Disabled Poets Prize


Enter the Prize

You can enter the Disabled Poets Prize 2024 online or by post. The Prize is free to enter and is for deaf and disabled people aged 18+ in the UK and has three categories: 1) Best Single Poem, 2) Best Unpublished Pamphlet and 3) Best Poem Performed in BSL. In each category, there will be a first place prize (£500), second prize (£250), third place prize (£100), and three highly commended, awarded £50. The Prize offers significant professional development opportunities for the winning writers, including a publication deal with Verve Poetry Press for the best unpublished pamphlet as well as development prizes from The Literary Consultancy and Arvon Foundation. The winners will be announced at Deptford Literature Festival in March 2024. 

The Prize is open for entries from 9am on Thursday 7 September until 1pm on Tuesday 31 October.

Before you enter

We recommend that you read these in advance of entering. All are available as text on a webpage, in audio, in a BSL video and as a .docx to download.

If you would like to see the application form in advance to help you prepare your submission, we have made an application form for drafting here as a .docx download: www.spreadtheword.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Disabled-Poets-Prize-Entry-Form-Drafting.docx

Enter online

You can enter online on Submittable here: https://spreadtheword.submittable.com/submit/274332/disabled-poets-prize-2024

Or, Enter by post

You can download the Disabled Poets Prize 2024 postal entry form as a .docx file here: https://www.spreadtheword.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Disabled-Poets-Prize-2024-Postal-Entry-Form-.docx

You can send your poem/ poems along with your entry form to: Disabled Poets Prize 2024, Spread the Word, The Albany, Douglas Way, London, SE8 4AG.

We can’t return copies entered by post but we will acknowledge receipt.