INDIGO SPRING POETRY PRIZE 2025

PRIZES

1st £250; 2nd £100; 3rd £50 plus magazine publication.

CLOSING DATE: 30th APRIL 2025

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

OUR JUDGE

1. The competition is open to anyone aged 16 or over.

2. Poems must be your own work on any subject and not have been previously published in any public form, nor be available for future prize consideration or publication elsewhere, prior to results announcement.

3. Entries should be typed, single spaced, in 11 pt Word doc or Rich Text Font - No PDF please.

4. Entries are judged anonymously so poems must not bear any identifying marks. Any entry with identifying marks will be automatically disqualified.

5. EMAIL: Send to competitions@indigodreams.co.uk ONLY. No other email address may be used. Subject Heading: Spring Poetry Prize This Subject Heading with exact wording and capitalisation, is essential for anonymity procedure. Send one email with Name, Address and PayPal transaction number. List the titles of poems submitted. Attach poem(s) to your email with titles, but no name or identifying marks. Each poem must be on a separate page. Any identifying marks will automatically disqualify the entry.

6. POST: Enclose poems with titles but no identifying marks. In a separate enclosed envelope add a note with Name, Address and title of poem(s) and cheque for the correct amount to ‘IDP’ only. Any identifying marks on poems and envelopes will automatically disqualify the entry.

If you require confirmation that your postal entry has arrived please enclose a stamped self-addressed postcard marked ‘Acknowledgement’.

Send to Indigo Spring Poetry Prize, 24 Forest Houses, Halwill, Beaworthy, Devon, EX21 5UU.

7. We regret that we are unable to return poems or amend them after entry.

8. Copyright of each poem remains with the author. By submitting to this competition you are agreeing to details of winners and the winning poems being displayed on our website, social media and elsewhere.

9. RESULTS will be published on Indigo Dreams website www.indigodreamspublishing.com

by 30th MAY 2025

Note: The judge will use a continuous adjudication method so there is no benefit in delaying submission until last few days of the competition.

POEMS: Unpublished poems on any subject. 40 lines max from first line not including stanza breaks

SUBMISSION: Email or Post

ENTRY FEE - £5 per poem £9 for two £12 for three. You may submit as many poems as you wish with correct fee.

Good luck everyone!

VICTORIA GATEHOUSE

Victoria Gatehouse is a Zoologist, award-winning poet and children’s writer.

Her poetry has been broadcast on BBC radio and she has been widely published in magazines including The Rialto and Mslexia. Her pamphlet The Mechanics of Love (Smith|Doorstop) was selected as a ‘Laureate’s Choice’ by Carol Ann Duffy.

Victoria has won, and been placed in, many competitions and is also a three-times winner of The Poetry News Members’ Competition. She was highly commended for the Gingko Prize, 2023. Her Indigo Dreams collection The Hawthorn Bride was published in 2024.

INDIGO FIRST COLLECTION COMPETITION 2024

Thank you to everyone who entered our competition.

Choosing winners proved to be particularly hard this time, so much so that neither of us would surrender a collection from the final 3. Therefore, for the first time in the history of IDP competitions, we have chosen 3 brilliant collections as winners. All will be published towards the end of 2025. All are debut collections.

Sadly there were quite a few good entires that had to be disqualified this time as they included identifying marks with pages showing the poet's name. Please always check this when entering any of our competitions. We want it to be scrupulously fair.

WINNERS

Under the Lippy by Angelena Demaria

The last one picked by Stuart Handysides

And They Are Clapping by Sara Nesbitt Gibbons

HIGHLY COMMENDED

I do a workshop on the poetry of Sex – Alison Campbell

Women’s Worth – Jane Edmonds

Cherrywood Bowl – Dan Janoff

A Wonderful Nothing – Oliver Marlow

COMMENDED

Curse Wish – Gillian Barker

Anachronos – Martin Briggs

Scratchface Lane – Nigel Crisp

The Last of the Orangedale Orgies – Simon MacCulloch

I have a body no longer – Jess McNulty

I wish I could for get to read – Laurence Morris

I, Cookham – Marie Papier

The Tales of a Bad Daughter - Inga Piotrowska

Quijote and the Rollie – Gloria Sanders

little hims – Kieran Setright

When ideation becomes intent – Penny Shutt

Time Sits Still – Georgina Titmus

Fish / Food – Claire Watt

On Your Way to Somewhere Else – Catherine Whitaker

Congratulations to all those named and for making it such an enjoyable competition to judge - Dawn and Ronnie

INDIGO SPRING POETRY PRIZE 2024

RESULTS

OUR JUDGE: VIC PICKUP

1st PLACE

2nd PLACE

3rd PLACE

Confiscating blue from the city by Deborah Finding

Terminology by Julie Filimon

The Boyfriends by Michael Brown

JUDGES COMMENTS & WINNING POEMS

INDIGO FIRST COLLECTION COMPETITION 2023

ONEIRONAUT by Leah Larwood

FRAGILE ISLANDS by Christine Hollywood

THE WINNERS