Young poets urged to enter festival contest
By Laura Linham 6th Jul 2026
Young rappers, rhymers and versifiers have until 5 pm on Friday, 31 July, to enter the Wells Festival of Literature Young Poets competition. The contest is open to anyone aged between 16 and 22.
The top prize is £200, with £150 for second place and £100 for third. All three winners will also receive a year's membership to The Poetry Society.
Entrants may submit up to three poems for the Young Poets award. Each poem must be no more than 40 lines long, with entries judged by award-winning poet Julia Webb.
The competition is one of four categories run each year by the festival, alongside Open Poetry, Short Story and Book for Children. Entries for those first three categories closed at the end of June, but young poets have an extra month to allow for summer exams.
The festival says its competitions carry prizes totalling £5,000 and attract hundreds of entries from around the world. Winners in all four categories will be announced at a poetry reading and prize-giving ceremony at Cedars Hall in Wells at 2 pm on Monday, 19 October.
Full details on how to enter are available through the competitions section of the Wells Festival of Literature website. Entrants should check the rules and terms before submitting their work.
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