Rules for the York Literature Festival / York Mix Poetry Competition 2018
Here are the rules for the 2018 York Literature Festival / York Mix Poetry Competition.
1. Poems must be in English, and may be on any subject.
2. Poems must be the entrant’s original work and not previously published in a collection or anthology, newspaper or poetry magazine. Work that has been posted in a closed poetry group online, or a personal blog online are eligible. Poems that have been broadcast on radio or podcasted online are not allowed.
3. Poems must not be longer than 40 lines of text, and must fit on a single A4 page. Poems must show the title and poem only. The poet’s name must not appear on the work. Poems may not be amended or edited after submission
4. Poems must be submitted via the official form on the entry page. Attachments must be in one of the following formats: Word (.doc or .docx), Text, Simpletext or TextEdit, Pages or PDF. Postal entries are not encouraged, but will be allowed in special circumstances. See note below. Payment is online via PayPal. To pay by PayPal you do not need a PayPal account. All major credit cards are accepted. Just follow the instructions on the entry form.
5. Poets may enter as many poems as they wish. The minimum entry fee is £6 for a single poem; £15 for up to two or three; £17.50 for four; £20 for five. There is no limit to the number of poems that can be submitted.
6. Acknowledgement of entries: When your entry payment is complete, PayPal will assign a transaction number to the payment; receipt of a transaction number is official confirmation of your entry. Entrants will also receive a formal confirmation of entry when their poems are forwarded (anonymously) to the judge. As poems are forwarded for judging in batches, this latter acknowledgement may be sent up to ten days after submission of poems. Late entries (made within seven days of the closing date) might not receive acknowledgement until after the closing date.
7. No poet may win more than one cash prize.
8. Closing date: Deadline is midnight on Sunday, February 25, 2018.
9. The competition is open to anybody aged 18 or over, and whose principal address is in the British Isles (including the Republic of Ireland and BFPO addresses). Non-UK citizens currently resident in the UK are eligible to enter (e.g. overseas students attending a UK educational establishment). Entries from outside the British Isles will not be eligible
10. Copyright in submitted poems remains with the author. Entrants agree to allow their poems to be featured fee-free on YorkMix.com, and the website of York Literature Festival. Winning and commended poems may not be published elsewhere before May 1, 2018, without the permission of the organisers.
11. Prize-winning and commended poems may be used by the organisers in publicity or promotional material that is relevant to the festival or by YorkMix.com in their poetry coverage.
12. York Literature Festival Committee members, and performers listed in the Festival programme, are not eligible to enter.
13. Winners will receive payment by cheque.
14. The judge’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
15. Entrants agree to have their email address added to the York Literature Festival and YorkMix.com mailing list, but can unsubscribe at any time.
16. The judge, Andrew McMillan, will read all entries; the entries will be presented to the judge anonymously.
17. A shortlist of poem titles will be published on or soon after March 6, 2018. Shortlisted authors will be contacted by email. Prizewinners and commended poets will be contacted (by email) on or soon after March 13, 2018. All prize-winning or commended entrants will be invited to a special prize-giving event, aboard a York River Cruiser in York, on Sunday, March 25.
18. Any queries and the organisers’ response may be posted on YorkMix if it is deemed helpful to other entrants.
19. Entry implies acceptance of all rules.
20. The organisers reserve the right to amend or update the rules at any time.
Postal entries
Postal entries are not encouraged, as they add significantly to processing time and costs.
However, at the discretion of the competition organisers, entrants who encounter significant problems with the online entry or payment procedure may be allowed a postal entry.
If you need to make a postal entry, first write to the organisers by email: contact us on [email protected] with the words Poetry Competition in the Subject header.
There is a minimum entry fee of £20 for cheque payments (covering up to a five-poem entry). No postal entry will be accepted after the last post delivery of February 22.