fbpx

The Plaza Poetry Prize (40 lines)

The Plaza Poetry Prize (40 lines)

Judged by Georges Szirtes

1st prize: £1000 / *$1250. 2nd prize: £300 / *$375. 3rd prize: £100 / *$125

40 lines max

Poems up to 40 lines. No theme. On whatever subject fascinates you. You can write less if you want to, but you have 40 lines to catch the keen eye of our judge, T.S. Eliot Poetry Prize-winner, Georges Szirtes.

George was born in Hungary, came to England as a refugee, and trained as an artist in Harrow, and Leeds. His first book, The Slant Door (1979), won the Faber Memorial Prize.

Bridge Passages (1991) was shortlisted for the Whitbread Poetry Prize. Reel (2004) won the T.S. Eliot Prize, and his New and Collected Poems was published by Bloodaxe in 2008.

George has written extensively for radio and is the author of more than a dozen plays, musicals, opera libretti, and oratorios. His memoir The Photographer at Sixteen (2019) was awarded the James Tait Black Prize in 2020. He is a co-winner of the International Booker translator’s prize.

He is a member of the Advisory Panel of the British Center for Literary Translation, and is on the Advisory Board of the Poetry Book Society. He has been a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature since 1982. So, please send us your poems. To be shortlisted in the Top 10, will get you published in The Plaza Prizes Poetry Anthology 3, and to win is worth much more than the £1,000 / *$1,250 prize money.

“The Plaza Poetry Prizes are great opportunities for poets trying to make a name for themselves.”

George Szirtes

The Prizes

First Prize: £1000 / *$1250

Second Prize: £300 / *$375

Third Place: £100 / *$125

Top 10

The 10 shortlisted entries will be published in The Plaza Prizes Anthology 3, which will be launched at our awards ceremony in 2025.

Terms and Conditions

Rules

Rules

  • OPEN NOW. Deadline: 31st May 2025
  • Writers can enter any number of times. Full Entry Fee: £11.00 / *$13.75. Additional entry: £9.00 / *$11.25.
  • Poems can be in any style or form, but must be in English, and written for adults.
  • Entries must be submitted online. No email submissions. In exceptional circumstances, postal entry may be accepted, as long as a cheque made out for the correct entry fee is sent to The Plaza Prizes Ltd. (Postal address is on Contact Form.)
  • Enter the correct version of your work. If you make a mistake, entry fees will not be refunded. (You will have to enter again.)

Eligibility

Read the rules carefully before entering the competition. Entry implies acceptance of all the rules and failure to comply will result in disqualification.

All entries are judged anonymously. Please do not include your name, address, phone number, email, website, twitter handle etc on the document or in the file name or it will be disqualified.

Entries will be disqualified if they are over the 40 line limit, and there will be no refund.

Entries must be original, entirely your own work. No co-writing. Plagiarised or AI-generated work will be disqualified, and this disqualification may extend to any future competitions. (We must now use AI to check.)

Entries must NOT have been published traditionally because we will publish the 10 shortlisted in our 3rd anthology. Self-published poems ARE eligible for entry.

Entries must NOT have won in any other competition. If your entry was long-listed or shortlisted in other competitions it IS eligible.

Simultaneous submissions are allowed but if an entry wins a prize elsewhere, is published or scheduled for future publication, prior to the date of prize giving, you must inform us to withdraw immediately. Entry fees will not be refunded.

Length

Maximum 40 lines.


Fees

Full Entry Fee: £11.00 / *$13.75
Single Additional Entry Fee: £9.00 / *$11.25
EARLY-BIRD ENTRY AVAILABLE VIA DISCOUNT COUPON UNTIL 30th Sept 2024.

Entries must be submitted online via Submittable. No email or snail-mail submissions.

Format

  • Entries must be typed in 12 pt font, SINGLE, 1.5, or DOUBLE-spaced. The poem’s title should top the first page. (Any minor formatting issues will not lead to disqualification. PLease just make sure your work is as easy to read as possible.)
  • Save as a Microsoft Word document (.doc or .docx) or PDF file with the title as the file name. Do not include your name in the file name as this will lead to disqualification.
  • Max 2MB file. Include the line count for the poem, top right, first page.
  • Do not add cover pages.
  • No illustrated work.

Judging

The judges’ decision is final. No individual correspondence can be entered into. Judges are unable to comment on individual entries. The Plaza Prizes reserves the right to change the judge without notice.

Copyright

Copyright remains with the author, but The Plaza Prizes reserves the right to publish poems in an anthology and use extracts from any of the 10 shortlisted poems for publicity purposes.

Results & Awards

The Poetry 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize-winners will be announced on the website and social media in July 2025. The 10 short-listed entries will be published in The Plaza Prizes Anthology 3, which will be launched at our awards ceremony in 2025.

Bursary Scheme

In 2023-2024, we will again be offering 100 FREE ENTRY BURSARIES across all our competitions to poets on low incomes, and from underrepresented groups. You can apply for a bursary if low income, class, race, age, gender, sexuality, caring responsibilities, location, disability, or mental and physical health affects your writing. We want to encourage equality to discover quality new writing from diverse voices.

Enter by pressing the big orange button below.

ENTER NOW