Chancellor’s Poetry Prize 2024 terms and conditions

General

1. The Chancellor’s Poetry Prize 2024: Place is open to any current undergraduate or postgraduate student at Newcastle University.
2. The closing date of the competition is 22 March 2024. All entries must be received by submission to https://forms.office.com/e/R022NUu8BQ by no later than 11.30pm on this date; entries will receive a receipt at the time of submission.
3. Any entries arriving after this time will not be considered. 
4. Entrants may only enter one poem.
5. Entries will not be returned, so please keep a copy. 
6. Under no circumstances can alterations be made to poems once entered. 
7. Entrants may withdraw entries from the competition.
8. Newcastle University will not accept responsibility for competition entries that are lost, mislaid, damaged or delayed in transit, regardless of cause, including (for example) technical malfunction, or systems, network, server or computer hardware or software failure of any kind.
9. Proof of transmission will not be accepted as proof of receipt of entry to the competition.
10. Telephone or email confirmation of receipt is not available. Newcastle University is not able to confirm the content of documents submitted, so please ensure you submit the correct version.
11. The competition organisers reserve the right to change the judging panel without notice and not to award prizes if, in the judges’ opinion, such an action is justified.
12. Due to the number of entrants, we are unable to respond individually to submissions. 
13. The judge’s decision is final, and no correspondence will be entered into concerning this decision.

Poems

1. All entries are judged anonymously, and the poet’s name must not appear on the poem itself – please include only your student number on the poem.
2. All poems must have a title and must be between 10 and 30 lines in length. The title is not included in the line count, nor are any blank spaces to indicate stanza or section breaks. Entries should be on the theme of ‘Place’ - written in any style or form.
3. Poems must be the entrant’s original work. Entries submitted posthumously or on behalf of another person will not be eligible.
4. Entries must not have been published, self-published, published on a website, blog, online forum, nor on social media such as Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, nor broadcast, nor have won or been placed (as in 2nd, 3rd, runner-up, etc.) in any other competition before the deadline.
5. Handwritten and postal entries cannot be accepted.
6. The file type of online entries must be either a .doc, .docx or .pdf.
7. Entries must be written in English. 

Winners

1. The winner of the Chancellor's Poetry Prize will receive £250, paid via bank transfer.
2. Prize-winners will be notified by late April 2024. Only successful entrants will be notified.
3. UK based winners will be invited to read their poem at a celebratory an event on Thursday 2 May 2024. International winners will have the option to record a reading of the poem, or if time zones allow, to join the event via live video link.
4. The winner will also be invited to participate in a Newcastle Poetry Festival event on Saturday 11 May.
5. All winners will be expected to provide a short biography and hi-res photograph. 
6. The copyright of each poem remains with the author. However, authors of the winning poems, by entering the competition, grant University, the right in perpetuity to publish and/or broadcast their poem.

Publicity and Personal Information

1. Personal information (including any photographs) supplied by entrants when entering or winning this competition will only be used by the University for marketing and promotional activities.

 

Student Poetry Prize 2023: Winning Entry

This year current undergraduate and postgraduate Newcastle University students were invited to submit a poem on the theme of bridges, exploring the idea of community and connection. Thank you to everyone who entered.

Entries were judged by Neil Astley, Editor & Managing Director of Bloodaxe Books Ltd, and our Chancellor and award-winning poet, Imtiaz Dharker.

The winner will receive a prize of £250 and the opportunity to read their poem at the Honorary Fellowships Celebration and Newcastle Poetry Festival in May.

Congratulations to:

Michael Brown, MPhil Creative Writing, School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics  Winner for the poem 'Stepping Stones' Michael’s first collection, Where Grown Men Go, was published by Salt in 2019.  In addition, his pamphlets Undersong (2014) and Locations for a Soul (2016) are available from Eyewear Publishing and Templar respectively. His work has recently been published in Magma, Poetry Wales and Poetry News.

The judges also gave commendations to Oenone Thomas (MA Writing Poetry) for 'Nine Bridges' and Roxanne Clarkson (BA English Literature) for 'swings (and roundabouts)'. Runners up will receive a certificate and signed copy of Imtiaz Dharker's book 'Over the Moon’.

Student Poetry Prize 2022: Winning Entries

In July 2022 the University held a formal inauguration ceremony for our chancellor, Imtiaz Dharker.

To mark this momentous occasion, current undergraduate and postgraduate Newcastle University students were invited to submit a poem on the themes of diversity and belonging. Thank you to everyone who submitted a poem.

Entries were judged by Neil Astley, Editor & Managing Director of Bloodaxe Books Ltd, and award-winning Pakistani-British poet, Moniza Alvi.

The winning entries receive a prize of £250 each and the opportunity to read their poems at the Chancellor's Inauguration celebratory dinner. The winning and highly commended entries will also be featured in the poetry pamphlet, given to guests on the day.

Congratulations to:

	Winner for the poem 'Pass' Kitty Martin, MA Writing Poetry, Poetry School   An actor, theatre maker, communications coach, and poet. Drawn to stories hidden in history, Kitty is currently crafting a series of page and found sound poems from family archive and Manchester Jewish Museum’s oral history collection. Her poetry sound installation will premiere at Newcastle University’s forthcoming Arches Sound Project.
	Winner for the poem 'Coastal Home' Michael Brown, MPhil Creative Writing, School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics  Michael’s first collection, Where Grown Men Go, was published by Salt in 2019.  In addition, his pamphlets Undersong (2014) and Locations for a Soul (2016) are available from Eyewear Publishing and Templar respectively.   His work has recently been published in Magma, Poetry Wales and Poetry News.
	Highly Commended for the poem 'Rough' Leanna Thomson, BA (Hons) English Literature, School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics Leanna Thomson is a Cumbrian poet who was shortlisted for the Terry Kelly Poetry Prize in 2020 and published in Newcastle University’s undergraduate anthology this year. She was also Out Of Your Head’s first runner up in April. Leanna’s work draws largely on her own life experiences.

The judges also gave special mentions to: Jim Lloyd, for Home; Amelia Loulli, for Bed Fourteen; and Mary-Jane Holmes, for Geneaolgy.