Deadline for submission extended to June 1st

Following its successful inauguration in 2025, the Edinburgh Sacred Arts Foundation, in collaboration with the Scottish Poetry Library, is pleased to announce a second competition for Scotland’s young poets of religious poetry. This will culminate at an event in the 2026 Edinburgh Festival of the Sacred Arts.

The prizes for this competition have been generously funded by Canonmills Church.

Young Religious Poets Competition

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Prizes & Awards

£500  
1st Prize

£300  
2nd Prize

£200  
3rd Prize

In addition, the judges may at their discretion award ‘Highly Commended’ to high quality submissions that do not win a prize.  

The winning poems will then be published on the Scottish Poetry Library website.

  • 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 These must be unpublished, and not under consideration for any other competition.  

  • 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.  

  • Submissions will be anonymized and given an identifying number. Complete anonymity will be preserved throughout the judging process.  

  • Submissions will be subject to a first round of scrutiny by staff at the Scottish Poetry Library. A short list of submissions with then be judged by poets Robert Crawford and Christine De Luca.   

  • The competition will open on 1st March 2026 with a closing date for submission of June 1st 2026. 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 Wednesday 19th August 2026. The winning poems will then be published on the Scottish Poetry Library website.  

  • Entries must not have been published, or have won or been placed in any other competition. Poems that have been long-listed or shortlisted in other competitions, but not won a prize, are eligible.

    • 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  

Download instructions
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Meet Your Judges

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Christine De Luca

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.  

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Robert Crawford

Robert Crawford’s eight collections of poetry include The Scottish Ambassador (Cape 2018). His ninth – Old World – was 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.