Poetry Contest Maldives 2026, Raivaru & Lhen

Quick answer: Monthly poetry contest open to Maldivian poets. Write in Dhivehi or English, raivaru or free verse, win cash prizes, earn certificates and detailed scores.

Dhivehi poetry begins in song. Raivaru, the classical Dhivehi verse form, is sung unaccompanied, its letters deliberately swapped in the singing so that untangling a stanza is half the pleasure of hearing one, and it still sits in the school Dhivehi syllabus. On the page a poem is a lhen, written right to left in Thaana script, and the poets Maldivian students still read include Husain Salaahuddin, Aminath Faiza, Bodufenvalhuge Sidi, the last major poet of the old raivaru, and Mohamed Jameel Didi, whose lines became the national anthem, Gaumee Salaam. The Dhivehi Bahuge Academy in Malé keeps watch over the language.

Writory runs a monthly international poetry contest that takes Dhivehi and English 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 Maldivian work is read in exactly that company.

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

Why enter

Dhivehi and English entries reach the same judges under the same five criteria, and a poem in Thaana script never needs a translation beside it.
There is no set form, so a raivaru written down as it would be sung and a long free verse lhen 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 students who first wrote for a school competition and long practising poets in the same reading pile.
Everything happens online, so a poet on Fuvahmulah or Kulhudhuffushi enters on exactly the same footing as one in Malé.

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 Maldivian 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 the month are posted to the public leaderboard at writoryofficial.com/leaderboard.

Raivaru, lhen, farihi, bandhi, haiku and open free verse are all accepted, in Dhivehi, English 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 lhen in Dhivehi, in Thaana script. Can I enter it as it is?

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

How can judges compare a raivaru with an English free verse poem 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 the Maldives?

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 live far from Malé. Does that change anything?

No. The contest is entirely online, so an entry from any island in the atolls arrives the same way as one from the capital. Submission runs from the 1st to the 25th and results are announced on the 30th.

By the Writory editorial team. Updated July 2026.

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