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

Candlestick Press

Competitions

Poetry competition

‘Wonky Animals’

Wonky Animals

We’re looking for five brand new poems to appear in a pamphlet to be published in 2023. Ten Poems about Wonky Animals will contain a poem by each of the Wonky Animals Poets (Anna Barker, Kathryn Bevis, Jane Burn, Tania Hershman, Clare Shaw) leaving five slots available to be filled by YOU!

Timeline

Submissions close midnight on Sunday 30th April 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 It must also be new, unpublished, and not currently submitted elsewhere.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 should be written in English with a clear link to animals as the subject matter.

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 1st March – 30th April 2023 will qualify for entry. Each purchase entitles you to enter two poems.

You might want to have a look at existing pamphlets in the Animals category for inspiration and to discover the sort of poems we’re looking for.

Email your poems as separate Word docs or PDF files to [mailto link=”wonkies@csp-category-update.craigtwigg.me” text=”wonkies@csp-category-update.craigtwigg.me” subject=”Wonky Animals 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 five 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.

Charity support

Candlestick Press will make a donation from the sale of each copy of Ten Poems about Wonky Animals to livestock sanctuary Manor Farm Charitable Trust.

Judges

Entries will be judged by the Candlestick editorial team Di Slaney and Kathy Towers, and the Wonky Animals Poetry Collective. The judges’ decision is final, and no correspondence will be entered into. The winner will be notified by email by 22nd May 2023 and announced via social media on or before 30th May 2023.

Good luck! We look forward to reading your entries.

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

Download details

Winners & Shortlist

‘Poems of Kindness Postcard’

Kindness

Thank you to all the poets who entered our competition run in association with Fair Saturday Scotland. We received more than 500 wonderful poems from all over the world, celebrating kindness in its many and varied guises. We really were spoilt for choice and would have liked to be able to pick more winners!

In the end, we chose two joint winners and both poems will be produced as special limited edition postcards to be included with our Ten Poems of Kindness pamphlet edited by Jackie Kay.

But there’s more…! Because there were so many fantastic entries, we’ve decided to publish the ten highly commended poems in a brand new title Ten Poems of Kindness Volume Two. Both pamphlets will be available in early summer.

Congratulations to the two winners and to the ten highly commended poets.

  • Winners
  • Olga Dermott-Bond – ‘small change’
  • Zoe Green – ‘Some Words from my Imaginary Friend, Jeff’
  • Shortlist
  • Ali Rowland
  • Chitra Kalyani
  • Frances Thompson
  • Harriet Truscott
  • Jane Burn
  • Jennifer Clark
  • Louise Greig
  • Michelle Diaz
  • Paul McDonald
  • Phoebe Robertshaw

Previous Results