Poets from International Falls now have a chance to be the local poetry champion. The London-based National Poetry Anthology is the biggest free annual poetry competition, and has now gone global. The competition is designed to encourage more people to get involved in poetry — anyone can enter — beginners are welcome.
The National Poetry Anthology is in its 15 year and has published thousands of poets and given them free copies of books featuring their work. But now the UK organizers have decided to go global.
As before, organizers will pick 250 regional winners, give them a free copy of the book, and let them vote for the best poem in it. The winner receives $1,500.
"The National Poetry Anthology has changed the landscape of poetry across the UK," said Peter Quinn, the man who launched the UK version in 1998. "It's completely free to enter and we've published thousands of poets and given them free copies of the book. The next obvious step was to go international. Thanks to email, entrants can submit their poems at no cost and we will consider them for the new book.
Quinn added that organizers will pick 250 winners each representing a town or a region, and give them each a free copy of the book and let them vote for the best poem in it. The person they vote for will be winner of the title International Poet of the Year.
The competition is open to all age groups. Each poet can submit up to three poems, each one a maximum of 25 lines (including blank lines) and 160 words. Poems can be on any subject. There is no age limit to the competition, but people who submit more than one e-mail or more than three poems will be automatically disqualified. The closing date is Dec. 31, 2012. Poems must be entered through www.unitedpress.co.uk.
