South Downs Poetry Competition 2025

Original unpublished poems on any theme are invited for the Binsted Prize: £250, £150, £50 

Purchase an entry for the South Downs Poetry Festival 2025 (opens new window)

The South Downs Poetry Festival Competition is open to everyone. Poems must be the original work of the author and not previously published in any form including online.

Poems must not exceed 40 lines. No author names on poems - personal details to go on email only.

Poems being submitted to other competitions can be accepted subject to withdrawal if another prize is awarded before winners in this competition are notified.

Submission

Email only, no postal entries after making your payment, email your poems as an attachment only (.doc, .docx, pdf, only) to sdpfcomp@gmail.com include in the body of the email: Poet's Name, Address and Phone Number, List of Titles, Number of Poems, Total Fees, & Payment Receipt Number.

No entry can be accepted without a payment receipt number. 

Fees

£5 for first poem and £4 thereafter. No limit on entries.

Timeline

Submit by midnight (GMT) on Mon 31 March 2025; prize-winners will be contacted in week commencing Mon 19 May 2025. Submissions acknowledged by email receipt. Results posted on the SDPF website by Mon 26 May.

Prizes

Overall winner: Binsted Prize and £250 + publication in Poetry & All That Jazz magazine; £150: runner-up; £50: third place + publication in the Binsted Prize Anthology for highly commended poems

Judge

The judge for this competition is Chris Hardy.

Chris Hardy's fifth poetry collection Key to the Highway was published by Shoestring Press. He has been highly commended in the National Poetry and Live Canon poetry competitions and won the 2024 McLellan prize. He is the secretary of the Chichester Stanza. He is a musician in LiTTLe MACHiNe, 'the greatest poetry and music band in the world' (Carol Ann Duffy).

The editor's decision is final.

Please see the SDPF website for further information. http://www.sdpf.org.uk/competition/