Verve is Birmingham’s first Festival of Poetry and Spoken Word, coming soon in February 2017 and organised in partnership with Waterstones Birmingham and local publisher the Emma Press.
“We believe that Birmingham deserves its own dedicated poetry and spoken word festival, and we hope Verve will help the people of Birmingham and beyond to celebrate the city’s rich and diverse culture. To kick things off we are excited to announce the very first Verve Poetry Competition. There are both an adult and children category.
(NOTE: Due to this escaping my radar, the closing date is tomorrow! SO WRITE NOW)
There are two categories – one for adults and one for children – and the winning poems will be published in a pair of anthologies, launching at the festival. The judge for the adults’ category is award-winning poet Hannah Silva and the judge for the children’s category is publisher Emma Wright from the Emma Press.
The theme of this year’s competition is ‘Birmingham’ and we’re hoping to find poems which engage with the city as it is today as well as its history and heritage. Entries are welcome from anywhere, both in the UK and abroad, as long as they relate to Birmingham, UK.
Adult prizes:
1st prize: £500
2nd prize: £250
3rd prize: £100
4th prize: £35 Waterstones Voucher
5th prize: £25 Waterstones Voucher
The five prize-winning poems and 25 commended poems will be published by the Emma Press in an anthology (paperback and ebook), which will be launched at Verve Festival on 18th February 2017. Featured poets will be invited to read their poems at the event, and slots will be reserved for the top three prize winners to perform longer readings elsewhere at the festival programme.”
How to Submit
- Pay your entry fee securely through PayPal on their website. It’s £5 for the first poem and £2.50 for each subsequent poem.
- Email competition@vervepoetryfestival.com and attach your poems as a Word document or PDF. Please make sure they are anonymous, i.e. with no name or personal details in the file.
- Include in the body of the email:
Full Name
Paypal Receipt Number
Telephone Number
List of your poem titles
A note of your total entry fees paid
#BrumSciComm 