Competitions

Competition Rules and Guidelines

General Competition Guidelines (prose and poetry)

Members may submit up to three entries for poetry (see below for prose rules).
Non-members may enter. All of the following rules apply but the fees are:

£2.00 per prose entry
£1.00 per poetry entry
Plus the first class stamp as listed below.

Entries must be under a pseudonym, with your own name, the title, and which competition it is for on a separate slip of paper.

Poems must be typed on one side of A4 paper. Prose should be numbered on each page, with an indication that further pages follow (i.e. m/f, 2/8, etc). For prose please attach a cover page which should contain the title, pseudonym, word count, and which competition it is for.

Fees are one first class stamp per entry (for both poetry and prose).

Deadline for poetry is the first meeting after the relevant month. For prose deadlines see individual quarterly competitions. Please enclose an SAE if you wish your entry to be returned by post. Associate Members and non-members can check the deadlines, etc., by contacting the relevant member of the Committee. or using our Contact Form.

Prose Competition Rules

Prose competitions run quarterly instead of monthly. Unlike poetry, there is no maximum entry rule, and entrants can submit as many entries for a single prose competition as they like. Book token prize money is tripled for quarterly competitions.

Trophies (for full members only)

Points are awarded for winning entries in all competitions, and determine the winners of the annual trophies for prose (Ena Young Award) and poetry (Joyce Towers Cup), and also book tokens for competition winners and runners up. Points are as follows:

1st place	7 points
Joint 1st	6 points
2nd place	5 points
Joint 2nd	4 points
3rd place	3 points
Highly commended	2 points
Commended	1 point

If a member wins three top placings and/or highly commended or commended in a single month, they win the Hat Trick Trophy, and may keep it until another entrant wins the honour.

Adjudicators will normally provide a short paragraph commenting on individual entries. However, some adjudicators may provide more feedback than others. In all cases, the adjudicator's decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.