TEIGNMOUTH Poetry Festival is approaching its tenth year and promises to live up to its status as a fixture on the national literary calendar. 

With the programme already in place, the organisers’ next task is to focus on fundraising to ensure ticket prices for festival events remain as low as possible. As in previous years, parent body Poetry Teignmouth are relying on their highly popular poetry competition as the main source of income.

Local writers have until January 31 to send in their poems – aiming for the £1,450 in prizes to be won. 

While the Open competition is international, attracting entries from countries around the world and judged by multi-award winning Fiona Benson, Devon-based poets compete for the Graham Burchell Award, set up in memory of Graham, past resident of Dawlish, who died in 2021. 

The judge for this award is well-known South Hams poet Sue Proffitt, who has herself previously featured in the list of prizewinners.  

There’s no theme for the competition – poems can be up to 40 lines on any subject. Online entry is via the website www.poetryteignmouth.com but postal entries are also welcome using entry forms which can be downloaded from the website or obtained in print format from the Pavilions Teignmouth, Devon libraries and many other local venues. 

Confirmed Festival dates are March 31 to April 2, with all events taking place in the Pavilions.

For more details about the festival, and competition rules go to  www.poetryteignmouth.com