Can You Write Our Poem of the Festival?
We want EVERYONE who attends VERVE Poetry Festival to feel like they belong, that they are welcome and accepted. In an era when we all move about so much, do we every really belong anywhere? Is it about the places we go, the towns and cities we live in, the countries old and new that we call home? Is it our people, our tribe, the things that unite us, the differences that are not only accepted but admired or cherished.
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What does BELONGING mean to you? Where is it? What does it look like?
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Do you BELONG, or is it something you find yourself looking at from the outside?
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How strong do the connections we seek to make need to be? Can too much BELONGING become stifling?
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How to BELONG and yet stay definitively, pungently yourself?
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As you write about BELONGING what about your reader - do you want them to feel they belong too?
How will the poem you write BELONG in the current poetry environment? Or perhaps another poetic epoch appeals? Whatever the way, we can't wait to see your poems on the theme of BELONGING!
POEM OF THE FESTIVAL
COMPETITION: with judge Sarah Howe
THEME: 'BELONGING'
SARAH HOWE
VERVE Poetry Festival 2027 Judge
Sarah Howe is a British poet, academic and editor. Born in Hong Kong to an English father and Chinese mother, she moved to England as a child. Her pamphlet, A Certain Chinese Encyclopedia, won an Eric Gregory Award, and her first collection, Loop of Jade (Chatto & Windus, 2015), won the T.S. Eliot Prize and the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, and was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. In 2014, she co-founded Prac Crit, an online journal of poetry and criticism. She is currently the Poetry Editor at Chatto & Windus and an Honorary Visiting Professor at the University of Liverpool. Her most recent collection is Foretokens (Chatto, 2025) which is shortlisted for the Forward Prize.
COMPETITION OPENS: OCTOBER 1st
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: NOVEMBER 30th
CATEGORIES: ADULTS / YOUNG PEOPLE AGED 11-17
ENTRY FEE: ADULTS ONLY. First poem £6, 3 for £14,
or 5 for £20
SUBMIT HERE (RULES BELOW)
SARAH SAYS:
'I am so honoured and excited to be the judge of this year's VERVE Poetry competition. Belonging can sound like a settled thing: a place, a people, a language in which we feel entirely at home. Yet poems often begin where that certainty falters – where home becomes partly memory, partly invention, or when an accent, name or familiar landscape is suddenly made strange. For this competition, I hope poets will interpret the theme as freely and obliquely as they need. I’ll be looking for poems whose writer has let them have their head, following where they need to go, however unexpected. And I do hope to encounter poems that surprise me – whether they find belonging in a body, family, community or place, or ask difficult questions about who is permitted to say ‘we’, and who that word might leave outside.
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WHY PARTICIPATE
CASH PRIZES
(ADULTS ONLY) First Prize of £500, second £250, third £100. It's not just about recognition; you'll have the chance to fund your next creative project! The winning poem becomes our Poem of the Festival!
PUBLICATION OPPORTUNITY
Selected poems will be published in our competition anthology, allowing your words to reach an even broader readership. Includes prize-winners, 21 commended poems and 10 selected 11-17 yearold poets.
READ YOUR POEM AT THE FESTIVAL
ALL poets featured in our anthology will be invited to attend the festival and read their poem at an event hosted by judge Sarah Howe! They will also be given a FREE Sunday Pass to attend the other events on the day. (Unfortunately we aren't able to pay your travel to get to the festival).
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WORKSHOP
(11-17 Year-olds Only) Free entry to our Young Writers Mini Festival on that same Sunday OR for those who can't attend the festival, access to an online version of the workshops involved.
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​RECOGNITION
Get your work in front of an esteemed poet and wider audience. Our judges are experienced poets and literary professionals who are eager to discover fresh voices.
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CONNECTION
Connect with fellow poets and poetry lovers through our vibrant poetry community. Share ideas, collaborate, and immerse yourself in the world of verse.​​
COMPETITION RULES
The deadline for entry is midnight on 30th NOVEMBER 2026. Winners Announced January 10th!
Poems must be no more than 80 lines long excluding title, and be typed on A4 paper, either as a Word doc or PDF. For multiple entries, please send each in a separate document.
Entries much not contain the poet's name either within the document or as a title. Please label your document with the title of the poem only.
The adult competition is open to those aged 16+. The FREE to enter Young Person's comp is for 11-17 yearolds.
Poems must be majority in English, unpublished and your original work/s. ALL poems will be read and judged anonymously by our 2026 Judge Sarah Howe.
Poems cannot be altered after submission. The judge’s decisions are final. No person may win more than one prize.
The copyright of each poem remains with the author, although the organisers have the right to publish winning and commended poems on our website, on online social media and in our competition anthology.
There are three cash prizes: £500 for first place, £250 for second place and £100 for third place, for the adult competition only.
The prize for ten selected 11-17 poets is to attend our young poets' mini childrens' festival or a zoom equivalent later in the year.
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All winning, commended and selected 11-17 poems will feature in our competition anthology and poets will be invited to attend our Sunday festival (free Sunday event ticket provided) to read their poem at our Competition Event hosted by Sarah herself.
(We cannot pay for your travel to the festival or provide accommodation for this)​