Ware Poets Competition
2026 Competition Results
We are delighted to announce the results of the Ware Poets Open Poetry Competition 2026 judged by Keith Jarrett
Keith Jarrett’s work explores Caribbean British identity, religion and sexuality. A multiple poetry slam champion, he was selected for the International Literary Showcase as one of 10 outstanding LGBT writers in the UK. His poem, ‘From the Log Book’, was projected onto St. Paul’s Cathedral and broadcast as a commemorative installation. His play, Safest Spot in Town, was performed at the Old Vic and aired on BBC Four. Selah, his poetry collection, was published in 2017. Keith teaches at NYU in London, is a Poetry Society trustee, and he is completing his debut novel.
Competition winners
1st prize. I Swallowed My Father - Hélène Demetriades
2nd prize. Skullbones - Emma Simon
3rd prize. multiple choice - Karan Chambers
Sonnet prize. Full Throat - William Rothko
The Ware Herts & Essex Prize. Siblings - Jessica Hadari
Commended poems
P.P.P., November 2nd 1975 – Roberto Salvador Cenciarelli
Mother Lick – Heather Chapman
Rara avis – Ginny Darke
The Birds – Jonathan Edwards
Ouija–X – Martin Figura
A whale moved into our house – Alice Fleetwood
A man is Training his Pigeon as the Sun Sets – Mary Gilonne
No – Chris Hardy
On reading Auden’s Musée des Beaux Arts near Heron Tower, Houndsditch – Daniel Hill
Date with a Minor God – Natalie Ann Holborow
the ground underneath us holds so much it is terrifying – Elia Isaac
Character Formation – Esther Lay
Substitute priest takes morning Mass – Peter Lockhart
Mushroom Burial Suit – James McDermott
Cruelty – Damen O’Brien
tboys after dark – Louie Rudge
kingfisher – Louie Rudge
Goose – Emma Simon
Where the waves are green – Victoria Spires
The It I Carry – Christopher West
Our hearty congratulations to all of the above! And a big thank you to our judge, Keith Jarrett, and to all the poets who submitted their poems.
The prizewinning poems will be published on this website after our prizegiving event on the evening of Friday, 10 July 2025, at Ware Arts Centre, Kibes Lane, Ware, Herts., SG12 7BS, to which all are welcome. The evening will begin at 8pm and will end at 10pm. Entry prices: £5; £3 for students under 24; Free to ages 18 and under. Free entry for Competition prizewinners and commended poets.
All prizewinning and commended poems will be read at the event, and all will be published in our competition anthology, which will be available at a cover price of £5. If you are unable to attend the event but wish to receive a copy of the anthology, please email your order to the Competition Secretary at warepoetscomp@gmail.com.
Posted on 6 July 2026
Ware Poets Competition
Ware Poets have run a competition for each of the past 25 years, offering poets the hope of success, hope that their way with words will resonate with the judge and reach a wider public in the anthology, maybe even win a cash prize. It offers the judge an opportunity to perform a critical assessment and offer advice.
The competition has become well known and well regarded. It has attracted judges with a high profile in the poetry world, and poems from poets both established and previously unknown have been included in the anthologies. Entries are received from throughout the United Kingdom and abroad. Winning poems are entered for the Forward Prize.
Some copies of previous competition anthologies are still available: please contact the competition secretary for details.
Previous judges
Sophie Hannah
Ken Smith
Anne-Marie Fyfe
Michael Laskey
Mimi Khalvati
Martyn Crucefix
Judi Benson
George Szirtes
Tamar Yoseloff
John Mole
Pat Borthwick
Robert Seatter
Carole Satyamurti
Dean Parkin
Susan Utting
Roddy Lumsden
Carrie Etter
Philip Gross
Hannah Lowe
John Greening
Maggie Butt
Glyn Maxwell
Kim Moore
Jonathan Edwards
Greta Stoddart
Paul Stephenson
Hannah Copley