NATIONAL POETRY COMPETITION 2024
Poetry Festival Singapore (PFS) is calling all aspiring poets! This is your chance to compete in the National Poetry Competition 2024 and have your voice ring out at a poetry marathon. The writers of the winning entries will have the opportunity to perform them at a poetry marathon from July 26 to 28 at the National Library or The Arts House.
Submission Deadline: May 31, 2024
Categories: Super Junior (10 to 13 years old), Junior (14 to 17 years old) and Senior (18 years old or above)
Length: Up to 40 lines
Language: English, Chinese, Malay or Tamil. The poems are evaluated by published poets in their respective mother tongues. English translations are required only for public performance at PFS or possible publication.
Theme: Un.bound
Entries could be sent in Word and PDF formats.
Competition Rules
1. The competition is open to citizens and permanent residents of Singapore.
2. The closing date of the competition is midnight on 31 May 2024.
3. Each participant is encouraged to submit his or her best poem, which should be unpublished (in print or on the Net) and not submitted simultaneously to another competition. If more than one work is submitted, the first submission will be the only one eligible.
4. All poems must have a title and must not exceed 40 lines in length (excluding title). Entries must be on an interpretation of the theme “Un.bound.” Send your entry at or before midnight on 31 May 2024 via an online form in Word and pdf formats. Watch this space for the submission site url.
5. All entries will be evaluated anonymously by the judges.
6. Entries must be accompanied by the online Entry Form, which is to be duly and factually completed.
7. Entries will not be returned, so keep your own copy.
8. Under no circumstances can changes be made to poems once submitted.
9. Entries made via the website will receive a confirmation of submission.
10. The National Poetry Competition staff will be unable to confirm the content of documents submitted online, so please ensure you send the correct file.
11. The competition organisers reserve the right to change the judging panel without notice and not to award prizes if, in the judges’ opinion, no entry deserves a prize.
12. The judges’ decision is final and neither the judges nor the National Poetry Competition staff will enter into any correspondence.
13. No current member of the National Poetry Competition’s steering committee is eligible to enter the National Poetry Competition.
14. Poems must be the original work of the entrant.
15. Entries should be typed and printed in black ink at a minimum type size of 12pt. Entries can be double- or single-spaced. Entries must be submitted in Word and pdf files.
16. There is no fee required to participate in this competition.
17. The top winners will be notified by the end of June and invited to a poetry mararhon from July 26 to 28. All winners will be required to provide a biography, a photograph and an English translation of their work for a public reading.
18. The copyright of each poem remains with the writer. However, writers of the top poems, by entering the competition, grant Poetry Festival (Singapore) the right to publish and/or broadcast their poems.
Prizes:
The winners in each age group and language category will be awarded the following prizes:
S$300 in book vouchers for the Chandran Nair Award, S$200 in book vouchers for 2nd place, and S$100 in book vouchers for 3rd place plus poetry books for the junior and senior categories; S$100 for one winner each in the mother tongues for the super junior category and certificates for merit winners.