Stephen Spender Prize 2026

The Stephen Spender Prize is now open for submissions for their annual competition for poetry in translation for young people and teachers across the UK and Ireland.

Participants are welcome to submit English translations of poems from any language, or a Polish poem from the selection available in the Spotlight booklet, and produce an accompanying creative response.

The four categories participants can enter (and respective their prizes) are:

1. Polish Spotlight:

KS1-2 category (Primary: ages 4-11): Publication and book prizes for the winner

KS3 category (Secondary: ages 11-14): Publication and book prizes for the winner

KS4-5 category (Secondary/Sixth form: ages 14-18): Publication and book prizes for the winner

2. Individual Youth Entry:

14-and-under category: Publication and book prizes for three winners

18-and-under category: Publication and book prizes for three winners

3. Schools Laureate Prize:

KS1-2 category: Publication and book prizes for three winners

KS3 category: Publication and book prizes for three winners

KS4 category: Publication and book prizes for three winners

KS5 category: Publication and book prizes for three winners

4. Teacher Laureate Prize

All teachers at schools that have entered pupils for the Schools Laureate Prize or Polish Spotlight are also eligible to enter the free Teacher Laureate Prize translation competition for teachers, which welcomes translations of any poem from any language accompanied by a short written commentary. The winning teacher will receive an annual subscription to Modern Poetry in Translation magazine and a creative translation workshop for their school during the next academic year.

Judges: Taher Adel, Antonia Lloyd Jones