Comp offers chance to be part of Morecambe Poetry Festival

Friday, 25 July 2025 07:15

By Greg Lambert @greglam72

Budding poets have a chance to have their work published and featured in the annual Morecambe Poetry Festival.

A competition is open to poets from across the globe, and poems of no more than 50 lines on any and every subject are welcome.

The winning poets will be invited to read their poems at Morecambe Poetry Festival in September, and will also be included in this year’s festival anthology.

All the entries will be read by the judging panel chaired by John Hegley, along with Rachel Pantechnicon - a previous winner of the Glastonbury Festival Slam - and performance poet Francesca Beard.

It’s the last chance to enter this week before the deadline of 6pm July 28.

John is appearing at the festival, taking place from September 12-14 and centred around the Winter Gardens, along with Michael Rosen, Clare Ferguson Walker, Henry Normal (below), Nigel Planer, Jan Brierton, Robin Ince and Luke Wright.

First prize in the competition is £300, with a second prize of £125, and three third prizes of £25 each.

In addition, poems sent in by people living in the Morecambe LA3 or LA4 postcodes will also be eligible for the local prize.

Some P words which the judges suggest it might be pleasant to encounter in the entries, along with the Poetic - the Poignant, the Pungent, the Plucky, the Pondering, the Percussive, the Purple, the Pensive, the Practical, the Positive, the Passionate, the Playful, the Phenomenological, the Physical, the political, the Pets and any hand-crafted Pictures.

Poems must not have been previously published in any public forum (either in print or on a website), nor should they be currently submitted for future publication elsewhere. All the winners will be announced on September 1 2025.

“The competition was so popular last year and the standard of entries was really high," said Matt Panesh, festival founder.

"I’m looking forward to seeing what John and his fellow poet judges pick out as our winners.”

Last year’s winner of the local prize, Trystan Lewis, said at the time: “I'd genuinely forgotten how much I love poetry and spoken word performance until I was at the Morecambe Poetry Festival [in 2022].

"The festival was a massive inspiration to me and gave me a whole new direction so I'm really overjoyed to be the Local Winner of the inaugural Morecambe poetry festival competition.”

The competition is being run for the festival by the Poets, Prattlers, and Pandemonialists collective. Full details of terms and conditions and how to enter can be found on their website HERE.

Now in its fourth year, the seaside town’s festival will deliver three nights of wall to wall poetry with the nation’s favourites along with grassroots performances, family activities, workshops, poetry takeovers and open mics.

Established to promote literary arts and community engagement, the festival features performances from the best poets in the country, workshops and open mic sessions, attracting both emerging and established poets.

It provides a platform for diverse voices, fostering creativity and connection among poetry enthusiasts.

The event often includes collaborations with local artists, schools, and cultural organisations.

Weekend passes are available now at £65 plus booking fees for access to every single event and performance including a pre-fest meet up on the 11 September. The full schedule and event tickets will be released at a later date.

Morecambe Poetry Festival is supported by Waterstones, TS Eliot Foundation, Eden Project Communities, Wordsworth Grasmere and Morecambe Town Council.

Tickets are available for the festival from Skiddle HERE