Frosted Fire Single-poem Competition 2022

Thank you to all 270 poets who entered this competition.

Prizewinners

First prize: £350 Laurie Bolger

Second Prize: £150 Natalie Ann Holborow

Third Prize: £75 Simon Griffiths

Consolation Prizes: £25
Catherine Edmunds, Jane Spray, Vicky Gatehouse

Shortlist: Highly commended
Di Slaney, Laura Theis, Imogen Wade, Jennie Owen, Laurie Bolger, Thes Choudri

Longlist: commended

These 26 poets wrote the 31 poems that will feature in the Every Breath online Anthology to be published in October. The poets’ locations include Canada, France, New Zealand, Philippines plus all 4 nations of the United Kingdom.

On Saturday 8 October, we are running an International Winners Reading Event on Zoom at 7pm London time. The prizewinners, shortlisted poets, and judges will read on that occasion, and then their poems and audio will be added to the anthology. Click here to reserve a free place at the Winners Event.

During September, we are building an online anthology of the longlisted poems.. By the end of the month, all of the longlisted poems will be published in wildfire words with audio of readings by their poets.

Transformation single-poem competition 2021 — online anthology

Wild words single-poem competition 2020

Two triage judges, Janet Lees and Samantha DeFlitch, each read half of the entries. They jointly formed a longlist of contenders for the prizes. Janet won the Frosted Fire First Pamphlet Award in 2019, and Samantha was a prizewinner in last year’s single-poem competition from Frosted Fire.

The final list of prize winners and highly commended poets will be decided by leading judge Ben Ray. A great communicator, Ben will write an adjudication showing why the prizewinning poems deserve their accolade. This will, no doubt, be interesting reading, as was his adjudication for the first Frosted Fire single-poem competition in 2020.

All entries presented to the judges are anonymous. The competition’s administrator, Annie Ellis, does not learn of the successful poems’ authors until the database of entrants is unlocked after judging.

Rules for Every Breath competition 2022

Closing date: 15 July 2022

• The contest is open to all poets, except those who act as volunteers for Wildfire Words/Frosted Fire.
• All poems must be entirely the entrant’s own, unpublished work.
• International entrants are welcome, but entries must be in English. Translations are not allowed, unless the poet has translated their own poetry into English.
• You may submit as many poems as you like, in batches of up to 4 poems. Each poem should be a seperate file, and an entry fee must be paid for each.
• Each poem’s title should be at the top of the page, and the file name of the poem must be the poem’s title.
• Each poem should be in one file in Word or PDF, and no longer than 70 lines, not counting title or stanza break lines.
• Do not put any identification on the work. We will match your entry title to your email address after the anonymous judging is complete.
• To maintain anonymous judging, Your entry must not contain a poem that might be recognized by any of the judges through workshops, mentoring, or public readings.
• Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but an entry must be withdrawn in the event of it winning a prize or publication elsewhere. Entry fees are not refundable once an entry has been received.
• Work will not be returned, so please keep a copy.
• We are unable to give feedback on individual entries or on the results of the competition — the judges’ decisions are final.
• Results will be emailed by mid September 2022 to all who entered, and published on this website.
• The entry fee is £4 per poem, or £12 for 4.
• Entries must be paid for on the entry form, and your entry file uploaded, by the closing time of 11.59 pm on 15 July 2022.