Poetry Competition

Submission Details & Rules

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1. The competition is open to anyone over the age of 18 writing in English who lives in the British Isles.

2. Entry fee is £10 for a maximum of three poems per person. Strictly only one entry per person. Payment must accompany entries.

3. The poems can be on any subject but should not exceed 40 lines, excluding title and line spacing.

4. Work submitted should be original and not have been previously published nor broadcast, nor have won a prize in another competition. The poems should not be under consideration for publication or prizes elsewhere.

5. The prize is The Mary Manson Trophy - a quaich engraved with the winner’s name, £250 cash, plus £250 to be spent in the Highland Bookshop, Fort William or on their website. The Highland Bookshop are also donating a bottle of whisky.

6. Entries close at midday July 1st 2023 – no entries will be considered thereafter.

7. The judge’s decision is final. There will be no correspondence or discussion regarding this choice.

8. The winner will be announced on our website and social media on September 1st 2023.

9. The winner will be invited to the prize giving at A Write Highland Hoolie on Saturday 11th November 2023 in the West Highland Hotel, Mallaig.

10. By entering the competition, you agree to A Write Highland Hoolie sharing your work through digital and print medium. Winning entry will also be published in our community newspaper – West Word.

 

 

EMAIL YOUR ENTRY AFTER PAYMENT TO: 

info@a-write-highland-hoolie.com

 

 

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Our judge for 2023 is well-known poet Hugh McMillan http://www.hughmcmillanwriter.co.uk

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Hugh McMillan is a poet from South-West Scotland whose work has been widely published. He has won numerous prizes including, the Callum Macdonald Memorial Award in 2017 for Sheep Penned, published by Roncadora; the same award in 2009 for Postcards from the Hedge. He has been a winner in the Smith/Doorstop Prize, and the Cardiff International Poetry Competition, and has also been shortlisted for both the Michael Marks and the Basil Bunting poetry awards.

Hugh has had nine poetry collections published, and numerous poetry pamphlets. Not Actually Being in Dumfries: New and Selected Poems was published by Luath Press in 2015. His latest collections are Whit If and Heliopolis, both published in 2020. His work is included in many anthologies and has featured three times in the Scottish Poetry Library’s online selection Best Scottish Poems of the Year. His poems have also been chosen three times to feature on National Poetry Day postcards. 

In 2017 he was writer in residence at the Harvard Summer School. In 2020 he was chosen as a Poetry ‘Champion’ for the Scottish Poetry Library, and in 2022 became Editor of the prestigious ‘Best Scottish Poems’ anthology. In 2022 he was appointed a Saltire Society Poetry Judge. In early 2023 he was chosen as poet most likely to offend the Prime Minister and travelled to London to do just that in celebration of Robert Burns at No 10 Downing Street.

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