Ledbury Poetry Festival Poetry Competition 2021 (Under 18s)

You may not be aware that the annual Ledbury Poetry Festival Poetry Competition has categories for younger poets as well as adults so we’ve created a separate page for you to make this clearer. If you are 18 or over please go to the Adult Poetry Competition entry page.

Young People’s Prizes (12 – 17 Years)

First Prize: £100, Second Prize: £50 and Third Prize: £25

Children’s Prizes (11 years and under)

First Prize: £25 book token, Second Prize: £15 book token and Third Prize: £10 book token.

All winners are offered the chance to read at the 2022 Ledbury Poetry Festival.

(The relevant ages means age on the date of submission.)

Entry is now closed

Stuck for ideas?

Check out these fun and useful resources:

https://ypn.poetrysociety.org.uk/
(The tips and advice section is extensive and very useful!)
https://www.poetry4kids.com/
(This even has a rhyming dictionary!)
http://www.languageisavirus.com/writing_prompts.php
(Press the button to generate a writing prompt!)
https://www.ourcoronadiary.com/
(Poetry often starts out as prose! Or write your diary in verse!)
https://www.sparkwriters.org/get-creative/
(short videos with some writing ideas)
https://www.ministryofstories.org/get-writing/
(lots of writing tips and ideas for different kinds of writing)

Competition Rules

Poems must be received on or before Thursday 15th July 2021 at 5pm British Summer Time.
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.
The length of each poem must not exceed 40 lines.
Each individual poem, regardless of length, must be typed on one sheet of plain A4 paper (except Children’s category, which can be handwritten). Please submit two copies of each poem – unless you enter online. If entering online, each poem must be on a separate page in your document.
The competitor’s name must NOT appear on the poem.
All poems must be accompanied by a fully completed entry form.
Please keep a copy of your poem, as manuscripts cannot be returned.
Copyright remains with the author, but Ledbury Poetry Festival reserves the right to have entries performed at the Festival, on radio, TV, or stage, published on the internet, in an anthology or used for publicity purposes at any stage in the future.
No acknowledgement of entry will be sent unless the competitor sends an SAE marked ‘Acknowledgement’.
Competitors wishing to be informed of the results should enclose an SAE marked ‘Results’.
The decision of the judge is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
The Festival reserves the right to withhold prizes if such an action is justified.
Entries not complying with competition rules will be disqualified.