4th Annual

Poetry Award 2026

Open for Entries

Entries close on 22nd August 2026

Winners will be announced in November 2026

Prizes

Winner – £300
2nd Place – £100
3rd Place – £50

Read about our judges below, then scroll down for
Rules and How to Enter...

Meet Our Judges

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Paul Truan

Paul is a Cornish poet who lives in Clevedon. His work has been published widely including Dreich Magazine, The Frogmore Papers, The Morning Star, Ink, Sweat & Tears, Obsessed with Pipework and Orbis. His debut pamphlet, In the Shadows was published by Atomic Bohemian in September 2024.

Isabel White

Isabel White is a slam winner, was twice finalist in the BBC Proms and a dozen other competitions; she has also judged a number of competitions, most recently the Wells Poetry Competition. She has four full poetry collections and two pamphlets published to date, her work has appeared in over 50 journals and anthologies on three continents.

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Rules for entry

  1. The Clevedon LitFest Poetry Award is open to anyone who is resident in the UK and is aged 16 years or older.
  2. A fee of £6 per entry must be paid via the payment link below (scroll down to end), and any entry for which payment has not been received will be disqualified. You must use the same email address when paying your fee and emailing your entry.
  3. Entries must be no longer than 40 lines (excluding title), typed (a sans 12pt font with 1.5 line spacing preferred) and written in English.
  4. Entries must be submitted using file types odt, doc, docx or txt.
  5. Entrants may submit as many entries as they wish, but each entry must be paid for separately.
  6. Offensive, discriminatory language or language promoting hate speech or violence must not be used. Doing so will lead to disqualification.
  7. Your name, or any other identifying marks, should not be added to your story.
  8. The poem must be your own, original work and should not have won another competition or been previously published in print or online. 
    Any poem created with the aid of any AI application will be disqualified.
  9. No changes will be permitted once work has been submitted.
  10. These competitions are not open to any person affiliated with Clevedon Literary Festival, partner organisations or their immediate relatives.
  11. Entries not following these rules will be disqualified.
  12. The judges’ decision is final and no feedback will be given.
  13. Keep your own copy of the work as entries cannot be returned.
  14. Copyright is retained by the author.
  15. Prize winners will be notified by email and Clevedon Literary Festival retains the right to publish prize-winning entries online or in print.
  16. Prize winners will be invited to attend a prize-giving event in Clevedon in October/November 2026 (details to be confirmed).
  17. Clevedon LitFest reserves the right to publish video footage, screenshot images and/or photos gathered from the prize giving event on its website and social media platform accounts. You must inform us if you wish to opt out of this.

How to enter

a) Your entry can only be submitted by email, as an attachment, using the email address given when you paid your entry fee.

b) The subject line must be 'Flash Fiction Award 2025’

c) The body of the email should include your name, a title for your story, and your contact details.

d) Send your email, with your entry as an attachment, to: competitions@clevedonlitfest.org.uk

e) If entry details are NOT completed as above, an entry may not be accepted. CLOSING DATE FOR ENTRIES: 11.59pm on 22nd August 2026 (entries received after that time and date will not be considered)

Pay your £6 entry fee using the 'donate' button below

Please follow the steps below to donate

Step 1: Click here to confirm you're in the UK

Sunset image © 2014 AdinaVoicu, licensed via Pixabay.