Autmn Voices Poetry Competition 2024 – ‘Counting’
Full details
After a break last year, we’re running the Autumn Voices poetry competition again this year.
We’re open through October for entries on the theme of Counting. There are prizes of £200 and £100 to be won, and the winning poems as well as any ‘Commended’ entries will be published on on the Autumn Voices website. Submission and payment details are given below.
Our judge is Margaret Elphinstone.
Margaret has written nine novels, poetry, short stories, articles and two books on organic gardening. Her recent novella Lost People (2024) is about displacement, climate change and re-connection with the land.
She has returned to writing poetry after many decades; her first poetry collection was published in 1990. She is now working on a new collection, which addresses similar themes to Lost People. She is Professor Emerita at the University of Strathclyde. She lives in Galloway.
We’re taking our theme of Counting from National Poetry Day. We hope that gives you lots of options, and we’ll be taking a broad rather than narrow view of the theme in what we look for.
Poetry features metre, so you might be counting lines or syllables.
You might write about weighing and measuring something – yourself, perhaps, or ingredients for a recipe.
You might be counting off the days until something happens, or counting how long it’s been since something last happened – visiting a place, seeing a friend, undertaking an activity.
Our Project Manager Ken Cockburn made a short film, ‘Poems That Count’, a few years ago for Luminate. It’s a guide to writing poems inspired by the numbers 1 to 5 and objects around the house. (It was made during the pandemic, when we were all spending more time at home than usual).
Submissions
All entrants must be aged 60 or over.
Entries cost £5 for one poem, £9 for two and £12 for three.
Please send your poems on the theme of ‘Counting’ (max.30 lines) to competitions@autumnvoices.co.uk
Payment can be made using PayPal via this link or to autumnvoicespayments@gmail.com
Please read the competition rules below carefully.
- All entrants must be aged 60 or over by the closing date for the competition (Monday, 31st October 2024).
- Multiple poem entries are permitted. No single poem should be more than 30 lines (excluding the title). Please indicate the number of lines at the end of the poem.
- Poems must be written in English or Scots, and must be your own work (no translations, interpretations of others’ work, plagiarism or AI-generated content).
- No poems submitted should have been previously published, broadcast, e-published or posted online in any form.
- Please email your entries to competitions@autumnvoices.co.uk
- Each poem should be submitted as a separate document (Word or PDF), which should have no name or other mark which could identify the author.
- Please also send a cover sheet with your name, postal address, e-mail address and age, stating the number of poems submitted in total and the titles of each, so that we can be sure we have received all relevant poem files. Please also confirm you have paid the relevant entry fee.
- The entry fee is £5 for one poem; £9 for two poems; £12 for three poems; any additional poems are charged at £3 each. Payment can be made using PayPal via this link or to autumnvoicespayments@gmail.com
- Autumn Voices staff and trustees are not permitted to enter the competition.
- Entries will not be returned so please save a copy of your entry.
- No alterations can be made to an entry once submitted.
- The judge’s decision is final. The judge cannot enter into correspondence regarding entries with any of the competition entrants.
- Poems can be submitted from 1st October 2024 until midnight (UK time) on 31st October 2024.
- Failure to comply with the above rules will result in disqualification.
- The competition judge will select one winner, one runner-up, and commended entries at their discretion.
- The copyright of each poem remains with the writer. By entering the competition winners agree to grant Autumn Voices permission to publish their winning poems on the Autumn Voices website, social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, and in the monthly e-newsletter. They will also be required to provide a photo, brief biography, and permission to mention their age.
- Winners will be invited to take part in a public online event to announce the results, and will be expected either to appear live or to produce a video recording of themselves reading their winning poem.
- General enquiries about the competition can be submitted to admin@autumnvoices.co.uk
Autumn Voices is grateful for the financial support of Sir Alexander McCall Smith and Ross-shire Writers for this year’s competition.
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