Poetry Contest Singapore 2026, Enter Online
Quick answer: Monthly online poetry contest open to poets in Singapore. Write in English, Malay, Mandarin, Tamil or any language. Cash prizes, certificates, scores monthly.
Singapore runs four literatures in parallel, and the Singapore Literature Prize judges each of them, English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil, on its own terms. Edwin Thumboo's Ulysses by the Merlion, Arthur Yap's compressed observation, Alfian Sa'at writing in both Malay and English, and a younger crowd around the Singapore Writers Festival have kept the city's poetry more argumentative than its reputation suggests.
Writory's monthly contest works the same way, taking a poem in whichever of your languages produced it. English free verse, a Malay pantun, Chinese shi and Tamil kavithai are entered directly. Submissions open on the 1st and close on the 25th, results are out on the 30th, winners take cash prizes, everyone who enters receives a participation certificate, and each poem is scored across creativity, emotion, structure, language and theme. Writory has taken entries from more than 50 countries, a field wide enough to test a Singapore poem properly.
Writory is a monthly international poetry contest that poets in Singapore can enter in English, Malay, Mandarin, Tamil or any other language, with cash prizes for winners and a certificate for every entrant.
Why enter
- All four official languages are entered directly, with no translation step and no English language default.
- A monthly deadline fits a city where most people write around a full time job rather than instead of one.
- Singlish inflected lines are read as voice rather than as error, since the score looks at how language is used and not at whether it is standard.
- Students from 13 upward compete beside established writers, on the same fee and the same criteria.
- Poetry Ireland, Duotrope and Reedsy all carry Writory's listing, which makes this an internationally recognised credit and not only a local one.
What winners and entrants receive
- Winning poems earn cash prizes, decided fresh every month.
- A participation certificate is part of every entry, no matter how the poem places.
- The leaderboard at writoryofficial.com/leaderboard publishes the month's top ten poets.
- Winners get the next month at no cost, and three straight months of entries earns a free one too.
Free verse, sonnets, pantun, syair, classical and modern shi, Tamil kavithai and venpa, spoken word and prose poetry are all accepted, in English, Malay, Mandarin, Tamil or any language.
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
Are Malay, Chinese and Tamil entries genuinely on par with English ones?
They are entered, read and scored in the language they were written in, with none of the four ranked above the others, and any language beyond those four is equally acceptable.
Who decides the winners, and on what basis?
Poems are scored on creativity, emotion, structure, language and theme, five separate marks, all of which are shown to the poet in their profile afterwards. There is no hidden criterion and no quota by country.
How much does a Singapore poet pay?
Entry is priced in US dollars, $5 for one poem, $8 for two and $15 for five, with no separate Singapore pricing. There is no charge for a winner in the month after a win, and a three month unbroken record of entries also unlocks one free submission.
What is the turnaround from deadline to result?
The gap is short. Entries close on the 25th and results are published on the 30th, and a new round begins on the 1st.
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By the Writory editorial team. Updated July 2026.
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