Poetry Competition 2017

First Prize £450 and Manchester Cathedral Poet of the Year 2017 

Second Prize: £250           Third Prize: £150

Winners and seven runners-up will be invited to read their poetry 
at the Manchester Literature Festival event in October.

The closing date for entries is Friday 30 June 2017. 

All participants are referred to the Conditions of Entry

Entry criteria

Poems submitted should be broadly religious or ‘spiritual’ in nature and, like all good religious poetry, appeal to those who would not necessarily describe themselves as ‘religious’. We encourage poetry from a range of faith traditions, as well as from those struggling to discover a sense of the sacred. Poems are welcome in any style or form and will be judged solely on their merits as poetry.

Judge 2017

Jane Commane was born in Coventry and lives and works in Warwickshire. She is a poet, tutor and editor at Nine Arches Press, and co-editor on Under the Radar magazine. Her poems have been featured in And Other Poems, Proletarian Poetry, Tears in the Fence, Iota, and anthologies including Best British Poems 2010 (Salt Publishing) and Lung Jazz: Young British Poets for Oxfam (Cinnamon).  Her debut poetry collection is forthcoming in 2018.

         Purchase 2016 Poetry Competition booklet online

         Download postal entry form