THE MOTH POETRY PRIZE 2019

THE MOTH POETRY PRIZE 2019 IS NOW OPEN



The Moth Poetry Prize is one of the biggest prizes in the world for a single unpublished poem. The prize is open to anyone (over 16) as long as the poem is previously unpublished, and each year it attracts thousands of entries from new and established poets from over 50 countries worldwide.


The prize is judged anonymously by a single poet. The judge only learns who the shortlisted poets are following the selection of the winning poems. Past judges include Marie Howe, Deborah Landau, Daljit Nagra, Leontia Flynn and Billy Collins.

Past winners include Natalya Anderson, Paul McMahon, Lee Sharkey, Ann Gray (whose poem was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem) and Abigail Parry (who was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection).



The winner of The Moth Poetry Prize 2018 was Jude Nutter’
s ‘
Dead Drift’. You can read more about Jude and her poem in the Irish Times. All four shortlisted poems appear in the summer 2019 issue of The Moth.




THE JUDGE

Claudia Rankine will judge The Moth Poetry Prize 2019. Rankine’s numerous awards and honours include the Los Angeles Times Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Forward Prize for Best Collection, the Lannan Foundation Literary Award and the T. S. Eliot Prize. Her collection Citizen was also the only poetry book to be a New York Times bestseller in the nonfiction category. In 2005, she was awarded the Academy Fellowship for distinguished poetic achievement by the Academy of American Poets. She is the Frederick Iseman Professor of Poetry at Yale University.


THE MOTH POETRY PRIZE BURSARY


A very kind anonymous donor will pay the entry fee for the first 15 poets from Northern Ireland who enter The Moth Poetry Prize 2019. Contact enquiries@themothmagazine.com for details.


HOW TO ENTER

The Prize is open to anyone (over 16), as long as the work is original and previously unpublished.

There is a no line limit, and the poems can be on any subject.

The entry fee is €15 per poem. You can enter online or send your poem(s) along with a cheque or postal order made payable to ‘The Moth Magazine Ltd.’ with an entry form or a cover letter with your name and contact details and the title of your poem(s) attached to: The Moth, Ardan Grange, Milltown, Belturbet, Co. Cavan, Ireland H14 K768.

If you are concerned about formatting online, please go through the online process and then email your poem as a Word attachment with your entry number directly to enquiries@themothmagazine.com.

Please remember to read the rules of the competition before you enter.

CLOSING DATE 31 DECEMBER 2019

The shortlist will be announced in March 2020 and all four poems will appear in the spring 2020 issue of The Moth.

The overall winner of €10,000 will be announced at a special award ceremony at Poetry Ireland in Dublin on 30 April 2020.

Call 00 353 (0)87 2657251 or email enquiries@themothmagazine.com for more details.