Main Prize:

The following rules and guidelines apply to each of the above categories.

Please read these carefully before entering your poem.

1. Entrants may submit an unlimited number of poems, in any of the categories.

2. There are two ways for you to enter: by post or online.

For postal entries each poem must be accompanied by a fee of €5/£5 Sterling/$5 US dollars. 5 poems has a fee of €25/£25/$25. See entry form.

Personal cheques, postal orders, bank drafts and international money orders, made payable to Strokestown Poetry Festival, are accepted – but they must be in Euros, Sterling or US dollars only. Entrants wishing to pay in other currencies must enter only through the online method and pay by credit card or Paypal.

For online entries, which can be paid by credit/debit card through PayPal, and by following the simple two step process, the fee per poem is €6. If you intend to enter five poems, you must first pay €30 through PayPal, after which you will receive an ID number. You must then use this number repeatedly with each of your poems, submitting them one by one with our online entry form system.

Please note that we advise all poets to consider the postal method if they favour unusual formatting in their work. The integrity of idiosyncratic spacing, for example, might not be preserved in an online submission.

3. All poems must be the original work of a living author and must not have been previously published, self-published, published on a website or broadcast.

4. Poems sent by post must be clearly printed on A4 paper, using a single sheet for each page of poetry, no double-sided printing.  The poems, and payment, should be firmly attached to a fully completed entry form. The name of the entrant must not appear on the poems themselves. You can download and print a postal entry form here.

5. No alterations can be made to poems once they have been submitted, whether by post or through the online method. We regret that no entries can be returned.

6. The judges’ decisions are final, and no correspondence can be entered into regarding those decisions.

7. The Strokestown Poetry Awards shortlists will be announced in mid-March, and the prizes will be announced and awarded during the Strokestown International Poetry Festival, Co. Roscommon, Ireland, which will take place over the weekend of 3-5 May, 2013.

8. It is a condition of entry that short-listed competitors are prepared to attend the festival weekend. All of the shortlisted poems will be posted on the Strokestown Poetry Festival website after the shortlisted poets are notified.

9. Copyright will remain with the competitor, but Strokestown Community Development Association reserves the right to arrange first publication or broadcast of selected poems as it sees fit.

10. Submission of a poem implies the competitor’s acceptance of the conditions set out above.

11.Entries should arrive no later than 28th February 2014, whether by post or through the online submission method.We are now accepting entries through our online system.