The 2027 Poetry Business Pamphlet Competition is now open.

The Poetry Business is delighted to announce that we will be running our usual Book and Pamphlet Competition as two separate strands this year: The Poetry Business Pamphlet Competition and the 40th Anniversary Collection Competition. This will allow us to publish our competition-winning pamphlets as usual and to publish a full collection by the winner of the collection competition.

The 2027 Poetry Business Pamphlet Competition is open internationally to all writers at any stage in their careers. The two winning pamphlets are beautifully produced and promoted widely, and entered for all eligible awards and prizes. They are also sold in bookshops throughout the UK and through online stockists of The Poetry Business publications. We are delighted that this year’s pamphlet competition will be judged by Andrew McMillan.

Our long-standing International Book & Pamphlet Competition will return next year. The Book & Pamphlet Competition was the first of its kind in Britain and has launched the careers of many well-established and successful poets, including Selima Hill, Michael Laskey, Daljit Nagra, Pascale Petit, Catherine Smith and Kim Moore.

Competition Details

Entrants are invited to submit a collection of 20 pages of poetry. Two winners will be selected by the judge for publication under our award-winning imprint Smith|Doorstop Books. The two winners will also receive £500 each, publication in The North magazine, and readings at The Wordsworth Trust and online. Two runners-up will receive publication in a feature in The North magazine, an online reading and an honorarium of £100 each.

The two winners will receive expert close editing and support in extending their entry if they wish to up to 28 pages for pamphlet publication.

Full-price entry is £25. Subscribers to The North, Friends of the Poetry Business, and members of the Poetry Society are eligible for the discounted fee of £22. Entrants who also wish to enter the 40^th Anniversary Collection Competition may purchase a combined entry for £50.

We are keen to encourage poetry from all backgrounds and at this difficult time know that entry fees may be a barrier. Therefore, we are allocating a number of free entries to this year’s Pamphlet Competition. Apply for the entry fee waiver here. (Applications for the fee waiver must be received by 14 October 2026.)

The deadline for entries is midnight on Wednesday 4 November 2026.

Enter the competition

The Judge: Andrew McMillan

Andrew McMillan is the author of three poetry collections, a novel and the co-editor of the anthology 100 Queer Poems. His work has been widely translated across Europe, and has won the Guardian First Book Award, the only poetry collection to ever do so, as well as a Somerset Maugham Award, an Eric Gregory Award, the Polari Prize and a Northern Writers’ Award, amongst others. He has been shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize, The Forward Prizes and the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year. He is Professor of Contemporary Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University and a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He was appointed an MBE for Services to Literature in 2026. A fourth collection, partings, will be published in February 2027.

Ann and Peter Sansom are directors of The Poetry Business and editors of The North magazine and Smith|Doorstop books. Ann’s publications include Romance and In Praise of Men & Other People (Bloodaxe) and Peter’s include Writing Poems (Bloodaxe) and Selected Poems (Carcanet).

See the 2025 winners here.

Each and every year The Poetry Business Book & Pamphlet Competition discovers and publishes exciting and substantial new poets…There’s no doubt that this is a career-changing poetry competition. If you’ve got a solid body of work that you’re pleased to have written, there’s nowhere better to send it.
The Poetry Trust

One of the career milestones for very many poets of note
Anne-Marie Fyfe

I’ve judged a lot of contests, but I can’t recall any where the quality of the poems – one manuscript after another – was so high
Billy Collins, 2015 competition judge

Terms and Conditions

Entering the competition

The competition is open to anyone aged 18 and over at the time of entering. International entries are welcome.
We accept simultaneous competition submissions, including to our own Collection Competition. Furthermore, if an entrant to the International Book & Pamphlet Competition wins another pamphlet prize before the results are announced, The Poetry Business will issue a full refund of the entrant’s entry fee.
There is a standard fee of £25 for each entry submitted. This is reduced to £22 for entrants who are subscribers to The North magazine, are Friends of the Poetry Business or current members of the Poetry Society.
Entry fee waivers are available for those who cannot afford the entry fee. Please see the competition web page for more details. Applications for the fee waiver must be received by 14th October.
You may submit as many entries as you wish.
Your real name must not appear anywhere on the manuscript. Choose a pen name and a title for your collection and insert into header of each page of your document.
Online entries must complete the online entry form in full, and automatic confirmation will be provided at the time of submission. Online entries are encouraged, however postal entries can be made and must be accompanied by a completed entry form.
Entries can be submitted online up to 11:59pm on 04/11/2026. Postal entries must be postmarked on or before the deadline.
Alternations to manuscripts cannot be made once submitted.
Previous winners of The Poetry Business Book & Pamphlet Competition are not eligible to re-enter within 5 years of winning. This does not include runners up or highly commended entrants, who are able to re-enter in subsequent years.
We may use the email address you provide to contact you about the International Book & Pamphlet Competition, including the outcome of your entry. You can request to stop receiving updates from us at any time by contacting office@poetrybusiness.co.uk.

Your work

We ask for small collections of 20 pages of poems. Poems can be any length, more than one poem can be included on one page, and long poems can cover several pages.
The poems should be for adults, in English.
Poems must be the original work of the entrant. AI-generated work is prohibited.
We recommend you use a 12pt font, however there are no rules about the font, spacing or layout to use.
Poems may have been published elsewhere but must not have previously appeared as a published collection.
Copyright remains with the authors, but The Poetry Business reserves the right to first UK publication of the collection for 12 months from publication. (This doesn’t prevent publication elsewhere of individual poems.)
We are unable to offer individual feedback.

The prizes

Winners will have a pamphlet published and receive an equal share of the £1000 cash prize.
The Poetry Business reserves the right to refuse publication to any competition winner on reasonable grounds.
All winners will have the opportunity to read their work at a poetry reading organised by The Poetry Business shortly before (or after) publication of their title.
Each winning poet will have at least one of their poems published in the issue of The North magazine that immediately follows the announcement of the results.

The judging

All entries are considered anonymously by the judges.
The judges’ decision is final. If in the judges’ opinion no collection achieves a high enough standard, no prize-winner will be chosen.
We reserve the right to change the panel of judges without notice.
Entry in the competition will be deemed to be acceptance of these conditions.

The Poetry Business Pamphlet Competition