Mslexia

Mslexia, the magazine for women who write | www.mslexia.co.uk

Poetry Competition

Mslexia Poetry Competition 2010

Judge: Vicki Feaver

1st Prize: £1,000
2nd Prize: £500
3rd Prize: £250
22 other finalists will receive £25 each.

All winning poems will be published in Mslexia.

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

Winners will be notified mid-September 2010.

Read the Competition Rules

Judge: Vicki Feaver

"Women poets have written some of the most original and powerful poetry of the last century and the extraordinary thing is that the number of brilliant women poets is growing.

"The excitement of judging the Mslexia competition is that among the entries there could be another poet of the stature of Elizabeth Bishop or Sylvia Plath, or to name just a couple of contemporary poets, Carol Ann Duffy and Jo Shapcott. These poets are all very different and I've got no fixed ideas about the kind of poem that will win: just that I'll know it when I read it!"

Vicki Feaver began writing poetry in her mid-thirties and has since published three collections. Her work has also been included in many anthologies. The Handless Maiden (1994), her second collection, won a Heinemann Award and was shortlisted for the Forward Prize. The Book of Blood (2006) was shortlisted for the Forward Prize and the Costa Poetry Award. Her poem 'Judith', won a Forward Poetry Prize for Best Single Poem. She received a Cholmondeley Award in 1999. She is Emeritus Professor at the University of Chichester where she used to teach. For the last nine years whe has lived in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, where she divides her time between drawing and painting and working on a new collection of poems about childhood.

NEW! POETRY WRITING WORKSHOPS

Seeking inspiration for your competition entry? Struggling with a poem you know has potential? Try your hand at our series of specially commissioned intensive poetry writing workshops devised by Jane Holland. There will be a new workshop to try every week for five weeks in the lead-up to the competition deadline (26 July).

Workshop #1: First Drafts are not Holy Relics

Workshop #2: Draft Hard, Play Hard

Workshop #3: Build a Family Tree

Workshop #4: Find the Core

Workshop #5: Strong Redrafts are New Poems

Rules and Eligibility

Please make sure you read the Competition Rules thoroughly before submitting your entry. We reserve the right to reject any entry that does not comply. Refunds cannot be made in this case.
For more information please call +44 (0) 191 233 3860 or email poetry@mslexia.co.uk.

Frequently Asked Questions.

For help with your submission, including a downloadable cover sheet, read the Poetry Competition FAQs.

For more information please call +44 (0) 191 233 3860 or email poetry@mslexia.co.uk.

On winning...

"It made me want to head straight home, and write and write. I think this is the Mslexia effect." – Sarah Roby

Read what 2009's winners say about their experience of the Mslexia Poetry competition.

Six years of the Mslexia Poetry Competition

• The Inland Waterways (IW) by Sarah Roby (Ruth Padel - 2009)
• A Song of Jean by Sibyl Ruth (Carol Ann Duffy - 2008)
• Too close by Ann Alexander (U A Fanthorpe and R V Bailey - 2007)
• For a plain man by Marianne Burton (Wendy Cope - 2006)
• Buffalo mozzarella by Polly Clark (Jo Shapcott - 2005)
• Women by Polly Clark (Selima Hill - 2004)