These are the eligibility criteria for poets hoping to enter the Disabled Poets Prize 2024. Please read them before submitting your work. The Disabled Poets Prize is open for entries from Thursday 7 September at 9am until Tuesday 31 October, 1pm.
Please read these Eligibility Criteria before submitting your work.
On this page the Eligibility Criteria is available in text (scroll down).
Eligibility Criteria in Alternative Formats
Eligibility Criteria – BSL video:
Eligibility Criteria – Audio
Eligibility Criteria – .docx download
Eligibility Criteria – text
- The 2024 Disabled Poets Prize will accept entries from deaf and disabled poets aged 18+ currently living full-time in the UK.
By deaf and/ or disabled poets we mean poets who have faced disablist and/or audist barriers in accessing their careers, and poets who consider themselves to be deaf or disabled. This includes: Deaf, deaf and hard-of-hearing people, blind and visually impaired people, people with mobility and energy-limiting impairments, chronic illnesses, mental health conditions or experience of mental distress, and/ or learning disabilities, neurodivergent people. We also include other people who have experienced barriers accessing the poetry related to their experience as people living with chronic or long-term health conditions or impairments not otherwise discussed.
- The Prize particularly welcomes entries from deaf and disabled poets from the following communities:
– Black, Asian, Global Majority;
– Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQIA+);
– Working class or from a working-class upbringing;
– Care experienced.
- Entries to the best single poem written on the page and best poem performed in British Sign Language categories must not have been published and/ or broadcast.
- Entries to the best best unpublished pamphlet category are for a debut pamphlet of new work.
a. If you are offered a publishing contract for a full length collection or pamphlet prior to the commencement of the programme (i.e. during the application and judging process), you are ineligible for the Prize.
b. If you have previously published a collection, you are ineligible for the Prize.
- Judges, their close family members, employees or trustees of Criptic Arts, Spread the Word, Verve Poetry Press, Verve Poetry Festival, The Literary Consultancy, the Arvon Foundation and Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) are not eligible to apply.
The Prize’s website is: www.disabledpoetsprize.org.uk
If you are considering submitting an entry to the Prize:
- Please make sure you have read the Prize’s Terms and Conditions available on the Prize website (plus audio, BSL, .docx formats).
- A Quick Guide to entering the Prize is available on the Prize’s website (plus audio, BSL, .docx formats).
- If you have any questions about entering the Prize please take a look at the Prize’s Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) which are available on the website (plus audio, BSL, .docx formats).
- If you have a question about the Prize which is not answered through the Frequently Asked Questions, you can contact the Prize by email: [email protected]
2024 Disabled Poets Prize Judge Kabir Kapoor will be hosting a free online workshop in BSL on Saturday 23 September, 12pm-4pm for Deaf BSL users to experiment and create visual poetry. Places can be booked through the Eventbrite link: www.disabled-poets-prize-bsl-workshop.eventbrite.co.uk
The Disabled Poets Prize is a collaboration between CRIPtic Arts, Spread the Word, Verve Poetry Press and Verve Poetry Festival. The 2024 Prize is supported by the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS).