Competitions
Discover a wide range of poetry competitions where you can showcase your talent and gain recognition.
Have a poetry competition to share? Submit the details and help others find new opportunities to participate.
Ways of Listening - An Open Call for Writers and Poets
The Black in White Poetry Competition 2026
Welsh Poetry Competition 2026
Wells Festival of Literature's International Open Poetry Competition
The International Gerard Rochford Poetry Prize 2026
Wells Festival of Literature's Young Poets' Competition
Whispering Wisdom's Children and Young People's Poetry Contest 2026
Winchester Poetry Prize 2026
Anthology Poetry Competition 2026
Add your competition
Complete our online form to submit a competition.
Please note that the library does its best to ensure it lists poetry competitions that support the writing community.
All competitions should clearly state the prizes for winning poets and competitions without an external judge may be subject to additional review. All competitions entered through this webform are subject to approval before being posted to the website.
For your visit
National Poetry Library Southbank Centre
The National Poetry Library is open six days a week.
Tuesday, 12 noon – 6pm
Wednesday – Sunday, 12 noon – 8pm
Monday, closed.
Getting here
The National Poetry Library is on Level 5 of our Royal Festival Hall.
Our address is Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX.
The nearest tube stations to us are Waterloo and Embankment; Waterloo is also the nearest train station. And more than 20 different London bus routes pass within 500 metres of our venues. More information on getting here by rail, road or river is available on our Getting here page.
We’re cash-free
Please note that we’re unable to accept cash payments across our venues.
Access
We’re working hard to remove barriers, so that our facilities and events can be accessible to as many people as possible.
All help points, toilets, performance and exhibition spaces at the Southbank Centre are accessible to all, as are the cafes, bars and restaurants. We also have excellent public transport links with step-free access.
All information about booking wheelchair spaces, step-free access, blue badge parking, access maps and guides and other help available whilst you’re here, including details about our Access Scheme, can be found on our Access page.
Study & library use
The library is London’s only space dedicated to poetry study. Visitors studying another subject or looking for a place to work are kindly asked to find an alternative space in the Royal Festival Hall.