£2,500 Troubadour International Poetry Prize 2013

Five great reasons for entering the 7th annual Troubadour International Poetry Prize

• Shortest turnaround just 5 wks from deadline (21st Oct) to contacting winners (25th Nov), tying up those valuable poems for the shortest time possible…

• Every poem is read by both our distinguished judges Deryn Rees-Jones and George Szirtes, no sifters, no shortlisters….

• Prizes not just the £2,500 top prize but twenty-two more prizes plus Troubadour season tickets

• Prize reading the chance to read your prize-winning poem at the Troubadour alongside George and Deryn and fellow prize-winners at our December prize-celebration

• Going forward the top three poems are forwarded to 'the Forward': C.J. Allen, our 2012 3rd-prize-winner, is now on the five-poet shortlist for 2013 Forward Prize for Best Single Poem…

Enter by e-mail or post, full details below and on website…

Good luck!

Troubadour International Poetry Prize 2013
Sponsored by Cegin Productions
(see our Poems page for 2007-2012 prizewinners and prizewinning poems)
Judged by Deryn Rees-Jones and George Szirtes with both judges reading all poems

Prizes

• 1st £2,500, 2nd £500, 3rd £250
• plus 20 prizes of £20 each
• plus a spring 2014 coffee-house-poetry season-ticket
• plus a prize-winners' coffee-house poetry reading with Deryn Rees-Jones and George Szirtes on Mon 2nd Dec 2013 …for all prize-winning poets

Submissions, via e-mail or post, by Mon 21st Oct 2013

Judges
George Szirtes (b. Budapest) came to England as a refugee aged 8: since his work first appeared in Faber's Poetry Introductions in 1978, he has published over a dozen poetry collections, plus selected poems, new and collected poems, essays, art criticism, selected prose, libretti, poems for children, and public lectures (in Fortinbras at the Fishhouses, Bloodaxe, 2010); has edited anthologies and has translated poetry, drama and fiction. His latest collection is The Burning of the Books and Other Poems (Bloodaxe, 2009). Among numerous prizes he has been awarded the Gold Star of the Hungarian Republic, and the TS Eliot Prize for Reel (2005).
Deryn Rees-Jones (b. Liverpool) spent much of her childhood in North Wales and now lectures at Liverpool University. She published her first collection, The Memory Tray, in 1994, followed by Signs Round a Dead Body (1999) and Quiver: A Murder Mystery (2004). Co-founder of LUPAS, a network which aims to bring together scientists and poets for creative collaboration, her critical study Consorting with Angels: Essays on Modern Women Poets was published by Bloodaxe in 2005. Chosen as a PBS Next Generation poet in 2004, she has won an Eric Gregory Award and her latest collection,Burying the Wren (Seren) was shortlisted for the 2012 T.S. Eliot Prize.
Both judges will read all poems submitted.

Rules
General: Entry implies acceptance of all rules; failure to comply with all rules results in disqualification; submissions accepted by post or e-mail from poets of any nationality, from any country, aged over 18 years; no poet may win more than one prize; judges decision is final; no correspondence will be entered into.
Poems: Poems must be in English, must each be no longer than 45 lines, must fit on one side of one A4 or US-Letter-size page, must show title and poem only, must not show poets name or any other identifying marks on submitted poems (whether submitted by post or as e-mail attachment), must be the original work of the entrant (no translations) and must not have been previously broadcast or published (in print or online); prize-winning poems may be published (in print or online) by Troubadour International Poetry Prize, and may not be published elsewhere for one year after Monday 21st October 2013 without permission; no limit on number of poems submitted; no alterations accepted after submission.
Fees: All entries must be accompanied by submission fees of £5/6/$8 per poem (Sterling/Euro/US-Dollars only); entries only included when payment received via

EITHER
PayPal:  (visit www.coffeehousepoetry.org/prizes/ PayPal account not required, no additional details required, please note your PayPal Receipt No.)
OR
Cheque/Money-Order: payable to Coffee-House Poetry
NB: include PayPal name or cheque signatory name in e-mail or postal submission details, only if different


By Post: No entry form required; two copies required of each poem submitted; please include the following details on a separate page 
Poets Name and Address, Phone No, E-Mail Address (if available), List of Titles, No. of Poems, Total Fees, and EITHER PayPal Receipt No. OR cheque/money-order/postal-payment enclosed; no staples; no Special Delivery, Recorded Delivery or Registered Post; entries are not returned.

