Canterbury Festival Poet of the Year Competition 2024

Download the entry form here

The Canterbury Festival Poet of the Year Competition 2024 was  launched on 4 March 2024. The Competition deadline was 7 June 2024. From the entries received, around 35 poems will be chosen for the long list (see below) and published in an anthology; copies will be available from the Festival Office. From these a shortlist of around 15 poems will be then selected, any of which may be the winning poem.The first prize for the Poet of the Year is £200, with £100 for second and £50 for third places. Winners will be announced on National Poetry Day, Thursday 3 October 2024, during our on-line Awards Evening.

After many weeks of reading, reviewing, deliberating, and discussing over 500 entries received from around the world for this year’s competition, our judges are delighted to share this year’s Poet of the Year Competition longlist! Join us online on National Poetry Day for this year’s Awards Evening on Thursday 3rd October at 7.30pm:

This isn’t a poem by Veronica Aaronson

Futurit by Katie Beswick

On Reading Audre Lorde at Annaghmakerrig by Partridge Boswell

A Brief History of Modern Music by Partridge Boswell

Aubade of a Blended Eschatology by Partridge Boswell

Hanami by Jane Burn

Book Ends by Linda Burnett

Delivery Room by Ryan Caidic

Path, Feather, Mud by Nancy Charley

Walking in the Footsteps of Iguanodons by Martin Cordrey

Charles Dicken’s Guinea Pig is Dead by Charlotte Cornell

Glose for the Girls by Charlotte Cornell

In Memoriam: Billy Gunn by Philip Dunn

Ghost Story by Barry Fentiman Hall

Yesterday at the Car Wash I Cried for my Dead Brother by Linda Ford

Project by Andrew George

Matins by Andrew George

The Dead Zone by Christopher Horton

Trout by Christopher Horton

Viewpoint by Christopher Horton

Visigoths by Nigel King

What You Want by Vanessa Lampert

Vulpes Vulpes by Julie Leoni

Flowby Stephen Littlejohn

Skinning by Stephanie Powell

Calendar months by Stephanie Powell