Five Words
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Every Tuesday at 12pm (Irish time) from 9th April 2024 – 28th January 2025, five words will be posted on this competition page. Entrants will have one week to compose and submit one or more poems which include all five words given for that week. The winners & shortlist are announced around the first week of March.
A prize of 750 euros will be awarded to the winner, plus 500 euros for second place and 250 euros for third place. These three, if available will be invited to read at Ó Bhéal’s eighteenth anniversary (hybrid) event, on Monday the 14th of April 2025. Should winners be able to attend in person, then an additional travel fee of 100 euro plus B&B accommodation will be provided for this. The overall winner also receives a physical award, hand-crafted by acclaimed glass artist (and poet) Michael Ray.
The shortlisted poems and winning entry will also be published in Five Words Vol XVIII – the anthology of five word poems to be launched at the same event. A shortlist of twelve poems including the overall winner will be announced by the first week of March 2025.
The five words offered each week for the 12th Five Words competition (2024-25) are sourced from Ó Bhéal’s twelfth year of live Monday evening Five Word Challenges (held during 2018-19). A small, varied selection of additional words are also used due to deletion of duplicates, colloquialisms, etc.
Entry is open to all countries. Poems cannot exceed 50 lines in length (including line breaks), and must include all five words listed for the week.
A modicum of poetic license is acceptable. As long as the original spelling is intact, you’re welcome to extend, pluralise or even split any word to appear across two adjacent words, even if its original meaning becomes altered.
Poems should be newly written, during this 7-day period. There is no
limit to volume of entries, although each payment and submission should
be made separately.
Submissions carry a 5 euro entrance fee.
Payment should be made via this paypal button before continuing.
Once payment is made, please copy your poem into the completed submission form (one poem per form), and email to
or by post (postmarked by Tuesday at latest) to:
Ó Bhéal
Five Words Poetry Competition
c/o Civic Trust House
50 Popes Quay
Cork
Ireland
For postal entries, please print out and complete the submission form, and post together with your attached poem (on which nothing other than the title and poem appear).
Email entries should only be sent via the above email address, not via the submissions [at] obheal [dot] ie email link on the home page, which is only for non-competition entries, written and performed live during each Monday evening event from words derived randomly by the audience.
Any queries should be directed to info [at] obheal.ie
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