By E-mail: No entry form required; poems must be e-mailed to CoffPoetry@aol.com as attachments (.doc, .docx, .pdf, .rtf only); please include the following details in your e-mail message 
Poets Name and Address, Phone No, List of Titles, No. of Poems, Total Fees, and EITHER PayPal Receipt No. OR cheque/money-order/postal-payment to arrive by post within 7 days; no Special Delivery, Recorded Delivery or Registered Post.

Deadline
All postal entries, and any cheque/money-order/postal-payments for e-mail entries, to arrive at Troubadour International Poetry Prize, Coffee-House Poetry, PO Box 16210, LONDON W4 1ZP postmarked on or before Mon 21st Oct 2013. Prize-winners only will be contacted individually by Mon 25th Nov 2013. Prize-giving will take place on Mon 2nd Dec 2013 at Coffee-House Poetry at the Troubadour in Earls Court, London.

Acknowledgement/Results
E-mail entries acknowledged within 14 days of receipt of both entry and payment; postal entrants may include stamped, addressed postcard or envelope marked 'Acknowledgement' and/or stamped, addressed envelope marked 'Results' if required; results will be sent to all e-mail entrants (and posted on website and mailed to all postal entrants who included a 'Results' envelope) after announcement of results on Mon 2nd Dec 2013; no correspondence will be entered into.

You Can't Be Serious

 

Andy Kirk and Sue Pritchard perform Andy's play: 'Put It On The List'

The talented members of Worcester Writers’ Circle presented a selection of their humorous stories, plays and poems in an evening at The Hive that left people helpless with laughter! Members of the Circle read from their new humorous Anthology ‘You Can’t Be Serious’ which was launched at the event. Sales were brisk as the writers demonstrated their deft writing skills.

Professionally MC’d by writer Tony Judge, we were treated to many original and inspiring pieces. The pic above shows the play ‘Put It On The List’ written by Andy Kirk and performed by Andy and Sue Pritchard. Andy’s mum was in the audience and the first laugh came when Andy assured us that his play was not based on his mum!

Tana Durham reads the second in a series of ‘Hinny’ stories

Altogether, some 19 members of the Circle entertained a packed studio at The Hive. Tana Durham read the second in a series of ‘Hinny’ stories about a Geordie lass who gets into all sorts of bother.

Copies of the Anthology can be purchased for £4 from Chair of the Circle, Sylvia Herbert – contact Sylvia at: sylvia@sherbert-pr.com

Wells Festival of Literature 2013 - Competitions

Short Story and Poetry -Entry Fee £5, Prizes £500, £200 and £100 plus a local prize of £100
Judges - Della Galton (Short Stories) and Sean Borodale (Poetry)

Crime Novel (our fastest growing competition) Prize - introduction to a publisher plus £100
Judge - Janet Laurence

Closing Date 31st July 2013

For full details please visit Wells Festival of Literature or phone 01749678411

For women who weren't born yesterday

The Short Story Competition

CALLING ALL SHORT STORY WRITERS!

Now in its third year, The Short Story competition is open for 2013 entries: www.theshortstory.net

This competition is looking to publish the best short stories from around the world.
New or established writers welcome.

Winners will be announced in December 2013 and the stories will be published on The Short Story website.

Deadline for submission is 15th September 2013.

Word limit: 1,000 - 4,000.

