Oxford Canal Festival’s inaugural

Poetry Competition 2024

Theme: 'THE WAYS OF WATER'

Judge: Roy McFarlane FRSL, canal laureate

A few words of welcome from our fabulous judge…

Roy McFarlane, canal laureate, welcomes your submissions for the Oxford Canal Festival poetry competition.

All proceeds will be donated towards the restoration of
‘Kilsby’: a theatre boat for Oxford.

The administration of the poetry prize is by volunteers in association with
and with the support of The Writing Well, a transformational writing space.

We’ve opened the flood-gates! Bring us your watery poems, your free-flowing verses, your stormy stanzas, your tranquil tercets. Boaters, walkers, swimmers, canal enthusiasts, dreamers and the observers of the nature of water in all seasons, night or day, these are your stories drawn from the poetic bays of your imagination. 

Tell us in your unique way: send your poems to us by 23:59 on Sunday, July 7th 2024.

This call to collect your water words is for the 2024 Oxford Canal Festival, which celebrates the city’s canal heritage and also has the important duty of raising essential funds for the restoration of a theatre boat for Oxford: ‘Kilsby’. (Lots more information about the restoration project here.) Will you one day perform your poetry on her?

Open to all.

There are three categories for entry:

  • 18+ (Up to 3 poems. Fee: 1 poem £5.00; 2 poems £8.00; 3 poems £10.00)

  • 12–18s (Free to enter – 2 poems max.)

  • Under 12s (Free to enter – 2 poems max.)

ROY’S TOP TIPS FOR POETS SUBMITTING TO COMPETITIONS & MAGAZINES – LINK HERE

We are delighted to announce that the judge this year will be the canal laureate, Roy McFarlane FRSL. He was born in Birmingham of Jamaican parentage and has spent most of his life in Wolverhampton. He has held the roles of Birmingham’s Poet Laureate, Starbucks’ Poet in Residence, and the Birmingham & Midland Institute’s Poet in Residence. Roy’s writing has appeared in magazines and anthologies, including Out of Bounds (Bloodaxe, 2012), and Filigree (Peepal Tree, 2018) and he is the editor of Celebrate Wha? Ten Black British Poets from the Midlands (Smokestack, 2011). His first collection of poems, Beginning With Your Last Breath, was published in 2016, followed by The Healing Next Time (shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Prize and long-listed for the Jhalak Prize) in 2018, and the much-lauded third collection,  Living by Troubled Waters, was published in 2022 (all Nine Arches Press).

We are also delighted that the winning poets of the 18+ category will be offered the opportunity to receive feedback on some of their poetry from multi award-winning Oxfordshire poet Vanessa Lampert (by her generous donation).

The winners of the 18+ category will receive:

First Prize: £100 cash (plus 1 hour Zoom editing and feedback session with local multi-award-winning poet and editor Vanessa Lampert)

Second Prize: £50 cash (plus feedback on 5 poems)

Third Prize: £25 cash (plus feedback on 5 poems)

The winners of the under 12s and 12–18s categories will each receive:

First Prize: £30 book token

Second Prize: £25 book token

Third Prize: £20 book token

We look forward to reading your poems. Good luck!

We recommend all entrants read the Rules and T&Cs carefully before entering (please scroll down). If you have any questions, please see our Competition FAQ boxes for each category below.

Deadline: Sunday 7th July, 2024. 23:59hrs.

Submissions can only be made online through this page. Please read the competition details and Terms & Conditions, and pay (18+ entrants) before you submit. Submissions buttons can be found at the bottom of this page.

Winners will be notified by the first week of September and invited to read at the Canal Festival Spoken Word tent on Saturday 21st September, 2024.

To stay up to date with workshops associated with the poetry competition run by the Writing Well, and for more information on the Spoken Word Tent programme for the Oxford Canal Festival (and other year-round events, workshops and resources), sign up to the mailing list here.

More about the 2024 Oxford Canal Festival here.

Competition FAQs

  • The competition is international, open to poets writing in the English language

    You must be 18 years of age or over to enter the 18+ category

  • Up to a maximum of 3.

  • The closing date is Sunday 7th July 2024 at 23.59 BST.
    Entries will not be accepted after the closing deadline

  • Winners will be announced in the first week of September.

  • We are delighted that feedback on the winning poems of the 18+ category will also be kindly be donated by multi award-winning Oxfordshire poet Vanessa Lampert.

    First Prize: £100 cash (plus 1 hour Zoom editing and feedback session from local multi-award-winning poet and editor Vanessa Lampert)

    Second Prize: £50 cash (plus feedback on 5 poems)

    Third Prize: £25 cash (plus feedback on 5 poems)

    Winners will be invited to perform their work at Oxford Canal Festival, Saturday 21st September 2024 (no expenses can be paid).

    All winners will have their work published on The Oxford Canal Heritage website.

  • One poem costs £5.00

    Two poems cost £8.00

    Three poems cost £10.00

  • No expenses will be paid.

    More information about the Canal Festival can be found here.

The 18+ category

  • The competition is open to poets writing in the English language

    Depending on the category you are choosing to enter, you must be either between ages 12 to 18 years or under the age of 12 years.

  • Up to a maximum of 2.

  • The closing date is Sunday 7th July 2024 at 23.59 BST.
    Entries will not be accepted after the closing deadline

  • Winners will be announced in the first week of September.

