Candlestick Press – 'Instead of a card' poetry pamphlets | UK based independent publisher

Candlestick Press

Competitions

Winners & Highly Commended

‘Wonky Animals’

Wonky Animals

Thank you to all the poets who entered our competition. We received over 700 poems – a record number of entries – which shows how much poets love wonky animals!

There were so many beautiful, surprising and moving entries that we’ve decided to publish Twenty-One Poems about Wonky Animals. This means the pamphlet will contain the five winning poems as well as the eleven poems that were highly commended by the judges. Poems by the Wonky Animals Poetry Collective will bring the total to a delightfully wonky twenty-one.

Congratulations to the five winners and all the highly commended poets.

  • Winners
  • Leah Larwood – ‘The zoo in my cellar’
  • Linda France – ‘Sighting’
  • Milena Williamson – ‘Echolocation 1943’
  • Rob Miles – ‘To listen for a mouse’
  • Sophia Argyris – ‘Fox names the world’
  • Highly Commended
  • Amber Rollinson – ‘Who could see a tiger’
  • Carole Bromley – ‘Curiosities and Cavorts’ and ‘Smitten’
  • Hannah Stone – ‘Lessons for late-brood hoglets’
  • Johnnie Sparkle – ‘Red dog blues’
  • Juliette Morton – ‘Love Song for Ewe’
  • Mel Pryor – ‘What the herdsman said’ and ‘Sanctuary’
  • Nora Nadjarian – ‘Snailology’
  • Sarah Ziman – ‘Little Wing’
  • Victoria Gatehouse – ‘Conversation with the Mole’

Please do look out for future Candlestick competitions which we publicise via social media and on this page.

Poetry competition

‘A Walk at Christmas’

A Walk at Christmas

We’re looking for six new poems to feature in our festive pamphlet for 2023. A Walk at Christmas will be published in October and will capture those lovely winter excursions through frost and snow (or mud!) that are so much a part of Christmas celebrations. We’re looking for walks in all manner of places – country lanes, city parks, town streets – whether alone or with friends and family. The choice is yours!

Timeline

Submissions close midnight on Friday 30th June 2023.

Poems

Your poem should be no longer than 37 lines, including title and stanza breaks. It must also be new, unpublished, and not currently submitted elsewhere. It must be written in English.

Entries

In order to enter, simply purchase a pamphlet from our website (priced from £5.95 plus postage). Purchases made during the competition entry period 25th May – 30th June 2023 will qualify for entry. Each purchase entitles you to enter two poems.

While you’re there, you might want to have a look at some of our recent Christmas titles to see the sort of poems we’re looking for.

Email your poems as separate Word docs or PDF files to [mailto link=”christmaswalk@csp-category-update.craigtwigg.me” text=”christmaswalk@csp-category-update.craigtwigg.me” subject=”A Walk at Christmas poetry competition entry”] with each poem’s title and your own name as the file names. Please also include your PayPal transaction number, your name, address and a contact telephone number.

There is no limit to how many entries you can make, but each entry of two poems must be accompanied by the PayPal transaction number as proof of purchase.

Prizes

In addition to publication, each of the six winners will receive £75 and 10 copies of the finished pamphlet. No entrant may win more than one prize. Winners retain all rights to their poems.

Judges

Entries will be judged by the Candlestick editorial team, Di Slaney and Kathy Towers. The judges’ decision is final, and no correspondence will be entered into. The winner will be notified by email by 17th July 2023 and announced via social media on or before 31st July 2023.

Good luck! We look forward to reading your entries.

A printable version of these competition details can be downloaded here.

Download details

 

Illustration ‘Winter Walk’ © Jenny Hancock, 2023

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