Strokestown Poetry Competitions 2018
Strokestown International Poetry Festival (May 3rd – 7th 2018) has three major poetry
competitions now open for on-line or postal entries until December 1st 2017.
Strokestown is Ireland’s longest-running poetry festival, and has a reputation for
friendly informality, twinned with deep respect for poetry, poets and poetry lovers.
• Moya Cannon and Harry Clifton will judge the Strokestown International
Poetry Prize for a poem in English, which carries a prize of €2000, plus a weeklong
retreat at Anam Cara Writer’s and Artist’s Retreat. Second prize is €700
and third prize is €500. Five shortlisted poets will each be invited to read, will
receive a €300 reading fee, and be published in an anthology. Entry is €6 per
poem, with a free entry for every five paid for, maximum of 70 lines each, on
any subject.
• Duais de hÍde, which carries a prize of €600 for a poem in Irish, will be judged
by Pádraig MacFhearghusa. There is also a 2nd Prize of € 400 and a 3rd Prize
of € 300, with reading fees of €200 for three shortlisted poets.
• The Percy French Prize for humorous poetry will be judged by Margaret
Hickey with a first prize of €300. A reading fee of €100 will be given to seven
shortlisted poets.
* All entries are read by the judges – no filters!
Winners announced at the Festival
A festival anthology will be published, in which poems from shortlisted entrants for
the International Prize and the Duais de hÍde will feature alongside the work of the
judges and other poets who will read at the 2018 festival.
An additional competition for poets with local connections, The Roscommon Poets’
Competition, will be launched on January 8th 2018.