The Oxford Poetry Prize | How to Submit ($1000)
The Oxford Poetry Prize 2025 is officially open for entries from 1 May to 31 August 2025. Open to writers from anywhere in the world, the prize awards £1,000 for a single poem in English and includes publication in the prestigious Oxford Poetry magazine.
About the Oxford Poetry Prize
Administered by Partus Press Ltd, the Oxford Poetry Prize seeks to celebrate a single outstanding poem each year. The competition is open to poets over the age of 18 and accepts previously unpublished work only. Submissions are blind-judged, so identifying details should not appear in the poem file.
Oxford Poetry will be publishing the winning poem. It has been a platform for some of the most innovative and essential voices in contemporary literature. They will publish second and third place winners in print.
Prize Money:
- 1st Prize: £1,000
- 2nd Prize: £200
- 3rd Prize: £100
Meet the 2025 Judge: Rebecca Tamás
This year’s guest judge is acclaimed poet and essayist Rebecca Tamás. Her debut collection WITCH was widely celebrated as a standout book of the year by The Guardian, Paris Review, and BBC Radio 4, among others. She is also the author of Strangers: Essays on the Human and Nonhuman, longlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize.
Tamás brings her sharp, mythic, and ecologically attuned voice to this year’s selection process, ensuring that the winning works will be as vital and distinctive as her own.
Submission Guidelines
- Each entry must be a single poem of no more than 50 lines (excluding title, dedication, etc.)
- £10 per poem (no entry limit)
- Submit via Submittable only (PDF format)
- The judges read all submissions blindly.
- Open to poets worldwide
- AI-generated or previously published poems will be disqualified
Writers facing financial hardship may apply for free entry by emailing the editors directly.
Deadline
Submit by midnight UTC on 31 August 2025. They will announce final results by the end of November 2025.
Looking to Polish Your Entry?
- Craft a compelling bio for your cover letter. Here’s how to write a short author’s bio.
- These 10 poets share their philosophies, rejections, and favorite poems.
