Send us your best rural themed poems. ‘Rural’ is open for interpretation, but for a good idea of what we like to see, have a look at our general submissions page.

The competition is open from 1st April 2022 to midnight UK time July 31st 2022.

This year our competition judge is Polly Atkin.

Polly Atkin is a poet and nonfiction writer, living in the English Lake District. Her first poetry collection Basic Nest Architecture (Seren: 2017) is followed by Much With Body (Seren, 2021), supported a 2020 Northern Writers Award. Her biography of Recovering Dorothy: The Hidden Life of Dorothy Wordsworth (Saraband, 2021), is the first to focus on Dorothy’s later life and illness. She is working on a memoir exploring place, belonging and disability.

Here is everything you need to know to enter the competition. Please read our rules carefully. Scroll down to read last year’s winners!

Prizes:

First: £300 plus publication in issue 7 of Spelt magazine

Second: £200 plus publication in issue 7 of Spelt Magazine

Third: £100 plus publication in issue 7 of Spelt Magazine

Entry Fee: £10 for up to three poems.

Rules

• The competition is open to poets from anywhere in the world.
• The poet’s name must not appear anywhere on the poem submissions.
• Poems must be the entrant’s own work and not previously published anywhere, either in print or online, including on personal blogs and social media pages.
• All poems must be in English.
• All poems must be typed; no handwritten entries will be accepted.
• All poems must be forty lines or less. This does not include titles.

• Entry is online only and must be sent as a word document attachment, with each poem on a separate page of that attachment.
• All poems within the entry must be sent at the same time.
• Each poem should have a title.
• The name of the attached file should be the title of the first poem in the attached document.
• You may enter up to three poems per £10 entry fee.
• You may enter the competition as many times as you wish, as long as the £10 entry fee is paid each time.
• Entry fees are non-refundable.
• Work will not be returned. Please ensure you keep a copy.
• We are unable to give feedback.
• Simultaneous submissions are NOT accepted.
• All entries will be notified of the result by 1st September, winners will be announced publicly through this website and on social media soon after.
• The entry fee is £10 for up to three poems.

Concessions

Spelt is run on a shoe string. The fees for the competition cover the judge’s fees and prize winnings. That being said, we are committed to providing accessibility as far as we can and are therefore able to offer three free places for writers in receipt of benefits. We will not ask you to prove this, just drop us a line at speltmagazine@gmail.com and let us know that you would like one of the free places.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HELP US CONTINUE TO PROVIDE ACCESSIBILITY YOU CAN SPONSOR A PLACE FOR A WRITER FACING FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES. PLEASE USE THE PAY BUTTON BELOW AND DROP US A LINE TO TELL US THE PLACE IS DONATED. THANK YOU!

How to Enter:

1. Use the payment button below to pay for your entry
2. Attach your poems in one word document, making sure your name is no where on the document.
3. Email your entry to speltmagazine@gmail.com COMPETITION in the subject line.
4. Include in the body of the email your name, address, PayPal payment reference, title/s of your poem/s.