Entry fee: £5 via PayPal

First prize: £300
Second prize: £150
Third prize: £50

For further details please go to the website: www.theshortstory.net

The Times Cheltenham Literature Festival Search For Local Writers

                                     LITERATURE

THE TIMES CHELTENHAM LITERATURE FESTIVAL SEARCH FOR LOCAL WRITERS

Friday 4th to Sunday 13th October 2013

The Cheltenham Literature Festival is one of the largest and most prestigious in the world. During our 63rd Festival in 2012 we sold over 140,000 tickets and held 500 events on our Festival sites in beautiful parkland in the centre of regency Cheltenham. 2013 promises to be another diverse and exciting festival with a broad reach and a great buzz.

We are passionate about ensuring our programming encompasses a broad range of work, including international, UK and local writers.  Support of the local community is vital to us and we are keen to encourage participation from local authors via our continued commitment to our series of Locally Sourced events in 2013. We’re therefore inviting local writers to submit their work for possible inclusion in this series.

Whilst there are no restrictions on subject matter or literary genre, it may be of interest for applicants to know that we have a central theme running through this year’s Festival which is memory and how it shapes us both individually and as a society.  This ties in with the 100th anniversary of the publication of the first volume of Marcel Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past in November and the approach of the centenary of the start of the First World War in 2014.  We feel it is therefore an especially apt time to consider the fundamental role memory plays in underpinning our lives, our wider culture, our interpretation of the past and our shaping of the future. It is a theme which offers fertile ground for the Festival to explore, especially in our events focussing on autobiography and memoir, poetry, history and of course fiction.

If you would like to be considered for inclusion in our Locally Sourced series, it would be helpful if you could send us a copy of your book – if already published – or if yet to be published some background information alongside a short excerpt from the manuscript. We’d be very grateful if you’d send us a copy rather than any original manuscript, illustrations or artwork as we won’t, I’m afraid, be able to return documents submitted.

If you have submitted your work to us before, we are careful to keep work on file so there is no need to send us another copy if you wish your work to be considered again. Instead, please send a brief updated email of any new work and highlight previously submitted work you wish to be considered.

Please send your writing by email to: literature@cheltenhamfestivals.com  or by post to Suzanne Ross, Cheltenham Festivals, 109-111 Bath Road, Cheltenham GL53 7LS. The deadline is 7^th June 2013.

If we are interested in pursuing a suggestion, or require further information, we will be in touch as soon as possible after the deadline. If you have not heard from us by the end of July, then please assume that there is regrettably no room in the programme on this occasion.

You may also be interested to hear that we will again be running our “You heard it here first” open mic session for new writing which enables local writers to perform a 5 minute excerpt of their work on stage at the Festival.  The date and time is yet to be set, but watch this space!

We very much look forward to hearing from you.

Wigtown Poetry Competition

Scotland’s International Poetry Prize, Open to All
In association with The Scottish Poetry Library

The prestigious Wigtown Poetry Competition awards prizes annually to poets writing in English, Scots or Irish Gaelic or Scots.

The competition is open to anyone throughout and outside the United Kingdom.  Winners are invited to the festival, where we celebrate the prize with a special event.

Judges
This year the judges are Robin Robertson, Meg Bateman and Liz Niven.

How to Enter
Enter online >
You may also enter by post: download application form (.pdf)

Prizes
Main Prize £2000
Runner-up £400
Eight additional prizes of £25 each
Judge: Robin Robertson

Gaelic Prize £250
Judge: Meg Bateman

Scots Prize £250
Judge: Liz Niven


Deadline for Entries
Closing date for entries is Friday 31st May 2013. No entries will be accepted after this date.

Fee Structure
The first poem submitted costs £7.00
Multiple entries: the first three poems cost a total of £19.00.
Each subsequent entry after the first three costs £5 or a total of £14 for every additional block of 3, ie:
1 poem £7; 2 poems £14; 3 poems £19; 4 poems £24; 5 poems £29; 6 poems £33; 7 poems £38; 8 poems £43; 9 poems £47; 10 poems £52; 11 poems £57; 12 poems £61 etc.