Poetry Competition 2025

The Cheltenham Poetry Festival International Poetry Prize 2025

 

Judge: Gregory Leadbetter

Administrator:  Zoe Brooks

RULES

  • Poems must be in English, unpublished, and of no more than 50 lines in length.
  • There is an entry charge of £4 per poem or £10 for 3 poems or £15 for 5 poems
  • Please note we do not offer refunds if a poem is withdrawn by the author
  • You can enter as many poems as you wish.
  • The judge’s decisions are final, and no correspondence can be entered into.
  • The deadline for entering the competition is 23.59 16th November . Any entries received after that time will excluded.
  • Winners will be notified in January 2026
  • Prizes include: 1st Prize: £300; 2nd Prize: £100; 3rd Prize: £50
  • A prize may be split between two winners if two entries are considered to be of equal merit.
  • The First Prize Winner will also be offered a guest slot at the 2026 Cheltenham Poetry Festival. This will either be at one of our popular on-line literary lounges or in person, transport permitting.
  • The competition is open to all entrants all over the world. 
  • Winning poems will be published on the Cheltenham Poetry Festival website. By entering the competition, it will be assumed that you have given permission for your poems to be displayed in this way.
  • Data Protection: Names, addresses, email and telephone contact details of those entering the competition will be stored safely for up to 12 months and will be used for communications relating to Cheltenham Poetry Festival unless permission has been given to remain on our mailing list.
  • The entries must take the format given below – each poem on a separate page with the title at the top and anonymous.

 

Winner notification: 

Winners will be notified in January 2026. 

 

Publicity:

We will publish the winning poems on the Cheltenham Poetry Festival website. By entering the competition, it will be assumed that you have given permission for your poems to be displayed in this way.

Data Protection:

Names, addresses, email and telephone contact details of those entering the competition will be stored safely for up to 12 months and will be used for communications relating to Cheltenham Poetry Festival unless permission has been given to remain on our mailing list. All payment transactions (except bank cheques and BACs) will be made using PayPal.

How to Enter

The closing date for the receipt of all competition entries is
23:59 hours on Sunday November 16, 2025

HOW TO ENTER

  • Decide how many poems in total you wish to submit
  • Click the Enter Now Button Below
  • This takes you to the payment option – you can choose from £4 per poem or £10 for 3 poems or £15 for 5 poems or a combination of these. For example if you wanted to submit eight poems – choose one five-poem option and one three-poem option. 
  • Once you have paid you will be taken to the booking confirmation page – which has a booking confirmation number – and you will also receive a confirmation email from Ticketsource with the same information. Make a record of the booking confirmation number. 
  • Prepare your poems for submission.
  • Each poem should be in a separate document. 
  • Do not put any identification on any of your poems.
  • Attach your poems (preferably in Word doc or pdf format) to an email and send to comp@cheltenhampoetryfestival.uk
  • Each poem must have its title at the top of the page.
  • Do not include a poem that might be recognised by the judge through workshops, mentoring or public readings.
  • Do not include a poem that has been published.
  • In the body of the email provide evidence of your payment eg the booking confirmation number, along with your name, address and a contact number plus the titles of the poems you are attaching.
ENTER NOW

This year’s poetry competition Judge

Gregory Leadbetter

Gregory Leadbetter

Gregory Leadbetter’s new collection of poetry is The Infernal Garden (Nine Arches Press, 2025). His previous books and pamphlets include Caliban (Dare-Gale Press, 2023), a New Statesman Book of the Year 2023; Balanuve, with photographs by Phil Thomson (Broken Sleep, 2021); Maskwork (Nine Arches Press, 2020), longlisted for the Laurel Prize 2021; The Fetch (Nine Arches Press, 2016), and The Body in the Well (HappenStance Press, 2007).

Recent work for the BBC includes the extended poem Metal City (Radio 3, 2023).  A song-cycle featuring poems from The Fetch by the composer and pianist Eric McElroy has been performed internationally, and a recording with the tenor James Gilchrist was released in 2023.

As a critic he publishes widely on the history and practice of poetry, and his book Coleridge and the Daemonic Imagination was awarded the University English Book Prize 2012. He is Professor of Poetry at Birmingham City University.