McLellan Poetry Prize | 2023 Poetry Competition

Welcome to the 2023 McLellan Poetry Competition. The simplest way of entering the competition is to submit your poem(s) and fee online from this page.

Alternatively, you may submit your entry by post. Please click the pink button for a postal entry form that you should print to accompany your poem(s).

Please review the Competition Rules at the foot of this page before submitting your poem(s).

closing date year’s competition is midnight, Monday 10th July 2023.

2023 Competition Rules

The competition is open to anyone except members of the McLellan Festival Team. You may enter any number of poems and on any subject. This year we shall be running both the main competition in English plus a separate competition for the best poems in the Scots language.
Poems should be of no more than 90 lines (excluding title), in English for the main competition or in Scots for the separate Scots Poetry Competition and your own original work (no translations).
Poems must not have won a prize in any other competition or have been published, self-published or accepted for publication in print or online at the time of the closing date. Entrants must notify the organisers promptly of any change in circumstances that occurs after the date of entry.
Each poem should be on a separate sheet in black Times New Roman 12 point font and in A4 format (one side only). Poems will be judged anonymously and must NOT include the poet’s name or any other distinguishing mark.
No alterations may be made once an entry has been received, nor fees refunded.
The entry fee is £8.00 for the first poem and £5.00 each for subsequent poems submitted on the same form.
If payment has not been made already online, please send cheque (in pounds sterling) from a UK bank made payable to Arran Theatre and Arts Trust Ltd.
Copyright remains with the author but Arran Theatre and Arts Trust reserves the right to publish winning and shortlisted poems for two years from the date the results are announced.
The judge’s decision is final. Neither the judge nor the organisers will enter into any correspondence. Entry implies acceptance of all the rules and failure to comply will result in disqualification.
Prize winners will be notified individually before 5th August 2023 and invited to read at the award ceremony with Joelle Taylor on the Isle of Arran on Saturday 26th August 2023. Electronic copies of the winning poems will be required from the winners. The results of the competition with copies of the poems will be published on the festival website within one week of the award ceremony.
The competition organisers reserve the right to change the judge if necessary and not to award prizes if, in the judge’s opinion, such action is justified.