International Religious Poetry Competition

I've entered this competition, the Manchester Cathedral International Religious Poetry Competition, a few times but never with any success. Difficult to judge what might go down well - clearly religious poems or vaguely spiritual ones, whatever either of those actually means. Ah well, it's all subjective anyway. Having looked at the judge's bio and taking into account my previous experience I'm afraid thw two I've entered this year may be too religious and not spiritual enough.

No online entry facility but you can post the endtry and pay by credit card over the phone. Not much time left -  Closing Date: Friday June 29th 2012.

Last year’s competition was considered a great success with over 200 people sending in over 400 poems, many of which were from outside the UK. This year's judge is Suzanne Batty. Suzanne’s poetry collection The Barking Thing is published by Bloodaxe Books. Her poems and short stories are widely anthologised. She teaches Creative Writing at Sheffield Hallam University. Suzanne also leads writing workshops for people experiencing and recovering from mental distress.

1st Prize is £450 and the winner of the First Prize will be designated ‘The Manchester Cathedral Poet of the Year, 2012.’ 2nd Prize £250. 3rd Prize £150.

The poems submitted should be ‘broadly religious,’ that is, ‘spiritual’ in nature and, like all good religious poetry, appeal to those who would not necessarily describe themselves as such. ‘Religious’ thus includes poems that are Christian, as well as those from within other faith traditions. Those struggling to discover their own sense of the sacred are also invited to submit entries. Poems are welcome in any style or form and will be judged solely on their merits as poetry.

ENTRY FEE: £4.50 for the first poem & £2.00 each for others. The entry form should be available from the Manchester Cathedral website.