Poetry Contest Grenada 2026, Patois & Spoken Word

Quick answer: Monthly poetry contest for Grenadian poets. Write in English, Grenadian Creole or patois, win cash prizes and get every poem scored across five criteria.

Grenada may be the only country where fluffing a line of Julius Caesar earns you a stroke of the whip: at Carriacou's carnival, Shakespeare Mas players known as kings trade speeches from memory, a symbolic lash across a padded headpiece waiting for every slip, and UNESCO inscribed the tradition as intangible cultural heritage in 2024. On paper the line runs through Merle Collins, whose Because the Dawn Breaks carried the voice of the Grenada Revolution she served and whose Lady in a Boat weighed what came after. Poems here arrive in English, in Grenadian Creole and sometimes in the older French patois, and the island's ear for a turned phrase also produced the Mighty Sparrow, born in Grand Roy in 1935.

Writory runs a monthly international poetry contest that takes all of that as it is, with no translation required at any stage. Entries open on the 1st, close on the 25th and results are published on the 30th. Winners take cash prizes, every entrant collects a participation certificate, and each poem comes back with a score across creativity, emotion, structure, language and theme. Poets from more than 50 countries have entered Writory, and Grenadian work is read in exactly that company.

Writory holds a monthly international poetry contest that Grenadian poets can enter in English, Grenadian Creole, patois or any other language, with cash prizes for winners and a certificate for everyone who submits.

Why enter

English, Grenadian Creole and patois entries reach the same judges under the same five criteria, so the language you actually speak is never a handicap.
There is no set form, so a spoken word piece written out in full sits in the same reading pile as a page sonnet, each read on its own terms.
Twelve separate contests a year, so missing the 25th one month costs you nothing more than a wait until the 1st.
Entry is open from age 13, putting secondary school writers in St. George's and Grenville alongside long practising poets.
A country of just over 100,000 people rarely sees its own poetry prize, and Writory gives Grenadian poets a monthly one read alongside work from more than 50 countries.

What winners and entrants receive

Cash prizes for the winning poems, announced on the 30th of the month you entered.
A participation certificate for every Grenadian entrant, placing or not.
Win a month and your next entry costs nothing, and the same applies after three months of entering in a row.
The strongest poems of each month are posted to the public leaderboard at writoryofficial.com/leaderboard.

Spoken word texts, calypso-shaped verse, sonnets, haiku and open free verse are all accepted, in English, Grenadian Creole, patois or whichever language the poem arrived in.

Key facts

Entries open the 1st, close the 25th at 11:59 PM IST, results on the 30th.
One poem $5, two poems $8, five poems $15 (Rs 150 / Rs 220 / Rs 450 in India).
Every poem scored by human judges on five criteria: creativity, emotion, structure, language and theme.
A participation certificate for every entrant, not only winners, and the score is visible in your profile.
Cash prizes for winners, free entry the following month for winners, open worldwide from age 13, any language.

Questions

I write in Grenadian Creole, the way people actually talk. Can I enter?

Yes. Writory accepts poems in any language, so English, Grenadian Creole and the French patois are all valid entries, and you never need to supply a translation alongside them.

I perform spoken word. Does a piece written for the mic count?

Yes, submit the full text of the piece. It is scored on creativity, emotion, structure, language and theme like every other entry, and you get those five numbers back rather than a bare yes or no.

What will it cost me to submit from Grenada?

Fees are charged in US dollars: $5 buys one poem, $8 buys two and $15 buys five. The EC dollar is pegged at EC$2.70 to US$1, so a single entry is EC$13.50. Winners pay nothing the month after they win, and three consecutive months of entering also earns a free entry.

How long is the wait between submitting and finding out?

Submission runs from the 1st to the 25th and the announcement comes on the 30th, so a poem sent early in the month is settled before that month ends.

By the Writory editorial team. Updated July 2026.

Enter the August contest · International poetry contest · Past winners · Read the winning poems