P – Ledbury Poetry Competition 2025

 Competition Entry Rules/Guidelines

If you have any questions or need assistance with the competition entry process please email sabeen.chaudhry@ledburypoetry.org.uk

1. You may enter up to 10 poems at any time.
2. Poems must be received by the deadline, Monday 15 September at 23:59 BST. Entries will not be accepted after the closing deadline.
3. The length of each poem must not exceed 40 lines. (This applies to the written lines of the poem. Titles, epigraphs, line spaces between stanzas and dedications are not counted as lines.)
4. You must be 18 years of age or over to enter.
5. All applications must be submitted online through the entry form on our home page.
6. Please submit each poem as a single PDF file. Each poem must be submitted as a separate document, up to 10 documents can be attached to your application online.
7. Please include the title of your poem in the poem and name your file with the title of your poem.
8. The competitor’s name must NOT appear in the poems or in the document file name – names must be included on the entry form details only.
9. All entries must be the original work of the entrant and should not have been previously published, broadcasted, or accepted for publication by a magazine, or have won competitions elsewhere.
10. Copyright remains with the author, but Ledbury Poetry reserves the right to have entries performed at the Festival, on radio, TV, or stage, published on the internet, in an anthology or used for publicity purposes at any stage in the future.
11. An automated acknowledgement of the entry will be sent (please check Spam or Junk folders if you don’t see one).
12. The decision of the judge is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
13. Ledbury Poetry reserves the right to withhold prizes if such an action is justified.
14. Entries not complying with competition rules will be disqualified.
15. Winners and highly commended entries will be notified directly once the judging has been completed and details of the winners event in 2026 will be sent in due course.
16. Ledbury Poetry is a registered charity – Charity No. 1059465