Free Global Poetry Competition

The team behind the Global Short Story Competition has launched its first free global poetry competition – with the winner to be chosen by internationally-respected poet Bob Beagrie.

“It is the latest in a series of free competitions we run and we know that a lot of the writers entering our competitions also write poetry although we are pretty sure that this competition will attract a new group of writers as well,” said the organizers.

To enter, writers have to join http://www.globalwriters.net then cut and paste their poem into the ‘add a comment’ section to be found in the Group set up on the left hand side of the homepage specifically for the competition

The competition, launched on January 7, 2011, carries a £100 first prize and will run for three months (closing on April 7, 2011). There is no theme but a word limit of 250 words per poem. There is no limit on the number of poems submitted per writer.

E-Anthology goes international

Meanwhile, Global Shorts, an e-anthology comprising of the winning stories from the  first monthly Global Short Story Competition is available from the international online bookstore Kobo Books.

Global Shorts contains 22 stories from writers all over the world who were all successful entrants in the first year of the Global Short Story Competition.

Run out of North East England, the competition was launched three years ago and attracts entries from around the globe, including Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Canada, India and the rest of Asia to Continental Europe and the UK. To date, it has paid out more than £5,500 in prize money.

The anthology showcases some of the best stories entered into the competition run by Certys Limited, of Darlington, County Durham, which each month awards a £100 first prize with a £25 prize for the highly commended story. The first prize is sponsored by Britwriters.

Competition administrator, the crime novelist John Dean, said: “Global Shorts is a cracking read and we are delighted to publish it as an e-book. The link-up with Kobo is excellent because it puts our writers on the same platform as some of the biggest names in the industry.

“The quality of the stories emphasises why we set up the competition, to find new and exciting writers and give them the chance to be read. And to be able to pay royalties on each copy sold will give a real boost to the selected authors.”

The e-book can be purchased, at a price of £4.67, from http://www.kobobooks.com (type ‘Global Shorts’ into the search box and up it comes).