The Oxford Brookes Poetry Centre is delighted to launch its 2018 International Poetry Competition to celebrate the power of poetry across the world
Terms and Conditions
General
The Oxford Brookes International Poetry Competition 2018 (the “Competition”) is organised by the Poetry Centre of Oxford Brookes University (“OBU”).
The competition is open to anyone aged 18 or over at the time of entering unless excluded by these Rules. By entering the Competition, you confirm that you understand and agree to accept these Rules.
International entries are welcome.
You do not have to be a published poet to enter.
The closing date of the competition is 11pm BST/10pm GMT on 6 August 2018. The competition opens for entries at 1am (UK time) Monday 28 May 2018.
There are two categories in the Competition i) Open and ii) English as an Additional Language (EAL). To be eligible for the EAL category entrants must confirm that English is not their first language when they pay their entry fee online.
A single entrant can enter a maximum of ten poems.
Entries will not be returned, so please keep a copy.
Under no circumstances can alterations be made to poems once entered. If entrants wish to correct errors in their poem, they must withdraw it from the Competition and enter again with payment of entry fee. No correspondence or discussion about amendments will be entered into.
Current direct or indirect OBU employees and staff (who may also be students) and their spouses/partners are not eligible to enter; neither are any current or former Competition judges.
OBU cannot accept any responsibility for any damage, loss, injury or disappointment suffered by any entrant entering the Competition.
OBU reserves the right both to cancel the Competition and to amend these Rules where it is deemed necessary or to account for circumstances beyond OBU’s control. Any notice of cancellation or changes to the Rules will be posted on the Poetry Centre website.
In the event of any dispute regarding these Rules or any other matter relating to the Competition, the decision of OBU shall be final and no correspondence or discussion shall be entered into.
Entries not complying with the Competition Rules will be disqualified, as will entrants in breach of the Rules.
Entrants must not approach or attempt to influence any judge or member of OBU staff over Competition matters.
The Competition Rules will be governed by English law and any dispute will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.
Poems
All entries are judged anonymously and the poet’s name must not appear on the poem itself. However, you must give your real name as part of your submission, even if you prefer that your work is published under a pseudonym.
All poems must have a title and must not exceed 50 lines in length (excluding title).
Entries can be on any subject.
Poems must be the original work of the entrant.
Entries must not have been published in print, on websites, public areas of social networking sites, broadcast, have featured among the winners of another competition or be submitted elsewhere for consideration.
Poems must be written primarily in English, though a few words or phrases in another language or languages can be included.
Entrants may submit poems translated into English providing the source text is their own original work and has not been published in print, on websites, public areas of social networking sites, broadcast, featured among the winners of another competition or be submitted elsewhere for consideration.
Entry
All entries must be submitted to the Competition’s e-mail account poetrycomp@brookes.ac.uk
Entries must comprise one poem per document and be submitted as a Microsoft Word file (.doc or .docx), Rich Text Format file (.rtf) or as a PDF file (.pdf).
Poems by EAL poets can be entered for consideration either in the EAL or the Open category. All entrants need to include either EAL or OPEN in the top right hand corner of each entry.
Entries must be submitted to the Competition email account and open in a clear, legible font of a size that is easy to read.
Confirmation of receipt of all Competition entries will be by an automated e-mail reply.
You may withdraw your entry by email notification to poetrycomp@brookes.ac.uk. However, unless the Competition is cancelled, entry fees will not be refunded unless you withdraw your entry by sending a notice of cancellation to Oxford Brookes University’s Poetry Centre (for this purpose please use poetrycomp@brookes.ac.uk) within 14 days of the entry’s submission, in which case the submission fee will be refunded to the same bank account from which the fee was originally paid. If you have submitted more than one poem, please ensure that you identify clearly which poem is being withdrawn. OBU reserves the right to withdraw and not publish any entry which it considers to be plagiarized, defamatory or otherwise prejudicial to the reputation of OBU, its funders or its community.
Fees
The first three poems submitted cost £5 per poem. Subsequent entries in the same submission cost £4 per poem up to a total of ten poems.
All payments must be made via the International Poetry Competition shop website using Visa/Mastercard Credit/Debit cards only. Confirmation of payment will be by automatic email reply.
