Poetry Contest Indonesia 2026, Puisi & Pantun

Quick answer: Monthly poetry contest for Indonesian poets. Enter in Bahasa Indonesia, Javanese, Sundanese or English. Cash prizes, certificates and detailed scores.

Nearly every Indonesian meets Chairil Anwar's Aku in a school classroom, and the country still marks Hari Puisi Nasional on 28 April, the day the Angkatan '45 poet died at twenty six. Around that shared memory sits a much wider field: Sapardi Djoko Damono's Hujan Bulan Juni carried into song as musikalisasi puisi, the pantun that Indonesia and Malaysia jointly placed on UNESCO's intangible cultural heritage list in 2020, the older Malay verse forms of syair and gurindam, readings at Taman Ismail Marzuki in Jakarta, and an international audience gathering each year at the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival in Bali.

Writory runs a monthly international poetry contest that takes all of that work 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 saved to the poet's profile. Poets from more than 50 countries have entered Writory, and Indonesian work is read in exactly that company.

Writory holds a monthly international poetry contest that Indonesian poets can enter in Bahasa Indonesia, English, Javanese, Sundanese or any other language, with cash prizes for winners and a certificate for everyone who submits.

Why enter

Bahasa Indonesia, Javanese, Sundanese and English entries reach the same judges under the same five criteria, so no language waits at the back of the queue.
There is no set form, which means a four line pantun and a page of puisi bebas are each read on their 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 SMA writers and long practising penyair in the same reading pile.
Indonesian poets who normally only see a local lomba cipta puisi get a monthly route to an international readership.

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 Indonesian 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 ten strongest poems of the month are posted to the public leaderboard at writoryofficial.com/leaderboard.

Pantun, syair, gurindam, haiku, sonnets and open puisi bebas are all accepted, in Bahasa Indonesia, English, Javanese, Sundanese 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 Bahasa Indonesia and sometimes in Javanese. Can I still enter?

Yes. Writory accepts poems in any language, so Indonesian, Javanese, Sundanese, English and mixed language work are all valid entries, and you never need to supply a translation alongside them.

How can judges compare a pantun with English free verse fairly?

They do not compare forms, they score craft. Each poem is marked on creativity, emotion, structure, language and theme, and those five numbers land in your Writory profile where you can read them yourself.

What will it cost me to submit from Indonesia?

Fees are charged in US dollars: $5 buys one poem, $8 buys two and $15 buys five. Winners pay nothing the month after they win, and three consecutive months of entering also earns a free entry.

I am still in school. Am I old enough to enter?

Entry is open from age 13, so SMP and SMA students can submit alongside adults, and every entrant at every age receives a participation certificate and a full score for each poem.

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