Paula Brown Publishing Award for Poetry Click here for details of our new annual award with cash prizes!

TPP Annual Anthology Competitions Click here to purchase

In the back of each of our annual anthologies, you will find some
competition entry forms. These forms are the only accepted entry for these particular contests. You must have a book in your possession to be able to participate in these contests.

The closing date for all of these contests is the last day of June,
following the publication of the book. ie June 2003 is the closing
date for entries for the TPP 2003 book.

The contests are:

Cover Design contest: prize - publication of your art work on the
cover of the next annual anthology, an engraved plaque and a free ticket to the launch party presentation, and a free copy of the book your work
appears in)

Voting form for the People's Poet title for that year.

Please use your vote. The more interaction we receive, the more
balanced the decision on the Poet of the Year, from our community.
The winning poet will receive his or her own anthology of poems,
printed by Paula Brown publishing.

In addition, they will receive an engraved salver, a free ticket to
the annual launch party presentation and will have already received a
free copy of the book.

Other Competitions

Monthly Themed Contests more information

These are online contests and it is not necessary to have a copy of
the book to enter. The closing date will usually be the last full weekend of
that month. Themes are published online in advance on a list and
submissions are welcome via email from the first of that month. Sometimes during busy periods, not all of the entries are displayed online but they are all sent around the panel, who give their top three selections.

Please email in your poems for the monthly themed contests and they
will be placed online on the relevant page - subject to our usual acceptance
criteria. Panellists will give their top 3 favourite poems at the
end of the month and results are collated.

Second and Third places win publication of the poem in the forthcoming
annual anthology, a free copy of the book the poem appears in, and a
certificate which will be presented on the launch party night.

First place each month wins an engraved plaque, to be presented at the
launch party, in addition to the publication and the free book. Publisher points are allocated to members for these publications at a higher rate than received for usual anthology acceptances.

Journal challenges. Subscribe here

Occasionally, our Editors of the Journals will introduce a new verse
form and will ask for submissions on the style in question. These will be
published in the Journals, and a free copy of the issue will be given
to those selected.

Journal quarterly poetry competition

Each quarter, every poem which appears in the journal is in a
competition. Please email in with your favourite poem of the issue, and we will
give the winning poet a free subscription or a continuation of their subscription. Please take the time to email or write in with your favourite Journal poem. Without the feedback, we
can not give out the prize!

Members contests

There will be extra competitions for members, in the members area at
least every other month. To become a member, all you need to do is subscribe.

Prizes will range from a choice of books to vouchers, publication of
the poems, and wonderful goodies we have donated to us as prizes.

The Whitmarsh Prize for Young Writers The Budding Poet website

This prize is awarded to the young writer who has most impressed the panel and site visitors each year. This young writer will be aged between 13 and 17. Any writer of 18 and over may participate in this website's competitions. This is a new award for 2004, supported by a legacy from John Whitmarsh. John himself selected a favourite young poet from 2004 to receive the first award and there will be more news about that at a later date. This award will be presented either during the October Poole Word and Book Festival or during our annual alunch party in November, according to what best suits the young writer.

The John Whitmarsh Community Award

This is another award supported by the legacy from John Whitmarsh. It is to support his love of our online community by awarding the prize to the one person that has worked particularly hard on behalf of the community in that year. This award is going to be backdated to the beginnign of the site as so many people have helped out so much and we want to thank them as well. All awards will be announced online in June and presented at our November launch of Anthology III, including the backdated awards. They will all be engraved shortly. There is one trophy, which will be engraved each year with the new winner's name and the year, and there will be an engraved plaque for each person who has won to take home.

2002 - Ade Rowley - for his devoted assistance to supporting me and my lack of skills into starting up this community. I had no idea how to do anything that I needed to do and he gave me the confidence and the support to make the first steps in creating this monster. Thank you on behalf of everyone.

2003 - Peter Nightingale - for all of his countless hours of careful archiving and indexing and welcoming people to the community. Also for his constant online support and encouragement to many of us with our writing and as a friend. Peter has attended all of our events and given personal support as well. Thank you, my friend.

2004 - Colin Ayling - for the hundreds of hours work he has put into building, rebuilding, maintaining and driving forward our website. I know I have driven you completely nuts but you have always been patient and a great teacher. We all owe you a great deal of thanks for your support and friendship and for our fabulous website which would have been far beyond our means without your generosity.

2005 - Have you been helping out a great deal with our community recently? This award could be yours next year!