Plumstead Annual Poetry Competition 2026
Art Plumstead is looking for someone to be crowned “Plumstead Poet Laureate 2026” in this competition that is now in its seventh year, so why not take part? Although initially all entries will be assessed and short-listed by a panel, the final judging will be done by the general public at The Old Mill public house on Tuesday 10 November.
The poem can be on any subject, and be happy, sad, reflective, fantastical, amusing or anything in between.
It must be your original work, in English, previously unpublished and, although there will not be a limit on the number of words, anything deemed too long by the judges is unlikely to be short-listed.
Other Entry Rules: -
(i) The competition will open for entries on Wednesday 15 July and close at 11:59pm on Monday 12 October 2026. Any entries received after that time will not be accepted.
(ii) Submissions must be made by email to plunkSE18@gmail.com
(iii) Confirmation of your entry being received will be made to you by email.
(iv) Format: The name, address and contact details must be supplied with every entry but on a separate sheet to the poem.
The poem must be type written. The reason for not including information about yourself on the same sheet as the poem is to ensure anonymity during the short-listing process.
(v) Only one poem can be entered by any individual.
(vi) Entries cannot be returned after the competition.
The Judging Process:
Short-listing will take place between Tuesday 13 and Monday 26 October. The judges will select what they consider to be the 12 best poems.
The poets of the short-listed entries will be informed by e-mail on or before Wednesday 28 October. They will go through to the Finals Night to take place in The Old Mill, 1 Old Mill Road, Plumstead SE18 1QG on Tuesday 10 November from 8pm.
The Finals Night: -
On Finals Night, the poems can be read by the poet but this is not compulsory. Actors, who will also be the short-listing judges, have been engaged to do the readings where necessary and no indication will be given on the night to indicate whether the reader is the author or not. If you wish to read your own poem then you should contact us when you know your poem has been short-listed.
Before the Finals Night the short-listed poems will be split into 3 groups of 4 for what will be the semi-final stage.
On the night, the first group of 4 poems will be read and the audience in the pub will be given the opportunity to vote by ballot as to which they think is the best poem in that section. The winning poem will go through to the Grand Final.
This process will be repeated twice more so that there will be 3 poems in total chosen for the Grand Final.
The Grand Final will follow the same format and voting process so that it is the public’s choice as to which poem is the winning entry.
If present, the poet will be crowned Plumstead Poet Laureate 2026 by last year’s winner, *******.
NB There is no monetary prize associated with the competition.
Plumstead Poet Laureate 2025
