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Nature and Place Poetry Competition 2020

The Rialto are working in association with the RSPB, BirdLife International and the Cambridge Conservation Initiative. Poems are invited that deal with any aspect of nature and place – these terms will be given a wide interpretation by the judge.

The judge is celebrated poet, Pascale Petit. There’s a fantastic range of prizes on offer and prizewinners will be invited to read their poems at an event with Pascale Petit at the Cambridge Conservation Initiative in September 2020.

As well as offering poets the chance to win considerable cash prizes and publication of their poems, the competition supports conservation and poetry. 

Prizes

  • 1st prize: £1000
  • 2nd prize: £500
  • 3rd prize: £250
  • Additional prize - A personal tour with Mark Cocker of his most cherished wild life places in East Anglia. Mark is one of Britain’s most celebrated writers on nature.

Pascale Petit’s seventh collection, Mama Amazonica (Bloodaxe, 2017), won the Royal Society of Literature’s Ondaatje Prize 2018 – the first time a poetry book won this prize for a work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry best evoking the spirit of a place. It was also shortlisted for the Roehampton Prize and was a Poetry Book Society Choice. Her eighth collection, Tiger Girl, due from Bloodaxe in 2020, won a Royal Society of Literature ‘Literature Matters’ Award while in progress. Four of her earlier collections were shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize. Petit is a recipient of a Cholmondeley Award and in 2018 was elected as an RSL Fellow.

Closing date
Fri 01 May 2020
Entry fee
£7 for first poem | £4 for subsequent poems