  • The winners of both the under 12s and 12-18s categories will each receive:

    First Prize: £30 book token

    Second Prize: £25 book token

    Third Prize: £20 book token

    Winners will be invited to perform their work at Oxford Canal Festival, Saturday 21st September 2024 (no expenses can be paid).

    All winners will have their work published on The Oxford Canal Heritage website.

  • Yes: entry is free

  • No expenses will be paid.

    More information about the Canal Festival can be found here.

The Under 12s, and 12–18s categories

Please read the Terms & Conditions below and then make any relevant payment before submitting your entries

Competition Rules, Terms & Conditions

All entrants must read the competition Rules and Terms & Conditions carefully before entering. If you have any questions please email hello@kateoldfieldwrites.com

    1. For the 18+ category, the competition is open to anyone aged 18 or over at the time of the deadline.

    2. For the 12–18s category, the competition is open to anyone aged 12–18 at the time of the deadline.

    3. For the Under 12s category, the competition is open to anyone under 12 years old at the time of the deadline.

    4. The closing date of the competition for all categories is Sunday 7th July 2024 at 23.59 BST (UK). Entries will not be accepted after the closing deadline.

    5. All entries will be considered anonymously by the judges.

    6. Anyone under 18 years of age must have permission from a guardian or parent to enter (see the submissions form).

    7. For the 18+ category, there is a limit of 3 entries a single entrant can make.

    8. For the 12–18s category, there is a limit of 2 entries a single entrant can make.

    9. For the Under 12s category, there is a limit of 2 entries a single entrant can make.

    10. All applications must be submitted online through the entry form on this page.

    11. Entries will not be returned, so please keep a copy.

    12. Under no circumstances can alterations be made to poems once entered.

    13. An automated acknowledgement of the entry will be sent (please check Spam or Junk folders if you don’t see one).

    14. Telephone confirmation of receipt is not available.

    15. Oxford Canal Festival and The Writing Well volunteers are unable to confirm the content of documents submitted online, so please ensure you send the correct version.

    16. 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.

    17. Only one prize can be awarded per entrant.

    18. The judge’s decision is final. Neither the judge nor Oxford Canal Festival and volunteers will enter into any correspondence.

    19. Oxford Canal Festivals are organised by a team of local volunteers under the auspices of Oxford Canal Festival CIC,  Company number 14774853

    1. All entries are judged anonymously

    2. Please submit each poem as a Word document or PDF file. Each poem must be submitted as a separate document

    3. Each document filename must be named with the poem’s title only (and NOT the poet’s name)

    4. All poems must have a title and must not exceed 40 lines in length. (Titles, epigraphs, line spaces between stanzas and dedications are not counted as lines.)

    5. Entries should respond in the poet’s own unique voice to the theme this year: ‘The Ways of Water’.

    6. Poems must be in English.

    7. Poems must be the entrant’s original work. AI-generated work is prohibited.

    8. Entries must not have been published, self-published, published on a website or made public on social media, broadcast or featured among the winners in another competition before 21st September 2024.

    9. Entries not complying with competition rules will be disqualified.

    1. IMPORTANT: BEFORE SUBMITTING ENTRIES ENTRANTS MUST PAY RELEVANT FEES.
      PLEASE USE YOUR NAME AS A REFERENCE WHEN MAKING YOUR PAYMENT

      BACS details:

      Oxford Canal Festival CIC
      Nat West
      Sort code 51-70-15
      Account no 85727474

    2. 18+ category. The first poem in a submission costs £5. For two poems in the same submission total cost £8. For a maximum of 3 poems in the same submission total cost £10.

    3. 12–18s category. Free to enter up to a maximum of 2 poems.

    4. Under 12s category. Free to enter up to a maximum of 2 poems.

    1. Prizewinners will be notified by the first week of September 2024 and invited to the Canal Festival on Saturday 21st September 2024. (No expenses will be paid.) All winners of the 18+ category will be expected to provide a biography and photograph.

    2. Due to the volume of entries, only successful entrants will be notified. Details of the full winners list will be announced publicly on The Writing Well website and the Oxford Canal Heritage website in September 2024.

    3. The copyright of each poem remains with the author. However, authors of the winning poems, by entering the competition, grant The Oxford Canal Festival and The Oxford Canal Heritage website the right in perpetuity to publish and/or broadcast their poem. Use of the poems elsewhere for one year from September 2024 is subject to permission from The Oxford Canal Festival Committee.

Roy’s Top 5 Tips for Poetry Submissions

#1: Read and follow the rules!

“It’s heart-breaking “My first thought is about the rules and conditions that go with poetry competitions. The same advice to read the rules applies if you are going to submit to a poetry magazine.

It’s so important to read the rules through, and to follow them; if the organisers ask for no more than, say, 40 lines, or if the rules state not to include your your name on the page with your poem, it is essential to do so. It’s heartbreaking for the judges to throw the poem out – even if it is brilliant – just because you didn't follow the rules.

And please do not try to shoehorn a poem into a competition or magazine’s theme – no matter how magical that poem is.

We want poems that are natural but equally that follow the rules and the conditions set.

So, as a reminder, this one wants poems that relate somehow to water!

Good luck and don’t forget the deadline is the 7th July.”

Roy McFarlane, canal laureate and our competition judge gives us great advice for poetry submissions (whether it's for our competition or for magazines). Take heed and get those submissions in!