Keats-Shelley Prize 2013

An annual competition for Essays and Poems on Romantic themes

The Keats-Shelley literary Prize, inaugurated in 1998, encourages writers to respond creatively to the work of the Romantics and is promoted extensively through universities, libraries and writing courses.  The competition is open to everyone post secondary school.

Prize Chair 2013 acclaimed novelist Salley Vickers.

·        £4,000 of prize money.

·        The winning poems and essays will be published in The Keats-Shelley Review.

·         The theme for poems in 2013 is Noise.

·        Essays are invited on any aspect of the work and lives of the Romantics and their circle.

·        The competition closes on 30th June.

·        The poems are judged by poets John Hartley-Williams and Matthew Sweeney and the essays by leading Romantic scholars Prof. Simon Bainbridge and Prof. Sharon Ruston.

·        The final selection is made by the Prize Chairman

·        The shortlist will be announced on the KSMA website in August and the winners in October.

George Frederic Watts OM RA (1817-1904) Endymion, c.1903-04 (c) Watts Gallery, Compton       www.wattsgallery.org.uk

Conditions of Entries

1.      Email entries should be sent in Microsoft Word format to [email protected]   Email entries will be acknowledged.

2.      Postal entries should be sent to: Keats-Shelley Prize, c/o Beaufort Montague Harris Solicitors, Old Bank House, 79 Broad Street, Chipping Sodbury BS37 6AD  Send 3 typed A4 copies. Postal entries will not be acknowledged. 

3.      All entries must be accompanied by the completed Entry Form. Please download it here and either email/post.  NB all entries are sent to the judges anonymously so please do not put your name on your actual entry.

4.      Payment: each entry costs £5.00.  You may enter up to two poems and/or two essays.  Cheques should be made payable to KSMA  (not Beaufort Montague Harris) and sent together with your entry to the address above.  If you are entering via email you can post a cheque, please put your name and address on the reverse so it can be linked to your entry, or you can use Paypal, see below.  Please ensure you fill in your Paypal number on the entry form.  Entries from overseas are welcomed, Paypal will be your simplest payment option but you can also send a money order or cash, at your own risk. To make payments through Paypal, please click here.

5.      Poems must not exceed 40 lines.  They should focus on the theme Noise, and they should not be a pastiche.

6.      Essays should not exceed 3,000 words including quotations and should be written in a clear accessible style.  All sources must be acknowledged.

7.      Entries must be unpublished either in print or on-line and original work not previously submitted.  Copyright remains with you but your entry will be deemed as consent to first publication in journals nominated by the KSMA.

8.      Entering the competition will be deemed to indicate full acceptance of all the conditions above.