AN ANNUAL poetry competition celebrating the best in new writing for 2020 has been launched.

The Winchester Poetry Prize is organised by the Winchester Poetry Festival and is open to poets from around the world.

This year’s entries will be judged by Andrew McMillan, whose first collection, physical, was the only poetry collection to ever win The Guardian First Book Award and was the Poet in Residence at Basingstoke Discovery Centre in 2012. He is also a senior lecturer in the Manchester Writing School.

The winner will be announced at the Winchester Poetry Festival, which takes place from October 8 to 12.

First prize is £1,000, second prize is £500, and third prize is £250.

There will also be a prize for the best poem written by a Hampshire-based poet.

Stephen Boyce, chair of Winchester Poetry Festival, said: “The Winchester Poetry Prize is a well-respected and cherished annual event in our calendar. We are looking forward to seeing all the entries come in over the next few months and wish everyone entering, the very best of luck.”

The competition is for original, unpublished poems of up to 40 lines on any subject and in any form or style. Poems should be in English, must be the entrant’s own work and should not have been published or accepted for publication elsewhere (including online), should not have won another poetry competition or be the translated work of another poet.

Closing date is July 31 2020. More details can be found at www.winchesterpoetryfestival.org/prize.

The Winchester Poetry Prize has been sponsored by Paris Smith and the prize for the best poem by a poet living in Hampshire is kindly donated by Warren & Son.