The guidance below is for entering all Wigtown Poetry Prizes in 2024.
By entering the competition you agree that your entries comply with the 2024 Competition Rules. Entries which do not comply with the 2024 Competition Rules will be disqualified and no refund will be given. Please read carefully.
Wigtown Poetry Prizes General Rules
- Entries open 30 November 2023
- Entries close 6 May 2024
- Poems may be on any subject.
- Poems must not be previously published, accepted for publication or currently entered into another competition. If a poem is published elsewhere after being submitted for this competition, it must be withdrawn from the Wigtown Poetry Prizes, by emailing: mail@wigtownbookfestival.com.
- Entrants must be 16 years of age or over.
- There is no restriction on the number of entries submitted by each entrant to each category of the competition, providing the appropriate fee is paid.
- Alterations may not be made to entries once they have been submitted.
- The copyright of each poem remains with the writer. The winners and runners-up must grant Wigtown Festival Company the right to use their winning poems, including in Southlight Magazine, for one year from 4 October 2024.
- Short-listed entries will be revealed on the Wigtown Poetry Prizes website and short-listed entrants will be notified at least one month before the Prize-giving event.
- Winners will be revealed at the Prize-giving event at Wigtown Book Festival 2024. All those shortlisted will be invited to attend in person. Winners will be invited to read during the Prize-giving event.
- Winners will be announced on the Wigtown Poetry Prizes website and through other Wigtown Festival Company channels after the Prize-giving event on 4 October 2024.
Winners from one or more the Prizes will be invited to read at StAnza 2025 at the discretion of StAnza – Scotland's International Poetry Festival and Wigtown Festival Company.
Entry Format Rules
- For the International, Scottish Gaelic and Scots prizes, each poem must be entered as a separate PDF document. This ensures that your poem is entered with its intended formatting.
- For the Alastair Reid Pamphlet Prize and the Fresh Voices Award, the collection of poems should be submitted in one single PDF document. This ensures that your collection is judged as a whole, and that it retains its intended formatting.
- All poems are judged anonymously; therefore the name of the poet must not appear on the manuscript or in its file name.
- Each separate entry file must be labelled with the name of the poem or collection.
- Entry fees are payable within the online entry submission system.
Wigtown International Poetry Prize
Prize: £1500
Runner up: £200
- The competition is open to worldwide entries.
- Poems must not exceed 40 lines (the title is NOT counted as a line).
- Entries must be in English, Gaelic or Scots.
- Those entering Wigtown Gaelic and Scots language prizes may request their poems be submitted for the Wigtown International Prize as well, free of additional charge.
- No member of the Wigtown Poetry Prizes organising committee, or employee or Trustee of Wigtown Festival Company, the Scottish Poetry Library or StAnza - Scotland's International Poetry Festival may enter.
Fee: Each poem submitted costs £7.00
Wigtown Scots Poetry Prize
Prize: £500
Runner up: £200
- The competition is open to worldwide entries.
- Poems must not exceed 40 lines (the title is NOT counted as a line).
- Entries must be in Scots.
- No member of the Wigtown Poetry Prizes organising committee, or employee or Trustee of Wigtown Festival Company or the Saltire Society may enter.
Fee: Each poem submitted costs £7.00
Wigtown Gaelic Poetry Prize
Prize: £500
Runner up: £200
- The competition is open to worldwide entries.
- Poems must not exceed 40 lines (the title is NOT counted as a line).
- Entries must be in Scottish Gaelic. An English translation may be included in addition (also limited to 40 lines) but is not a requirement for entry.
- No member of the Wigtown Poetry Prizes organising committee, or employee or Trustee of Wigtown Festival Company or the Gaelic Books Council may enter.
Fee: Each poem submitted costs £7.00.
Dumfries & Galloway Fresh Voice Award
Prize: A package of professional support, including mentoring and a week-long retreat at Moniack Mhor Creative Writing Centre in 2025.
- This Award will go to a poet living in or coming from Dumfries & Galloway who has never professionally published a full-length collection but shows promise.
- Entrants must submit 3 - 6 poems, with each poem not exceeding 40 lines (the title is NOT counted as a line).
- Entries may be in English, Scots or Scottish Gaelic.
- Wigtown Festival Company reserves the right to invite writers who have not entered to be considered for the Award.
- No member of the Wigtown Poetry Prizes organising committee, or employee or Trustee of Wigtown Festival Company or Moniack Mhor Creative Writing Centre may enter.
There is no entry fee.
Alastair Reid Pamphlet Prize
Prize: the production of a pamphlet set by Gerry Cambridge
- Entrants must submit 8 – 12 poems, with a limit of 12 A4 pages, not including title page or appendices.
- Entries must be in English or Scots.
- At least 25% of the poems must be unpublished with entrants owning the copyright of all previously published poems.
- Wigtown Festival Company reserves the right not to award the Prize in the event that no suitable submission is received.
- The judge will select one poem from the winning pamphlet to be published on the Wigtown Poetry Prizes website and in Southlight Magazine.
- No member of the Wigtown Poetry Prizes organising committee, or employee or Trustee of Wigtown Festival Company may enter.
- The winner will be invited to work with Gerry Cambridge in the design of the Pamphlet.
- The winner will receive 30 copies of the finished pamphlet at no cost for their own use.
Fee: £15 per submission.
Telephone: 01988 402 036