Call for Submissions: Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award

Each year, 100 winners (15 top winners and 85 commended winners) are chosen by two high profile poets, and receive their awards at an annual prize-giving event in the autumn.

Winners of the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award are among the most promising young literary talent in the UK. They support them to establish themselves in the literary and publishing world through a number of initiatives, such editorial opportunities and showcasing events.

Benefits

• All entrants will receive an e-certificate for participating in the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award.

Eligibility Criteria

• You must be aged 11-17 in order to enter.
• Individuals may enter more than one poem. However, they strongly advise that you concentrate on drafting and redrafting your poems and send only a selection of your very best. Remember, quality is more important than quantity.
• The competition is free to enter.
• Poems can be on any theme.
• Poems must be forty lines or shorter.
• Your work is accepted on the basis that this will be its first publication anywhere in the world.
• This includes:
  • Anthologies, magazines, solo collections, school prints, school newsletters;
  • Online, including blogs and online magazines;
  • Social media such as Twitter, Facebook or Instagram;
  • Poems cannot have been broadcast on any regional, national or online TV station or via any radio platform.
• Poems cannot have won any other competition.
• Poems must be the original work of the author (they do run checks for plagiarism on all selected poems).
• Poems must be written in English, but you can include phrases in your mother tongue or another language. If you would like to enter an entry in British Sign Language or Braille.
• You may not enter a poem written by more than one author.
• Entries will be accepted from anywhere in the world. (Please note that they are unable to cover international travel fees for winners to attend the award ceremony but they may be able to contribute some travel costs towards travelling for mentoring opportunities.)
• Competition entries cannot be returned under any circumstances. Please make sure you keep a record of all poems entered and send copies only.
• Entries will not be accepted via email.
• By entering this competition, entrants agree that their poems and data may be used by The Poetry Society, including for research purposes. Occasionally The Poetry Society works with academic and cultural partners to produce academic research. By entering this competition, you are also agreeing that your anonymised data and poems can be used in such research.
• If you are 11-12, your parent or guardian will need to give permission for you to enter. Without this permission they are not allowed to keep information about you, such as your contact details. This is because of data protection rules. Permission can be given online or by sending in the parent or guardian permission form.

Application Requirements

• Authors of the winning poems will grant the Poetry Society irrevocable, non-exclusive licence to republish the work in perpetuity, including (but not limited to):
  • Publishing the work online, including The Poetry Society website. The Poetry Society will notify the writer if a third party requests permission to use their work in any way;
  • Production of reprints;
  • Publication (in print or online) of the work as part of an anthology or as an educational resource.

For more information, visit Foyle Foundation.