term.
Short Story over the Spring term.
Poetry over the Summer term.
Varied topic over the summer break.
An external judge is appointed and there is a trophy for the winner and cash prizes for the three winning entries. The Summer competition sometimes involves the participants critiquing and ranking the other entries.
For more information about our competitions and trophies, please read About us page.