Poetry Contest Qatar 2026, Doha Poets Online
Quick answer: Monthly online poetry contest for poets in Doha and across Qatar. Write in any language, win cash prizes, earn certificates and see your judging scores.
Poetry in Qatar lives in two registers at once. There is nabati verse, the vernacular Bedouin poetry of the peninsula, still recited in the majlis and still argued over line by line, and there is the poetry of a population drawn from everywhere, written in Malayalam, Hindi, Tagalog, Bengali, Nepali and Urdu in flats across Doha. Katara Cultural Village and Qatar National Library have given some of that work a room to be heard in.
Writory is a monthly international contest that will take a poem in any of those languages. The month opens on the 1st and closes on the 25th, results land on the 30th, winners are paid cash prizes and every entrant receives a participation certificate. Each poem is returned with marks for creativity, emotion, structure, language and theme. More than 50 countries are represented among Writory's entrants, which is close to the mix on any street in Doha.
Writory is a monthly international poetry contest open to everyone living in Qatar, nationals and residents alike, in Arabic, English, Malayalam, Tagalog, Urdu or any language, with cash prizes and certificates.
Why enter
- Arabic entries are read in Arabic, and so are Malayalam, Tagalog, Urdu, Hindi, Bengali and Nepali ones, which suits a country where the person beside you at work writes in a different script.
- A poet finishing a long shift in Doha can submit at any hour, because the entire contest is online and there is no event to attend.
- Nabati verse, the classical qasida and contemporary free verse are all valid entries, since no form is prescribed.
- Residents on any visa status can take part, as the contest asks for a poem and not for a nationality.
- Twelve contests a year means somebody who arrives in Qatar in October is never more than a few weeks from the next deadline.
What winners and entrants receive
- The month's winning poems receive cash prizes.
- A participation certificate is generated for every entrant in Qatar, in the poet's own name.
- Free entry follows a win, applied to the month straight after, and three unbroken months of entering unlocks one as well.
- The ten highest placed poems of the month go up on the leaderboard at writoryofficial.com/leaderboard.
Nabati verse, qasida, ghazal, spoken word, haiku, prose poetry and free verse are all accepted, in Arabic, English, Malayalam, Tagalog, Urdu or any language spoken in Qatar.
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 live in Doha on a work visa. Am I eligible to enter?
Yes. Writory asks where the poem came from, not what passport you hold, so Qatari nationals and residents of every nationality enter on identical terms, from age 13 upward.
With entries arriving in a dozen languages, how is anything decided consistently?
One scoring frame covers all of them: creativity, emotion, structure, language and theme, five marks per poem, released to the poet in their profile after results. Nothing turns on which language a poem happens to be in.
What is the entry fee in Qatar?
Payment is taken in US dollars at $5 for one poem, $8 for two and $15 for five. Winning waives the following month's fee, and so does entering three months in a row.
When is the result announced?
Closing is the 25th and the announcement is on the 30th, every month without exception. Anyone who misses a cycle simply enters the next one.
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By the Writory editorial team. Updated July 2026.
Enter the September contest · All poetry competitions 2026: deadlines & prizes · International poetry contest · Past winners · Read the winning poems