Poetry Contest Trinidad & Tobago 2026
Quick answer: Monthly poetry contest for poets in Trinidad and Tobago. Spoken word, calypso verse and free verse welcome. Cash prizes, certificates and clear scoring.
Trinidad and Tobago argues in verse. Extempo singers trade rhymed picong in the Carnival tents, the kaiso line has worked as a national editorial column since long before independence, and the NGC Bocas Lit Fest fills Port of Spain every year while the OCM Bocas Prize keeps Caribbean books in front of readers. Poets such as Vahni Capildeo have carried Trinidadian English out into collections read far beyond the two islands.
Writory runs a poetry contest every month rather than once a year. Submissions are taken from the 1st through to the 25th, and the outcome goes up on the 30th. Cash prizes go to the winners, every entrant receives a participation certificate, and each poem comes back with a five criteria score covering creativity, emotion, structure, language and theme, stored in the poet's profile. Entrants have come from more than 50 countries, and Caribbean work is read in exactly that company.
Writory is a monthly poetry contest that Trinbagonian poets can enter in Trinidadian English Creole, standard English or any other language, with cash prizes for winners and a scored certificate for everyone who takes part.
Why enter
- Trinidadian English Creole is not treated as a lesser register here, and a poem in dialect is marked against exactly the same five criteria as a poem in standard English.
- With a deadline on the 25th of every month, you send a poem when it is finished instead of holding it back for a single annual window.
- A poet writing from Scarborough, Sangre Grande or Chaguanas is read on the same terms as anyone else, because nothing about your address feeds into the score.
- Performance writers get something a live mic cannot give, which is a written breakdown of how the poem scored once the applause is out of the equation.
- Entry is open from age 13 upward, so secondary school poets working towards CSEC or CAPE literature enter alongside established writers.
What winners and entrants receive
- Cash prizes go to the winning poems each month, on the same schedule no matter which island the poet writes from.
- A participation certificate is issued to every Trinbagonian entrant, not only to the poems that place.
- Win a month and your next entry costs nothing, and entering three months consecutively also earns a free entry.
- Each poem carries a five criteria score into your profile, so a year of entries turns into a record of how the writing moved, and the ten best poems of the month are posted on the public Writory leaderboard.
Kaiso and calypso verse, extempo style rhyme built for the ear, picong, dub and spoken word, chutney influenced lyrics, sonnets and free verse all fit the contest, in Creole, English or any language you use.
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
Is the contest open to poets living in Trinidad and in Tobago?
Yes. Anyone aged 13 or over on either island can take part, and the whole process is online, so there is nothing to post and no trip into Port of Spain. You may write in Trinidadian English Creole, standard English, Spanish, Hindi or any other language.
Will a poem written in dialect be marked down for it?
No. Scoring runs against five fixed criteria, creativity, emotion, structure, language and theme, and the language criterion asks whether the words do their work, not whether they are formal. You are shown your own numbers, so the result is not a sealed envelope.
How much does entry cost from Trinidad and Tobago?
Fees are set in United States dollars, $5 for a single poem, $8 for two and $15 for five. There is no separate TT dollar price list, so your bank converts at its own rate on the day. Winners pay nothing the following month, and three months of entries in a row earns a free entry.
How long is the wait between the deadline and the outcome?
Five days. Entries close on the 25th and the results are published on the 30th of the same month, with your scores appearing in your profile at the same time.
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By the Writory editorial team. Updated July 2026.
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