THE POETRY KIT TWELTH  INTERNATIONAL POETRY COMPETITION 2025

Our competition this year is open to poems from around the world written in English and which can be on any subject or theme.  There are no style or length restrictions, but it should be stressed that a short poem is just as likely to be selected as a longer one.

1st prize is valued at £220  2nd prize is valued at £60

ENTER ONLINE  www.poetrykit.org/2-intcomp.htm

Straid Collection Awards: 2025

Closing date Mon 10 Nov 2025

The annual Straid Collection Award is open for consideration of manuscripts of full collections of poetry written in English from poets living or based anywhere in the world.

Two Awards are available and include publication of the collections, author support and promotion following publication by Templar Poetry.

See STRAID COLLECTION AWARDS | 2025 – templarpoetry

Cheltenham Poetry Festival Competition 2025

Closing date: Sat 15 Nov 2025

Cheltenham Poetry Festival’s 2025 competition is now open for unpublished poems in the English language, of no more than 50 lines. There is no theme to this competition.

Judge: Gregory Leadbetter

There are cash prizes of £300 (1st), £100 (2nd), £50 (3rd), plus the opportunity to appear at the 2026 Cheltenham Poetry Festival (either online or in Cheltenham). Entrants can enter as many poems per submission.

see  2025 International Poetry Competition at Online event tickets from TicketSource

Café Writers Poetry Competition 2025

Closing date: 23 Nov 2025

The Café Writers Poetry Competition is open for submissions from poets all over the world aged 18 and over writing in English.Judge: Jessica Mookherjee

Entrants are welcome to submit poems of up to 40 lines excluding the title. Breaks between stanzas do not count towards the total.

There are cash prizes of £1000 (1st), £300 (2nd), £200 (3rd) and £30 for three Commended Prizes, and £50 for the Norfolk Prize.

see   Poetry Competition | Cafe Writers

The Cambrian Mountains Poetry Competition

Now open for submissions of Welsh and English poems. Entrants aged 16 or over are welcome to submit poems of up to 40 lines on the theme of Springs and Sources / Ffynhonnau a Fynonellau. Poems from residents of Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion or Powys will in addition be considered for the Mid-Wales Poetry Prize.

First prize winners, both in Welsh and English, will receive a cash prize of £150. Second prize winners in each languages will receive a £20 book token.

The winner of the Mid-Poetry Wales Poetry Prize will receive a cash prize of £100, and the runner up will receive a £10 book token.

Poems will be published in the Cambrian Mountains Society Journal 2026 and on their website. There will also be a prize-giving event on Cambrian Mountains Day.

see Poetry Competition 2025 Now Open! - Cambrian Mountains Society

The International Dark Poets Prize: Edition IV is now open for entries. Entrants are welcome to submit poems of a maximum of 250 words (not including title) exploring beauty within darkness. Previously published poems are welcome. Judges: Christopher Sedgwick and Erika Jane

The winner will receive a cash prize of £1,000, a Dark Poets Prize Winner certification, and an official Dark Poets Club t-shirt.

see  THE DARK POETS PRIZE | Dark Poets Club

The Gregory O'Donoghue International Single Poem Competition

This competition is open to original, unpublished and unbroadcast poems in the English language of 40 lines or fewer. The poem can be on any subject, in any style and from poets living anywhere in the world.

1st Prize E2,000 Featured reading at the Cork International Poetry Festival (with a four-night stay and full board)

Featured on the Southword Poetry Podcast

2nd Prize:€500 3rd Prize: €250 10 Runners Up: €50

The work of the prize winners and runners up will also be published in the journal Southword.

Find out more about The Gregory O'Donoghue International Single Poem Competition

Entry fee: €7 per poem | €30 for a batch of five | Limited free entries for poets living in the Global South

see  Gregory O’Donoghue International Poetry Competition – Munster Literature Centre

After the End Project Poetry Competition

The ‘After the End’ research project, in collaboration with the National Poetry Centre, is inviting poets worldwide to submit original, previously unpublished work as part of the exciting research project exploring time, temporality, and the question of endings. This initiative aims to draw inspiration from poets far and wide, inviting contributions on the themes of the research project, bringing new perspectives to the questions posed, seeking to understand who decides when something has ended and how different experiences of endings shape lives, communities, and policies globally.

Poems should therefore engage with the concept of “after the end,” exploring the temporal, ethical, social, or emotional dimensions of endings. Submissions may draw on personal, historical, or global events, reflect on lived experiences, or experiment with form and perspective. There are no restrictions on style or genre but poems should be no more than 40 lines.

Open internationally to poets of all experience levels. The winners will be announced on 1st February 2026.

Judges: Professor Patricia Kingori, Nick Barley, Professor Laura Salisbury, Professor Osman Sankoh, Salma Begum, Chris Hassan, Nike Jonah and Khadijah Ibrahim

Prizes: First £200 Second and Third £100

See Poetry competition 2025 is open! — After The End