THE PRIZE

Two winners will have a 52 page collection published plus 25 copies and royalty contract.

CLOSING DATE: FRIDAY 30th AUGUST 2024 (midnight)

Submission: a selection of 20 poetry pages as one document: email or postal entry. 40 single-spaced lines max per page from first line including stanza breaks. Full submission guidelines below.

Entry Fee: £20 per block of poems, £36 for two, £48 for three.

Results will be online by Monday 16th September 2024.

Geoff Stevens was born at West Bromwich 4th June 1942. He worked as an industrial chemist until 1995.

In 1976 he launched his own poetry magazine, Purple Patch, a successful and long-running magazine, called 'a national treasure' by The Guardian. The magazine closed with his death in February 2012. Geoff was also a successful poet in his own right being published in many magazines both in UK and overseas. We were lucky enough to be his friend and publisher, his last Indigo publication, Sleeping With You, being published just one month before he died. He saw it, he loved it, and wrote: "I’m glad that Indigo Dreams is so busy – it means the UK’s best poetry publisher is being successful." Totally over the top, but hey, who cares?

A great lover of poetry; a great man to know. We will keep his name alive through this competition in his honour.

Geoff Stevens 04/06/1942 - 02/02/2012

ENTER

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Thank you for supporting this competition and good luck!

ABOUT GEOFF STEVENS

1. Each poem should be typed single-spaced in 11pt font size on its own sheet(s) and poems sent as ONE document. Please note: it is 20 pages of poetry to 40 lines as above, not 20 poems. If any poem runs over to another page, it counts as 2 poetry pages. Winners will be selected from this selection of poems which must be your own work and not AI generated.

2.Entries are judged anonymously so poems must not bear any identifying marks. Any that do will automatically be disqualified.

3. Submitted poems may have been published online, in an anthology or in magazines, but not as a complete collection (including self-published collections).

4. Submissions by Email. Please pay via PayPal before submitting. Send to competitions@indigodreams.co.uk ONLY. Subject heading Geoff Stevens Poetry Prize only please, this is essential for anonymity. Send one email with name, address, collection title and PayPal transaction number. Attach your poems with collection title but no indentifying marks or name, as continuous Word Document or Rich Text File only, no pdf or alternatives please.

5. Submissions by Post. Enclose poems with collection title but no name/ identifying marks. In a separate enclosed envelope add a note with name, address, collection title. A cheque must be enclosed for the correct amount to ‘IDP’ only. Alternatively use the PayPal transaction number as above. If you wish confirmation of receipt, please enclose SAE marked RECEIPT. Send to Geoff Stevens Poetry Prize, 24 Forest Houses, Halwill, Beaworthy, Devon, EX21 5UU. Results will only be available online.

6. Winning collections will be up to 52 pages in length and published in 2025.

7. More than one entry may be submitted provided it is accompanied by the correct entry fee.

8. All entries will be treated as copies and cannot be returned.

9. Copyright remains with the authors and by submitting to this competition you are agreeing to details of winners to be displayed on our website, social media and elsewhere. Previous winners are free to enter this competition should they wish.

RESULTS will be published on this website by Monday 16th September 2024.

Note: We use a continuous adjudication method so there is no benefit delaying submission until end of competition.

GEOFF STEVENS MEMORIAL POETRY PRIZE 2023

2023 WINNERS

Lucy Dixcart: Company of Ghosts

Gail Ashton: If this was a map of your life