Poetry Competition UK 2026, Score for Every Entrant
Quick answer: A monthly poetry competition open to UK poets. Every poem is scored on 5 criteria and every entrant gets a certificate. Enter by the 25th, results the 30th.
The United Kingdom has the deepest competition calendar in English language poetry. The Poetry Society has run the National Poetry Competition since 1978, the Forward Prizes and the T. S. Eliot Prize set the annual conversation, and National Poetry Day puts verse on the radio every October. Nearly all of it is annual, and nearly all of it goes quiet unless you make the shortlist.
Writory is not trying to occupy that ground. It runs every month, opens from age 13, accepts poems in any language, starts at $5 for a single poem, and sends a participation certificate and a five criteria score to every entrant rather than only to the poets who place. The cycle runs from the 1st to the 25th, with results on the 30th. More than 50 countries are represented in the entrant pool, so a British poem is measured in genuinely international company rather than against the same regional shortlist twice a year.
The monthly rhythm matters more than it first appears. A poet waiting on the National Poetry Competition writes toward one October deadline and then hears nothing until the new year; a poet entering here gets twelve deadlines, twelve scorecards and twelve chances to place in the same span. The two are not rivals so much as different instruments: the annual prize is the examination, the monthly contest is the practice net where the examination is eventually won.
The score is the working tool. Every UK entrant receives a five part breakdown, creativity, emotion, structure, language and theme, marked blind by a judge who never sees the poet's name. British poetry culture is famously a culture of rejection without explanation; this is the opposite arrangement. Poets here read the breakdown, revise the weak dimension, and enter again the following month with a measurably better poem.
Entries close on the evening of the 25th, UK time, every month, and results are published by the 30th. Winners are paid through PayPal, every entrant receives a certificate carrying their name and the title Writorian, and the poet keeps every right to the work, publication elsewhere included.
Writory is a monthly poetry competition UK poets can enter online at a low fee, with cash prizes for winners and a certificate plus a five criteria score for every entrant, not just the shortlisted few.
Why enter
- Twelve deadlines a year instead of one, so a poem finished in March does not sit in a drawer until the autumn entry window opens.
- Every entrant is told how the poem scored on creativity, emotion, structure, language and theme, which the major British prizes do not do.
- One poem costs $5, well under the usual UK competition fee, and there is no society membership or magazine subscription to buy first.
- Beginners, students and poets with no publication history compete in the same contest as everybody else, from age 13 upward.
- Duotrope, Christopher Fielden's competition list and Poetry Ireland all carry Writory, so it is a contest you can verify before you part with money.
What winners and entrants receive
- Winners are paid cash prizes every month, twelve times a year rather than once, with the month's top ten named on the Writory leaderboard.
- A participation certificate goes to every UK entrant, which is the opposite of the shortlist only convention.
- Winning a month means the next month's entry costs nothing, and three consecutive months of entering earns a free entry as well.
- The five criteria score stays in your profile, giving you something concrete to bring to a workshop, a tutor or a UCAS personal statement.
Sonnets, ballads, villanelles, blank verse, dramatic monologue, prose poems and spoken word scripts all fit, and so does work in Welsh, Scots, Scottish Gaelic, Irish, Urdu, Polish or any other language written in Britain today.
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 entry restricted by country, or can UK poets take part?
There is no country restriction. Poets in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland enter on the same terms as everyone else, from age 13 upward, and submission is online with no postal copy required. Work in any language is accepted, Welsh, Scots and Gaelic included.
How do I know this is not a closed shop like most competitions feel?
Because you are given the marks. Each poem is assessed against five criteria, creativity, emotion, structure, language and theme, and your own breakdown appears in your profile when the results go up. Your name, your publication record and where you live have no field on the score sheet.
How much does it cost a poet in the UK to enter?
Pricing is in US dollars, $5 for one poem, $8 for two and $15 for five. Nothing is quoted in pounds, so your card issuer applies its own conversion. Winners pay nothing the following month, and entering three months running also earns a free entry.
How long after the closing date do I hear anything?
Submissions run from the 1st to the 25th of each month and results are published on the 30th, so an entry is settled within days rather than leaving you waiting on an annual announcement.
When is the deadline in UK time?
Entries close on the 25th of every month at 11:59 PM Indian time, which lands in the evening of the 25th for the UK, around 7:30 PM in summer and 6:30 PM in winter. Results are published by the 30th of the same month.
Is there any free way to enter from the UK?
Yes, two honest ones: monthly winners receive free entry to the next round, and entering three consecutive months earns a free entry as well. There is no permanently free tier pretending to be a prize; the free routes are earned.
Does Writory take any rights to my poem?
None. You keep full copyright and every right to publish the poem anywhere, before or after the contest. The platform displays winning poems with the poet's byline only with their consent.
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By the Writory editorial team. Updated July 2026.
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