Ledbury Poetry Festival 2018 Poetry Competition is now open for entries, with a great first prize of £1000 cash and a residential course at T? Newydd ,The National Writing Centre of Wales. T? Newydd is renowned for its excellent writing courses, taught by outstanding poets in a beautiful setting. Winners also have the opportunity to read their poems at Ledbury Poetry Festival 2019.

Judge Nia Davies is a poet and editor of Poetry Wales. She has co-curated and participated in several transcultural collaborations, projects and events and her work has been widely translated. Her most recent publications are All fours (Bloodaxe Books, 2017), England (Crater, 2017) and Interversions (Poetrywala, 2018) which documents her collaboration with Kannada poet Mamta Sagar. She is undertaking practice-based research into poetry and ritual at Salford University.

The Ledbury Poetry Festival Poetry Competition has been an important first step in many poets’ careers. Jacob Polley, winner of the 2016 T.S. Eliot Award, started his career with a win at Ledbury in 2001. Other previous winners include Maitreyabandhu (2010), Jonathan Edwards (2014) and 2017 T.S. Eliot shortlisted Jacqueline Saphra (2007). The Competition is increasingly international with the previous two years won by Americans Jonathan Greenhause (2017) and Miller Oberman (2016). The Festival prides itself on a lasting relationship with its competition entrants and winners: many are asked back for performances, residencies and workshops.

“Your Festival has been so crucial in my development” says Jonathan Edwards. The competition is open to all entries of original, previously unpublished work across categories for Adults, Young People (12-17 years) and also Children (11 and under). Entry fees are £5.75 for the first poem and £3.50 for each subsequent poem.

Children and Young People enter their first poem free.

Entry forms and full details of the Adult, Young People and Children’s Competition are on the website www.poetryfestival.