Magma 2023/24 Poetry Competition

The Magma 2023/24 Poetry Competition 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

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Magma’s 2023/24 poetry competitions are now open for your prize-winning long and short poems.

We are very excited to announce that Raymond Antrobus is the judge for the Judge’s Prize for poems of 11 to 50 lines and he will be reading all entries – there are no sifters. 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.

Raymond Antrobus is the author of To Sweeten Bitter (Out-Spoken Press), The Perseverance (Penned In The Margins), All The Names Given (Picador) and children’s picture book Can Bears Ski? (Walker Books). In 2019 he was a recipient of the Ted Hughes Award; he won the Sunday Times/University of Warwick Young Writer of the Year Award and became the first poet to be awarded the Rathbone Folio Prize. His next collection Signs, Music (Picador) is forthcoming in September 2024.

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First prize for the Judge’s and Editors’ Prize is £1000, second prize £300 and third prize £150. The six prize-winning poems will be published in Magma and there will also be five special mentions for the Judge’s Prize and for the Editors’ Prize. Winning and commended poets will be invited to read their poems at a Magma Competition Event in Spring 2023.

The entry fees are £5 for the first poem, £4 for the second 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, and £2.50 for the third and each subsequent poem. You can subscribe to Magma from £22 via our Get Magma page. The competition closes on 31 January 2023.

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HOW TO ENTER
The quickest and easiest way to enter is via submittable. You’ll be able to upload your poem entries from 1 November 2023 to 31 January 2024, and pay the appropriate entry fee securely by PayPal.

Alternatively, you can post your poems with the completed Magma Competition Magma Competition 2023/24 Entry Form together with your payment.

The entry fees are £5 for the first poem, £4 for the second 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, and £2.50 for the third and each subsequent poem. Payment must be made in sterling, by cheque or money order payable to “Magma Poetry” for postal entries, and via PayPal for online entries. (PayPal can process payments by card as well as from PayPal accounts.)

To subscribe to the magazine, and to take advantage of the reduced price entry to the competition, visit our Get Magma page. You’ll find the latest information about the magazine here, and you’ll be able to purchase a subscription online. Alternatively, please send a cheque for £22 payable to “Magma Poetry” for a year’s subscription (3 issues) to the print magazine, to Magma Distribution, 27 Well Street, Cupar, Fife, KY15 4AX.

POSTAL ENTRIES: Please enclose a Completed Entry form. Each poem must be on a separate sheet. Poems longer than one page must give 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. Postal entries with payment should be sent 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”.

GENERAL:

No alterations can be made after receipt, nor fees refunded.

All poems must be previously unpublished.

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 March/April 2024. The results will also be published on the Magma Poetry website.

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.