Sponsors of the poetry competition

Shelley200 Festival (Horsham)
Poetry Competition 2022

In this most important anniversary year of the great romantic and radical poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley, the Shelley Memorial Project invited poetry submissions inspired by one of Shelley’s entire poems, a line of his poetry, or one of his themes: love and romance, nature and the power of the natural world, or radical and social commentary.  The competition closed on Friday 5th August 2022. The winning poems will appear in an anthology, available shortly.

The winners in the adult competition:

First prize: St Kilda Mouse by Olga Dermott-Bond

Second prize: Cor Cordium by Ann Westgarth

Third prize: Yellow pufferfish at bathtime by Chris Campbell

 

Read the Judges’ Report

Highly commended:

Dangerous Vision by John Gallas
Delight by Mark Fiddes
Shelleyan Threnody by Alan Morrison
Memorial by Paul Francis
dreams of flying by Laura Theis

Also longlisted:

'Shelly' by Tammie Rose
Diamonds by Fred McIlmoyle
Highlights Reel by Paul Francis
Hymn to the Apprehension of Beauty in all Things by Xavier Eloquin
Excalibur by Robin Knight
With a friend in Sussex by Philip Smith
The garden of life by Peter Viggers

The winners in the junior competition:


First prize 7-10 years: Sun Setting by Kezia Atkinson
First prize 11-14 years: Leaves by Amber Akabuogu
First prize 15-18 years: The Fantastical Shrubbery by Afra Samsudeen

The Judges

Ted Gooda's poetry has been published by Sentinel Quarterly, English in Education, FMN and the South Downs Poetry Festival. She is the ghostwriter of a series of books about foster carer Louise Allen (Trinity Mirror/ Welbeck Publishing), with the sixth, Billy's Story scheduled for publication in November 2022. Eden’s Story reached the Sunday Times Top Ten bestsellers in February 2021.

Nicola Garrard’s poetry has been published by the Frogmore Papers, IRON Press, Mslexia and the Poetry Book Society. Her debut novel, 29 Locks (HopeRoad, 2021), was shortlisted in the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize and the Mslexia Children’s Novel Competition. It was picked by the Financial Times as one of the ‘Best Books of 2021’ and is currently longlisted in the Berkshire Book Award and Branford Boase Award 2022.

Junior Competition Judge Sally Sanderson

Sally studied English Literature at Oxford and taught English to 11-18 year olds for a few years before moving into Learning and Development for professionals; she is the author of Leading Lawyers (Practical Inspiration Publishing 2021). As Chair of Horsham Park she organised the successful Poets’ Corner competition for the Year of Culture 2019, including running poetry workshops for children, shortlisting entries for the poetry trail and permanent display alongside Shelley at Poet’s Corner in Horsham Park.

Submission guidelines and award rules

Submission guidelines are as follows:

  • Poems in any category may be up to 50 lines.

  • Poems should be accompanied by an entry form.

  • The poet’s name should not appear on the poems themselves.

  • Poems must be the original work of the named author and must not have been previously published (hard copy or on-line) or won a prize in any competition.

  • The organisers accept no responsibility for entries that are incorrectly submitted or not delivered due to technical faults.

  • By entering the competition, entrants agree to accept and be bound by the rules of the competitons and the decisions of the judges.

  • The copyright of each poem remains with the author, but will appear on the SMP website and in our social media.

Email poem and application form to  Shelleymemorialproject@btinternet.com  quoting Shelley Poetry Competition in the subject line of the email, by midnight on Friday 5th August 2022.  Each poem should be on a separate word document or PDF.

Thank you to our sponsors for this competition: Brock Taylor

If entering by post, send 2 copies of poems, each on a separate sheet, with entry form and fees, to:

Competitions Secretary,
Shelley Memorial Project,
10 Clarence Road,
Horsham, RH13 5SQ

to arrive by the closing date of 5th August 2022.

The winning entrants will be notified by email by Tuesday 30th August and details of the winners will also be published on our website.