Poetry Contest South Africa 2026, Enter Online
Quick answer: Monthly poetry contest for South African poets. Write in any of your languages, isiZulu to Afrikaans. Cash prizes, certificates and scored feedback monthly.
South Africa's poetry carries the imbongi, the praise poet whose izibongo could address a king in public and still criticise him. It carries Mazisi Kunene writing epic in isiZulu, Ingrid Jonker's Die Kind, which Nelson Mandela read aloud to the first democratic parliament, Antjie Krog in Afrikaans, and Keorapetse Kgositsile as National Poet Laureate. Add the Soweto poets, Gcina Mhlophe's storytelling and the live scenes in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, and the country has more poetry than it has platforms.
Writory's monthly contest takes entries in isiZulu, isiXhosa, Afrikaans, Sesotho, Setswana, Sepedi, isiNdebele, siSwati, Xitsonga, Tshivenda and English. The cycle opens on the 1st, closes on the 25th and delivers results on the 30th, with cash prizes for winners, a participation certificate for every entrant and a five part score returned to each poet. Poets from over 50 countries have entered, and a South African poem is read against all of them on merit.
Writory is a monthly international poetry contest open to South African poets writing in any of the country's languages, with cash prizes for winners and a participation certificate for everyone who enters.
Why enter
- A poem in isiZulu or Sesotho is submitted and judged in that language, which is still unusual for a competition with international reach.
- Izibongo and praise poetry set down for the page are read as the tradition they belong to, not as an odd shape on the page.
- Writing Africa lists Writory, as do Duotrope and Reedsy, so a South African entry is going somewhere traceable.
- The contest is online end to end, which puts a poet in Mthatha or Polokwane on the same footing as one in Cape Town.
- Twelve cycles a year lets a poet build a submission history instead of waiting on a single annual prize.
What winners and entrants receive
- Winners take cash prizes in every monthly round, and the ten leading poems are named on the public leaderboard.
- Every South African who enters gets a participation certificate, with nothing held back from non winners.
- Scores for creativity, emotion, structure, language and theme are recorded against each poem and shown to its author.
- The next month is free for a winner, and equally free after three consecutive months of entering.
Izibongo and praise poetry written for the page, Afrikaans lyric verse, protest poetry, sonnets, spoken word and free verse are all accepted, in any South African language or in English.
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
Will an isiXhosa or Afrikaans poem be at a disadvantage?
No. Writory receives poems in any language and does not require an English version, so entries in isiXhosa, isiZulu, Afrikaans, Sesotho, Setswana and the rest are complete exactly as submitted.
What is the basis for choosing the winners?
Five marks per poem, covering creativity, emotion, structure, language and theme, all of them visible to the poet afterwards in their profile. The reasoning behind a result is therefore on record rather than left to guesswork.
What does entry cost from South Africa?
The three tiers are $5 for a single poem, $8 for two and $15 for five, all in US dollars. Anyone who wins skips payment next time, and the same applies after three months of unbroken entry.
When will I know the outcome?
Results go up on the 30th, after the 25th closing date, and the next month's call opens on the 1st.
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By the Writory editorial team. Updated July 2026.
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