Canterbury Festival Poet of the Year 2015
Terms and Conditions
1.
Entry is open to all adults over the age of 18 on 8 October 2018. National and International entries are
welcome. Any number of poems may be submitted, but no alterations may be made to a poem once it
has been submitted.
2.
The closing date for the competition is Friday 19 June 2015. Entries may be emailed to
tina@canterburyfestival.co.uk or posted/delivered to: Adult Poetry Competition, Canterbury Festival
Office, 8 Orange Street, Canterbury, Kent CT1 2JA by 12:00 midnight on that date. Entries will not be
returned so please keep a copy.
3.
An entry form must accompany each poem or set of poems and a £5 entry fee paid for each poem
submitted. Payment may be made by PayPal, an invoice will be issued upon receipt of the entries, or in
the form of a cheque made out to “Canterbury Festival Foundation (Friends)”. Only one entry form and
one payment need be sent, even if several poems are submitted. Should payment not be received by
noon on Monday 22 June the poems will not be entered into the competition.
4.
The poem or poem sequence may be on any subject and in any style, but must not exceed
60 lines in length. Entries are judged anonymously and the poet’s name and address should not
appear on the poem itself.
5.
Handwritten entries cannot be accepted. Hard copy entries should be typed in black ink on A4 paper.
Please do not staple entries.
6.
Entries must be the poet’s original, unpublished work (including on any website, public blog, online
forum or broadcast medium) and not accepted for publication before the Awards Evening on 8 October
2015. Ownership remains with the poet at all times; The Festival will not assume any share in copyright.
The Canterbury Festival is not responsible for any claim of plagiarism, which will be directed to the poet
alone.
7.
The poem should be written principally in English; incidental foreign words/phrases and the use of
regional variants are permitted.
8.
Poems will be sent anonymously to the judging panel:
- Sonia Overall (Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Kent and Christ Church University)
- John Baylis Post (Canterbury Festival Poet of the Year 2014)
- Luigi Marchini (SaveAs Writers)
9.
The competition organisers reserve the right to change the judging panel.
10. The judges’ decision is final.
11. A longlist of entries will be selected for inclusion in the 2015 Anthology. Longlisted poets will be asked to
re-submit the selected poems, with name, by e-mail in order to aid publication.
12. Shortlisted poets will be asked to read their poems at the Awards Evening on 8 October 2015 (or to
nominate a reader to do this on their behalf) and the winning poems will be announced on the night.
13. The longlisted poets will receive a free copy of the Anthology at the Awards Evening. The Anthology will
be on sale at the Awards Evening and from the Festival offices after the event.
14. The Awards Evening will take place on Thursday 8 October 2015 St Gregory’s Centre for Music and will
take the form of a public ticketed event run by the Friends as a fundraiser for the Canterbury Festival.
Doors open at 7.00pm and readings begin at 7.30.The evening will include readings of the shortlisted
poets. Prizes will be awarded for the Winner, 2nd and 3rd places, the “Best Read Poem” and the
“People’s Choice” voted for on the night. The Winner will be named ‘Canterbury Festival Poet of the
Year 2015’