With the disappointing news that the McLellan Arts Festival will be postponed for another year, we are happy to report that the McLellan Poetry Competition is going ahead and open for submissions until 11th July. The McLellan Poetry Prize is awarded by the Arran Theatre and Arts Trust as part of the annual McLellan Arts Festival.
Now in its fourteenth year, past judges have included Kathleen Jamie, Robert Crawford, Jackie Kay, Peter and Ann Sansom, Michael Laskey, Simon Armitage, David Constantine, Maura Dooley, Sinéad Morrissey and Sean O’Brien. No competition was held in 2020 due to COVID restrictions. A decision has sadly been made that due to continuing restrictions on indoor events, the live Arts Festival will be postponed until 2022.
However, the 2021 Poetry Competition is going ahead and is now open for submissions. The judge this year will be the poet Luke Wright, recent winner of the Saboteur Award 2021 for the best Spoken Word Performer.
Entry is online or by post. Please click here for more details. The closing date for entries is Sunday 11th July (at midnight).
Prizewinners will be notified individually before 14th August 2021. A virtual presentation night for the winning and commended entries will be presented by Luke Wright (who will also read some of his own work) on Thursday 26th August at 7.30 pm. The winning and commending entrants will be invited to read their entries.
The results of the competition with copies of the poems will be published on the festival website within one week of the award ceremony. Please review the Competition Rules before submitting your poem(s).
Luke Wright
Dubbed “the bard of lockdown’ by The Telegraph after his marathon of 100 online gigs, Luke is the author of four books of poems, three verse plays and ten poetry stage shows, and has recently won the Saboteur Award 2021 for the best Spoke Word Performer. He has toured his work all over the world and his work is regularly broadcast on television and radio.