The Goose in the Suitcase wins £5,000 in the 2013 Cardiff International Poetry Competition

The much awaited results of the 2013 Cardiff International Poetry Competition were announced on Wednesday 26 June as part of an evening of poetry and music at Porters in Cardiff City Centre. 
The First Prize of £5,000 was awarded to Geoff Lajbrok from Cambridge for his poem The Goose in the Suitcase. Geoff’s poems have, until now, he says “remained unshared and undiscovered, except by his family and close friends who are forced to listen to every word he writes”. He is however currently working on his first collection of poetry which he hopes to publish in the autumn.
Second Prize of £500 was awarded to Rosie Shepperd from London for her poem My milkman comes from Sarajevo and has beautiful hands.

Hitting the Road with Frida Kahlo, by Valerie Laws from Northumbria, was awarded Third Prize of £250 in the competition. 
The five equal runners-up in the competition, each receiving £50, are: Penny Ayers from Cheltenham for her poem Museum of Curiosities, Bramber, 1963; Charity Novick from Cambridgeshire for her poem Marital Routine; Pascale Petit from London for her poem My Father’s Mirror; Judith Taylor from Aberdeen for her poem Daffodils; and Anna Wigley from Cardiff for her poem Collecting the Casket.
The hard task of judging the 2013 Competition fell to National Poet of Wales Gillian Clarke, former poet Laureate Andrew Motion and filter judge Samantha Wynne-Rhydderch. 
 
Click here to read all of this year's winning poems and to find out more about the winners themselves.

The Cardiff International Poetry Competition is supported by Cardiff Council.

Source: Literature Wales

2013 Cardiff International Poetry Competition Closing Date: Friday 15th February 2013

The closing date for the 2013 Cardiff International Poetry Competition is almost upon us! But don't fret if you haven't entered yet, there is still just enough time to send us your winning entry. The first prize-winner will walk away with a cheque for £5,000 for just one poem. Further prizes available are £500 for second place, £250 for third plus five runners-up will receive £50 each.

The competition is accessible to all; it doesn’t matter if you are an established poet or just dabble with verse now and then. All entries to the competition will be judged anonymously, so this is a great opportunity to have your poetry judged on its own merits.

The hard tasking of judging the 2013 competition will be down to none other than former Poet Laureate Andrew Motion, National Poet of Wales, Gillian Clarke, and filter judge Samantha Wynne-Rhydderch. For more information on the judges click here.

If you think you have what it takes to delight the judges and get your hands on the top prize of £5,000, then send Literature Wales your poems now. Just make sure your poem is no longer than 50 lines long, is unpublished, in English and is not a translation of another author’s work. Send it, along with your entry form and payment, to Literature Wales.

The closing date is Friday 15th February 2013

To download an entry form, visit: www.literaturewales.org/cipc/

Check out our interview with last year's winner here: http://bookapoet.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/exclusive-interview-with-mark.html

Source: Literature Wales

Magma Poetry Competition Celebration – you are invited to a free poetry reading in London

The Magma Poetry Competition Awards will take place on Monday 18th February 2013 at a celebratory event at RADA’s Studio Theatre, RADA Studios, 16 Chenies Street, London WC1E 7EX, a few minutes’ walk from Goodge Street Underground Station. Doors open at 6.30 pm (pay bar), reading at 7.30pm until 9.pm
You are invited to this free reading!

Organisers are delighted that distinguished poet Gillian Clarke, National Poet of Wales, will be doing a reading of her poems as well as awarding 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes to the winners of the Magma Judge’s Prize for poems of 11-80 lines.
A Panel of Magma Editors will award 1st and 2nd prizes and 10 special mentions to the winners of the Magma Editors’ Prize for poems of up to 10 lines. Four specially commissioned poets, Moniza Alvi, Simon Barraclough, Tom Chivers and Claire Crowther, will each read a 10-line poem written by them for the occasion to honour the short poem.
And all the prize winners will be invited to read their poems.

Do come along to the reading on the evening of Monday 18th February – it will start at 7.30pm. and finish by 9pm. Come early for the best seats, the bar will be open from 6.30pm. where you can buy drinks. Copies of Magma 55 which will include the winning poems will be on sale, but entry to the reading is free.
The winning poems will be published in Magma 55, which will be on sale at the event.

For further information, please contact Magma Poetry directly at www.magmapoetry.com.

Source: Magma Poetry Newsletter

Open: 2013 Cardiff International Poetry Competition - First Prize: £5,000

Literature Wales is delighted to announce that the 2013 Cardiff International Poetry Competition will be co-judged by none other than former Poet Laureate Sir Andrew Motion and National Poet of Wales, Gillian Clarke. Welsh poet Samantha Wynne-Rhydderch will continue in her role as competition filter judge.

The competition is now open and accepting entries. The first prize-winner will walk away with a cheque for £5,000 for just one poem. Further prizes available are £500 for second place, £250 for third plus five runners up will receive £50 each. The competition is accessible to all; it doesn’t matter if you are an established poet or just dabble with verse now and then. All entries to the competition will be judged anonymously, so this is a great opportunity to have your poetry judged on its own merits.

So if you think you have what it takes to delight our judges and get your hands on the top prize of £5,000, then send us your poems now. Just make sure your poem is no longer than 50 lines long, is unpublished, in English and is not a translation of another author’s work, then send it, along with your entry form and payment, to Literature Wales. Full guidelines and Conditions of Entry can be found in the entry form.

Click here to download a copy of the entry form
or to receive a hard copy in the post, send a stamped, self addressed envelope to:
CIPC13, Literature Wales, 4th Floor, Cambrian Buildings,
Mount Stuart Square, Cardiff CF10 5FL

For more information on the 2013 Cardiff International Poetry Competition,
contact Literature Wales on: 029 2047 2266 / post@literaturewales.org

The 2013 Cardiff International Poetry Competition is administered by Literature Wales
and supported by Cardiff Council.

Source: Press release

Magma Poetry Competition 2012 is launched

Following the launch of the Magma Poetry Competition in 2011, Magma Poetry is delighted to announce that the competition will now run each year.

 This year's competition will open for entries on 16th October 2012, and as before the competition will have two contests.

 The Judge's Prize is for a poem of 11 to 80 lines. All poem entries of 11 to 80 lines will be entered for the Judges Prize which this year will be judged by award-winning poet Gillian Clarke.

The First Prize £500
Second Prize £200
Third Prize £100

The Editors' Prize celebrates the short poem and is open to poems of up to 10 lines. The Magma Editors' Prize reflects the magazine's unique rotating editorship and poems of up to 10 lines will be judged by a panel of Magma Editors who will select a variety of poems for 'special mentions' as well as choosing first and second prize winners.

First prize £500
Second Prize £200
plus 10 Special Mentions £10 each.

As part of the prize, all 15 winners will have their poems published in our Spring Issue 2013 and be invited to read alongside Gillian Clarke at Magma's prize-giving event early next year.

Here are some details: The entry period for poems opens on 16 October 2012 and closes on 16th December 2012. Entry fee is £5 per poem or £15 for four poems, except for Magma Poetry magazine subscribers who pay £3 per poem or £10 for four poems.

Full Rules are here, and information will be found on Magma's website at www.magmapoetry.com/competition.

 Magma is excited that its competition is now an annual event and the team on the Editors' Panel is looking forward to reading your 10-line poems, as well as receiving your poems of 11 to 80 lines for the Judge's Prizes. The entry period does not open until 16th October, so plenty of time for the poets among you to get some great poems written.

For further information please contact Magma directly at news@magmapoetry.com.