MAGMA POETRY COMPETITION 2024/25
Is now open for entries in both categories

The Judge’s Prize – poems of 11 to 50 lines
The Editors’ Prize – poems of up to 10 lines

Deadline: 31 January 2025 11.59pm GMT

The Editors’ Prize is judged by a panel of Magma Editors and is for poems of up to 10 lines.

The prize money for both competitions is the same, so double your chances and try your luck at both!

• First prize for the Judge’s and Editors’ Prize is £1000, second prize £300 and third prize £150.
• The three prize-winning poems from each category will be published in Magma and there will also be five special mentions for each of the Judge’s Prize and Editors’ Prize categories.
• All winning and commended poems will be published online on the Magma website.
• Winning and commended poets will be invited to read their poems at a Magma Competition event in Spring 2025.

Last years’ winners are published in Magma 89 Performance Issue which you can purchase for £8.50 here.

The entry fees are £5 for the first poem, £4 for the second poem and £3.50 for the third and each subsequent poem.

Magma magazine subscribers benefit from reduced fees: £4 for the first poem, £3 for the second poem, and £2.50 for the third and each subsequent poem. You can subscribe to Magma from £22.00 via our Get Magma page.

HOW TO ENTER VIA SUBMITTABLE

• You may enter as many poems as you like in each category, but you must submit to each category in separate documents.
• Please upload the poems in one document for each category.
• Please name the documents Judge’s Prize or Editors’ Prize as applicable and submit all of the poems for that category in the relevant document.
• Do not include your name or any other identifying marks on the poems themselves.
• Pay for all entries by picking the appropriate payment amount for total poems submitted. Subscriber and non-subscriber entries will be cross-referenced against our subscriber list and incorrectly paid entries may be disqualified. You can subscribe to Magma from £22.00 via our Get Magma page but you must do this before you enter.
• The competition closes at 11.59pm GMT on 31 January 2025.

HOW TO ENTER BY POST

• Please download and print the entry form here: Magma Poetry Competition 24_25 Postal Entry Form.
• Post your poems with the completed entry form together with your payment to Magma Poetry Competition, 1 Winton Ave, London N11 2AS.
• Payment must be made in sterling, by cheque or money order payable to “Magma Poetry”.
• Each poem must be on a separate sheet. Poems longer than one page must show their title on the second page and the pages should be stapled together.
• Do not include your name or any other identifying marks on the poems themselves.

COMPETITION RULES

• No alterations can be made after receipt, nor fees refunded.
• Poems must not have been previously published, self-published or accepted for publication in print or online, broadcast, or have won or been placed in another competition at any time.
• The judge’s and editors’ decisions are final and no correspondence can be entered into.
• No entrant may win more than one prize in each section.
• Should the named judge be unable to proceed, we aim to substitute an alternative judge of equivalent standing as a poet.
• Prizewinners will be notified individually in April 2025. The results will also be published on the Magma Poetry website after the prize-giving event.
• Copyright of each entry remains with the author, but Magma Poetry has the right to first publication of the winning poems in print and/or online within six months of the competition deadline.
• Entry implies acceptance of all the rules. Failure to comply with the rules will result in disqualification.

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PAST COMPETITIONS

Magma Poetry is delighted to announce the results of the 2023/24 Poetry Competition.

Raymond Antrobus and the panel of Magma Editors read over 3,500 poems. Congratulations to all the winning and commended poets and huge thanks to everyone entering the competition and for your continuing support of Magma.

Read the all winning and commended poems as well as the judging reports here:

Magma Poetry Competition: Winning and Commended Poems 

JUDGE’S PRIZE judged by Raymond Antrobus, for poems of 11-50 lines

• FIRST PRIZE: For Palestine by Clara-Læïla Laudette
• SECOND PRIZE: Toussaint L’Ouverture Replies to Wordsworth (March 1803) by Rommi Smith
• THIRD PRIZE: Please Refrain From Speculating by Leyla Çolpan

COMMENDED:

• Anthros by JA Lenton
• Faint by Amelia Loulli
• Brogue by Éadaoín Lynch
• Watching by Linda McDonald
• spell to dismantle the patriarchy by Lynnda Wardle

EDITORS’ PRIZE judged by Magma Editors, for poems of up to 10 lines

• FIRST PRIZE: Scapa Flow by Catherine Spooner
• SECOND PRIZE: Temporary Worker Visa by Anne Rouse
• THIRD PRIZE: The Beauty Here Is Almost Unbearable by Millie Guille

COMMENDED:

• Leaves, Their Whole Lives, Dangle by Sharon Black
• My Unborn by Jo Cornwell
• The Goat in Tehran by Hilary McDaniel
• ache by Kayla Marie Troy
• Transparency by John White

The three winning poems in each competition will be published in Magma 89, Performance and all winning and commended poems plus the judges’ reports online in a downloadable PDF, available when the issue launches this July.

Magma Poetry Competition 2019/20
Winning and Commended Poems

We are delighted to share the winning and commended poems from the Magma Poetry Competition 2019/20!

Click on the link below to read the poems:

Magma Poetry Competition 2019/20 Winning and Commended Poems

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Magma Poetry Competition 2019/20 — Winners Announced