Winchester Poetry Festival opens its globally recognised Winchester Poetry Prize for 2026.
Winchester Poetry Festival invites writers from around the globe to submit their finest, unpublished poems to be in with a chance of winning £1000 in the annual Winchester Poetry Prize.
Established in 2016, this literary competition has grown in stature, with poets at all stages of their careers hoping that this year their poems might light a spark with the competition judge.
Reading every eligible poem entered into the competition, and judging which poems are outstanding, is award-winning writer Julia Copus.
Julia Copus (pictured) says: “Poems begin in attentiveness – to language, to experience, but most of all to those moments when, as Adam Zagajewski wrote, the things of the world “vibrate with mysterious meanings”, revealing more than we thought we knew. In a distracted age, that kind of attention is a gift, even an act of resistance.
“Trust what compels you.
“It’s an honour to be judging this year’s Winchester Poetry Prize, and I look forward to encountering whatever it is – large or small, momentous or apparently ordinary – that has held your attention long enough to become a poem.”
The first prize is £1000, second prize is £500 and third prize is £250. Poets based in Hampshire are automatically entered into the Kathryn Bevis Prize category. All longlisted poets are invited to read their poems at an exciting prize-giving ceremony as part of Winchester Poetry Day on Saturday 10th October. All longlisted poems will be published in a printed anthology available on the day.
The Kathryn Bevis Prize aims to celebrate Kathryn Bevis’ legacy as a significant poetic voice from Hampshire, whilst providing a prize that will nurture and support the winner. The Kathryn Bevis Prize winner will receive a package of writing tuition courtesy of The Writing School Online alongside a cash prize of £150.
Winchester Poetry Prize 2025 received 2284 entries, from 34 countries including Serbia, Singapore, Sweden and the States. 338 of these were from Hampshire and were entered into the Kathryn Bevis Prize category. The winner was Olivia Tuck with the poem ‘Child With A Lighthouse’.
Oliva Tuck said: “Winning the Winchester Prize has transformed my confidence as a writer. It’s given me such validation and motivated me to get back to my keyboard. More than this, however, I’m immensely proud to have won first prize among so many utterly extraordinary poems written by poets I deeply respect and admire, and to have been given this amazing part in such a special festival: vibrant, warm, and inclusive. What an honour.”
Poems entered into Winchester Poetry Prize 2026 can be on any subject, and in any form or style, but must be written in English, previously unpublished, and no more than 40 lines in length.
Further details, including guidelines and how to enter can be found here: winchesterpoetryfestival.org/prize
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