Black Eyes Publishing UK, in conjunction with the Gloucestershire Poetry Society
2024 Open Poetry Competition
Open for entries from 1st May ~ 31st July 2024 (midnight UK time).
Competition Prizes
Winner: £200 & Featured in the Steel Jackdaw magazine
Runner Up: £80 & Featured in the Steel Jackdaw Magazine
Third Prize: £40 & Featured in the Steel Jackdaw Magazine
Friendship Prize: £30 & Featured in the Steel Jackdaw Magazine
We are pleased to announce that Helen Ivory will be our main judge for the 2024 Open Poetry Competition.
Helen Ivory is a poet and visual artist who makes shadowboxes and collage.
She edits the webzine Ink Sweat and Tears and teaches online for the University of East Anglia/National Centre for Writing Academy.
Her chapbook Maps of the Abandoned City was published by SurVision in 2019. She has work translated into Polish, Ukrainian, Croatian, Spanish and Greek as part of the Versopolis European poetry platform.
Her Wunderkammer: New and Selected Poems appeared from MadHat Press in the US last year. Constructing a Witch, her sixth collection of poems with Bloodaxe, will be published in October 2024.
A long-list will be compiled by Josephine Lay (Editor for Black Eyes Publishing UK) and Jason Conway (Director of the Gloucestershire Poetry Society). Josephine will also choose the winner of the Friendship Prize.
All longlisted poems will be eligible for the 2024 Competition Anthology. Poets will be contacted to confirm their wish to be included, if longlisted.
The cost of submission is £4 per poem or £13 for 4 poems
GPS Friendship members can enter up to 3 poems without charge as part of their membership.
Submission Criteria
The 2024 Open Poetry Competition is run by Black Eyes Publishing UK on behalf of the GPS
Entries can be on any subject
Entries must be submitted in English
Entries must be submitted online.
Entries will be shortlisted and judged anonymously
You can enter any number of poems.
Entries can be withdrawn by notification in writing.
Entry fees will not be refunded.
This year, we intend to publish a Competition Anthology of the longlisted poems. If your poem isn’t a winner, runner up or commended, you will be given an option not to be included should you not wish to be.
Format
Submission dates are from 1st May 2024 to 31st July 2024 (midnight).
All poems must have a title and must not exceed 40 lines in length (excluding title).
Lines between text or stanzas are not counted.
Entries can be on any subject.
Poems must be the entrant’s original work and not have been published, in any form, elsewhere.
·Do not send illustrated poems.
Font should be 11pt, black.
Each poem should be on a separate Microsoft Word Document (.doc or .docx). Do not send PDF’s
The file name should be the title of the poem only, exactly the same as in the document.
Do not include your name in the document or on the file title, or it will be disqualified.
No corrections can be made after receipt, nor fees refunded.
Ideally, we would ask that you avoid dual submissions. However, we do recognise having poems tied up awaiting a decision can be difficult for poets. So, should a poem you have submitted to us be subsequently placed or published elsewhere, we should be notified immediately and the poem withdrawn. No fees refunded.
Please email Poems (as an attachment) to the email address provided below after payment with the subject line, 2024 Open Poetry Competition. Include your name in the email.
Judging
The judges’ decision is final and no individual correspondence can be entered into. Judges are unable to comment on individual entries. Judging is fair and unbiased. Black Eyes Publishing UK reserves the right to change the panel of judges without notice if necessary.
Poems will be shortlisted & judged anonymously. All correspondence regarding entries must only be sent via gpsopen2020@yahoo.com
Due to the high volume of submissions, we are unable to provide feedback on work that is unsuccessful. However, all entrants will receive an email notification of results, via the email used for the submission.
Entry implies acceptance of all the rules. Failure to comply with the entry requirements will result in disqualification.
Fees & Submission Steps
The cost of submission is £4 per poem, or £13 for up to 4 poems.
Submission Steps:
Pay for your entry
EMAIL YOUR WORK to GPSopen2020@yahoo.com or use the button below.
GPS Friendship members can enter up to 3 poems without charge as part of their membership. Access via the Friendship section of the website
Copyright
Worldwide copyright of each entry remains with the author but Black Eyes Publishing UK and the GPS has unrestricted rights to publish the winning, runner-up and commended poems in Steel Jackdaw Magazine, The Competition Anthology, The GPS Website and Social Media pages and any relevant promotional material.
Competition Anthology
We intend to publish a Competition Anthology of the ‘longlisted’ poems. If your poem isn’t a winner, runner up or commended, you will be given an option not to be included should you not wish to be
Results
Winners, runners-up and any commended poems will be notified by October 2024, and any cash prizes will be awarded accordingly.