Corndon Hill Trig Point

‘In Wales there are jewels

To gather, but with the eye

Only. A hill lights up

Suddenly; a field trembles

With colour and goes out

In its turn...’

from ‘A Small Window’ RS Thomas

The theme of this year’s Welshpool Poetry Competitionis jewels...

The competition is judged by the poet Andrew McMillan

Andrew McMillan was born in South Yorkshire & his debut collectionphysicalwas the first ever poetry collection to win The Guardian First Book Award. He also won the Fenton Aldeburgh First Collection Prize, a Somerset Maugham Award an Eric Gregory Award, &a Northern Writers' award. Itwas shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize,the Costa Poetry Award, The Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year,the Forward Prize for Best First Collection,& other majotr awards.It was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation for Autumn. Hissecondcollection,playtime, will be published by Jonathan Cape in 2018.He is senior lecturer at the Manchester WritingSchool at MMUand lives in Manchester.

Festival Open Poetry CompetitionPrizes: 1st - £150 2nd - £50 3rd - £25

Winners to be announced Saturday 9th of June 2018 at Welshpool Poetry Festival

Online Entries – Please go to our online payment and entry formhere. Online entry fee is £5 for the first poem and £3 for every subsequent poem.

Rules of Entry

  1. Poems must be received on or beforeSunday April 15th 2018 and emailed to or posted to Welshpool Poetry Festival, Dan Y Coed Abermule, Montgomery SY15 6JQ
  2. All poems must be the original work of the entrant and should not have been previously published, accepted for publication by a magazine, nor entered in other competitions.
  3. The length of each poemmust not exceed 40 lines.
  4. The theme is ‘floods’ but this can be very loosely interpreted.
  5. The competitor’s name must NOT appear on the poem, please attach a separate page with the poem title, and your name and contact details. All entries will be judged anonymously.
  6. Copyright remains with the author, but Welshpool Poetry Festival reserves the right to use the poem on their website and in any media associated with the promotion of the festival.
  7. No acknowledgement of entry will be sent unless the competitor sends an SAE marked ‘Acknowledgement’.
  8. Competitors wishing to be informed of the results should enclose an SAE marked ‘Results’.
  9. The decision of the judge is final and no correspondence will be entered into.