Keats-Shelley Poetry Prize 2025-26
Closing date: 2 February 2026
The Keats-Shelley Poetry Prize is now open to submissions of poems up to 30 lines, based on the subject of either ‘dystopia’ or ‘utopia’. The theme of this year competition has been chosen to mark the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley’s The Last Man. Entrants can interpret the theme freely, but poems drifting too far from the theme will not be considered.
The competition will be judged by Rupert Christiansen, Will Kemp and Professor Deryn Rees-Jones.
The Keats-Shelley Poetry Prize is open to all. Winners receive £1000. Two highly commended entrants will receive £500. All winning and highly commended poems will be published in The Keats-Shelley Review and on the Keats-Shelley website.
