Magma Poetry Competition

Entry categories:

• The Judge’s Prize – poems of 11 to 50 lines
• The Editors’ Prize – poems of up to 10 lines

Submission conditions:

• Poems must not have been previously published, self-published or accepted for publication in print or online, broadcast, or have won or been placed in another competition at any time.
• Each poem must be on a separate sheet. Poems longer than one page must show their title on the second page.
• Do not include your name or any other identifying marks on the poems themselves.
• The judge’s and editors’ decisions are final and no correspondence can be entered into.
• No entrant may win more than one prize in each section.
• Prize winners will be notified individually in April 2025. The results will also be published on the Magma Poetry website after the prize-giving event.
• Copyright of each entry remains with the author, but Magma Poetry has the right to first publication of the winning poems in print and/or online within six months of the competition deadline.

Judge: This year the Judge’s Prize for poems of 11 to 50 lines will be judged by Amy Acre, whose debut collection, Mothersong (Bloomsbury, 2023) was shortlisted for the John Pollard Poetry Prize, and named a Book of the Year in the Telegraph and Financial Times. She runs Bad Betty Press.

Entry fee: £5 for the first poem, £4 for the second poem and £3.50 for the third and each subsequent poem.

Prize:

• First prize for the Judge’s and Editors’ Prize is £1000, second prize £300 and third prize £150.
• The three prize-winning poems from each category will be published in Magma and there will also be five special mentions for each of the Judge’s Prize and Editors’ Prize categories.
• All winning and commended poems will be published online on the Magma website.
• Winning and commended poets will be invited to read their poems at a Magma Competition event in Spring 2025.

Deadline: 31st January 2025