Writing Competitions: Keats-Shelley Memorial Association

[J. Severn, ‘Keats Listening to the Nightingale on Hampstead Heath’, c. 1845]

THE KEATS – SHELLEY MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION

invites applications for the

Keats – Shelley Prize 2010

Two competitions, open to all: an essay ~ a poem

£3,000 IN PRIZES. The winners’ work will be published.
The essay can be on any aspect of the lives and works of John Keats, P B Shelley, Mary Shelley, Lord Byron and their circles. It should be of 2,000 - 3,000 words, including quotations. Preference will be given to entries showing originality of thought and written in a clear and accessible style. All sources must be acknowledged.
The poem (which may be a narrative) must be original, unpublished and not a parody. It should focus on the theme ‘Ice’. It may be of any length up to 50 lines.
Judges’ Panel Chair: Jack Mapanje is a distinguished Malawian poet, linguist, editor and scholar. Formerly Head of English at Chancellor College, University of Malawi; he was also Poet in Residence at Dove Cottage, Senior Lecturer in English at Newcastle University and now lives in York. He has published five books of poetry including Beasts of Nalunga (2007), which was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for best collection. For Of Chameleons and Gods (1981) he was imprisoned for four years by Hastings Banda of Malawi.

Poetry Panel: John Hartley Williams and Matthew Sweeney.
Essay Panel: Professor Simon Bainbridge (Lancaster University) and Professor Sharon Ruston (Salford University).

© City of London/Keats House.
Sponsored by The Cowley Foundation,
The School of English, University of St Andrews,
City of London/Keats House, and The Liberal

Other conditions of entry:
1. Three copies of your entry should be sent to KSMA Competition Secretary, School of English, The University, St Andrews, KY16 9AR, Scotland. Please enclose an SAE if you want your entry to be acknowledged. Copies of entries cannot be returned and no correspondence will be entered into. For all further information regarding shortlists, date of Awards, etc., please see the KSMA website, www.keats-shelley.com
2. All entries must be received by 30 June 2010. Prize winner and a runner-up in each category will be notified in August. There will be a presentation ceremony at the British Academy, London, on 13 October 2010. The winners will be announced at that time on the KSMA website, www.keats-shelley.com
3. You may enter both categories. There is a fee of £5 sterling for a single entry, plus a further £5 for each additional entry in either category up to a maximum of two poems and two essays. Payment must be enclosed, made by cheque, postal order or international money order in favour of the Keats-Shelley Memorial Association, or by sterling bank notes. All first-time entrants who are not already Friends of the KSMA will become Honorary Friends for one year.
4. All entries must be typed or word-processed on A4 or foolscap paper, and attached with a paper clip to a typed sheet giving the following: your name, address, a contact telephone number, the title of your essay or poem, and how you heard about the prize. Your entrance fee should also be attached. Please do not use staples, and kindly ensure that your name does not appear on the entry itself.
5. Essays and poems must be in English and your own original and unpublished work, and must not have been submitted to us in a former competition. Copyright remains with you as author, but your entry will be deemed to give consent to first publication in journals nominated by the Keats-Shelley Memorial Association.
6. The submission of an entry will be deemed to indicate full acceptance of the above conditions of entry to the competition.

Please support our Centenary Appeal: go to www.keats-shelley.com