The two winning pamphlets are beautifully produced and promoted widely, and entered for all eligible awards and prizes. They are also sold in bookshops throughout the UK and through online stockists of The Poetry Business publications.

This year’s pamphlet competition will be judged by Andrew McMillan.

Entrants are invited to submit a collection of 20 pages of poetry. Two winners will be selected by the judge for publication under our award-winning imprint Smith|Doorstop Books. The two winners will also receive £500 each, publication in The North magazine, and readings at The Wordsworth Trust and online. Two runners-up will receive publication in a feature in The North magazine, an online reading and an honorarium of £100 each.

The two winners will receive expert close editing and support in extending their entry if they wish to up to 28 pages for pamphlet publication.

Full-price entry is £25. Subscribers to The North, Friends of the Poetry Business, and members of the Poetry Society are eligible for the discounted fee of £22. Entrants who also wish to enter the 40th Anniversary Collection Competition may purchase a combined entry for £50.

Running our usual Book and Pamphlet Competition as two separate strands this year - The Poetry Business Pamphlet Competition and the 40th Anniversary Collection Competition - will allow us to publish our competition-winning pamphlets as usual and to publish a full collection by the winner of the collection competition. Our long-standing International Book & Pamphlet Competition will return next year.

Find out more here

The deadline for entries is midnight on Tuesday 17 November 2026.