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Young Poets Religious Verse Competition
The Edinburgh Sacred Arts Foundation, in collaboration with the Scottish Poetry Library and with generous financial support from the Christian Arts Trust, is pleased to announce a new competition for Scotland’s young poets of religious verse. This will culminate at an event in the 2025 Edinburgh Festival of the Sacred Arts.
RULES
1. Submissions are invited from poets aged 30 and under on the closing date of entry. They must be resident, working, or studying in Scotland. There is no charge for submission, and competitors may submit up to three poems. These must be unpublished, and not under consideration for any other competition.
2. Poems may be written in English, Gaelic or any variety of Scots, must not exceed a maximum of 40 lines, and be on one of the following themes – a biblical quotation, character or event; a notable figure from Christian history; a response to a religious image.
3. Submissions will be anonymized and given an identifying number. Complete anonymity will be preserved throughout the judging process.
PRIZES and AWARDS
There will be three monetary prizes
1st Prize: £500
2nd Prize: £300
3rd Prize: £200
In addition, the judges may at their discretion award ‘Highly Commended’ to high quality submissions that do not win a prize.
JUDGING
Submissions will be subject to a first round of scrutiny by staff at the Scottish Poetry Library. A short list of 10 submissions will then be judged by Robert Crawford and Christine De Luca.
TIMETABLE
The competition will open on 1st February 2025 with a closing date of May 1st 2025. The short list will be published by July 1st. The three prize-winning poems will be announced, and read, at a poetry event with Robert Crawford and Christine De Luca in the Edinburgh Festival of the Sacred Arts on 13th August 2025. The winning poems will then be published on the Scottish Poetry Library website.
JUDGES
Robert Crawford’s eight collections of poetry include The Scottish Ambassador (Cape 2018). His ninth – Old World – will be published in 2025. His poetry has been shortlisted for the T S Eliot Prize, and his prose books include biographies of Robert Burns and T.S. Eliot.
Christine De Luca is a Scottish poet and writer from Shetland, who writes in both English and Shaetlan. Notably, she has published several poems in conjunction with visual artists, and her poetry has been translated into many languages. She held the position of Edinburgh's Makar (poet laureate) from 2014 to 2017.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR SUBMISSION
Entries must not have been published, self-published, published on any website, blog or online forum, broadcast, have won or been placed (2nd, 3rd, runner up etc) in any other competition. If your entry has been long-listed or shortlisted in other competitions, and provided it has not won a prize or been published, it is eligible. Simultaneous submissions are allowed but will become ineligible should they win a prize elsewhere, be published or scheduled for future publication prior to the date of prize giving.
Format
- 40 lines max. Title not included in the line count. Lines between text / stanzas are not counted.
- Entries must be typed using any font in 12pt. Handwritten submissions will not be accepted.
- Single line spaced, except between stanzas where it should be double
- If the poem runs to two pages, number both pages centre bottom
- Save the file as a Microsoft Word document – .doc or .docx. We also accept file types .rtf, .pdf, .txt. Maximum allowed file size is 2Mb
- The file name should be the title of the poem only.
- For untitled pieces, save the document using the first line of the poem as the file name
Identification
- IMPORTANT: All entries will be judged anonymously. Your name, address, phone number, email, website, twitter handle, etc plus any dedication must not appear in the same document as the poem. Your personal details must appear on a separate document, which should include
- The poem’s title (or first line).
- Your name, email and telephone number, plus the following declaration:
I confirm that I am resident/working/studying in Scotland (circle as appropriate) and that on May 1st 2025 I will be aged 30 or less.
Signed__________________________________________
All entries must include this declaration, and any poem which enables identification of the poet will be disqualified.
Entries should be sent to Please email entries as an attachment to [email protected] with the subject line 'Young People's Religious Poetry Competition'.
2025 Competition Event
1.15pm Wednesday 13th August
Canongate Kirk
with Robert Crawford and Christine De Luca
The Edinburgh Sacred Arts Foundation gratefully acknowledges generous financial support for this competition from the
