We are delighted to announce that the 2025 Charles Causley International Poetry Competition is now open for entries! Enter online by following the links below.
We are thrilled that this year’s Head Judge will be London-based poet Tommy Sissons.
Shortlisting judges include Rowan Williams, Rory Waterman, Carrie Etta, Tash Walker, Sarah Cave, Rachel Piercey, Sue Wallace-Shaddad, Anastasia Taylor-Lind, Ozge Gozturk, and Alyson Hallett.
The theme is Peace.
If you are unable to enter online, you can enter by post, though this year we are encouraging a paperless entry process contributing to our commitment to reduce our carbon footprint and find ways of making our activities more sustainable.
Please make sure that you read the Rules of Entry carefully before entering.
The closing date for the competition is midnight on 28th of February 2025 and the winners will be informed in April 2025 and awarded at the Launceston Poetry Festival (30 May – 1 June 2025).
- The first prize winner will receive £1,000
- The second prize winner will receive £200
- The third prize winner will receive £100.
- There will also be two Highly Commended placed poets.
Guidelines for poems
As already mentioned, we are committed to reducing our carbon footprint and finding ways of making our activities more sustainable. We urge those entering our competition to do so online as follows:
- Click the link below to access our submissions portal.
- Upload your formatted entry and submit. Please read our guidelines for formatting prior to your upload to check you are using the right spacing and page size.
If you need to enter by post, please pay attention to the important notes below:
- All postal entries must be accompanied by a completed Postal Entry Form (see below).
- All postal submissions must include the appropriate fee (cheque or postal order in £ sterling). Please refer to our rules of entry for specifics around paying through cheque.
- We require 2 x copies of each poem submitted for postal entries.
- Entries must be received by midnight on the 28th of February 2025 (not posted by the 28th of February 2025).
Postal entries must be addressed as follows:
The Charles Causley International Poetry Competition
2, Cyprus Well
Ridgegrove Hill
Launceston
Cornwall
PL15 8BT
Payment for entering our competition should be made through Paypal. Please see our Rules of Entry document attached for further information about how to pay, how to submit your poems and our terms and conditions.