Gregory O’Donoghue International Poetry Competition

Open for entries 1 September – 30 November

Most recent results here

Line limit: 40
Closing date: 30th November (midnight)
Entry fee: €7 per poem or €30 for a batch of five

The competition is open to original, unpublished and unbroadcast poems in the English language of 40 lines or fewer. The poem can be on any subject, in any style, by a writer of any nationality, living anywhere in the world. Translated work is not in the scope of this competition. Once entered, no alterations can be made to the submission. Simultaneous submissions are accepted but please notify us immediately should your work be accepted elsewhere.

Prizes

1st Prize

• €2,000
• Featured reading at the Cork International Poetry Festival (with four-night hotel stay and full board)
• Featured on the Southword Poetry Podcast
• Publication in Southword

2nd Prize

• €500
• Publication in Southword

3rd prize

• €250
• Publication in Southword

ten Runners-Up

• €50
• Publication in Southword

Judge 2024

Mary O’Malley

Mary O’Malley was born in Connemara in Ireland and educated at University College Galway. She served on the council of Poetry Ireland and was on the Committee of the Cúirt International Poetry Festival for eight years. She was the author of its educational programme. She taught on the MA programmes for Writing and Education in the Arts at NUI Galway for ten years, held the Chair of Irish Studies at Villanova University in 2013, and has held Residencies in Paris, Tarragona, New York, NUI Galway, as well as in Derry, Belfast. She is a member of Aosdána and has won a number of awards for her poetry, including the 2016 Arts Council University of Limerick Writer’s Fellowship and the 2018 Michael Hartnett Poetry Award for Playing the Octopus (2016). She was the Trinity Writer Fellow at the Oscar Wilde Centre for 2019.

Submission Details

Email entry

Send to: godcomp@munsterlit.ie
Subject: GOD entry

Attach the poem(s) for submission, with each poem attached separately (Word / RTF/ ODT – we cannot accept PDFs or weblinks such as Google Drive). Please use the title of the poem (or the first few words of the title) as the title of each document. As the competition is judged anonymously, we request that you do not write your name or personal details anywhere on this document.

Attach the cover letter (separate text document (Word / RTF / ODT – we cannot accept PDFs or weblinks such as Google Drive) attached to the same email, not in the body of the email). The cover letter should include:

• Your name
• Poem title(s)
• Email address
• Email associated with your PayPal account (if different from your contact email address)
• Phone number
• Postal address
• Image of PayPal receipt or the PayPal transaction ID number
• How your heard about the competition
• A brief bio (optional)

Payment of the entry fee can be made through this PayPal button only (available during submission period).

Postal Entry

• Poem(s) for submission (typed). To ensure anonymity, please do not write your name or any other personal details on the page. Each poem should be printed on a separate page with no back to back printing.
• Cover letter: see required details above. Cover letter should be on a separate page to ensure anonymity.
• Payment: If you have paid through PayPal, just quote the PayPal transaction ID. Alternatively, we accept cheques or bank drafts payable to the “Munster Literature Centre” in Euro, U.S Dollars or Pounds Sterling at a rate of €7 EUR per poem (or €30 EUR for a batch of five), $7 USD per poem (or $30 USD for a batch of five), or £6 GBP per poem (or £25 GBP for a batch of five). We also accept postal orders from the Republic of Ireland only. Please note that we cannot accept cash payment or Western Union money orders.
• Send to:
  Gregory O’Donoghue Competition,
  The Munster Literature Centre,
  84 Douglas Street,
  Cork, T12 X802
  Ireland
• Please do not send entries by registered post. Unfortunately, we are less likely to receive entries sent by registered post and your submission may be ineligible due to the delay incurred.
• If you would like us to send you confirmation of your postal entry, please include a self-addressed stamped postcard or envelope (if posted within Ireland). We can confirm the receipt of international entries via email.
• Postal entries postmarked on or before 31st November (even if received by us after the deadline) will be accepted.

Fees-Free entry

In a social justice initiative, the Munster Literature Centre is offering free entries of two poems each for thirty poets currently residing in a developing country (Africa, Central and South America, South East Asia, the Philippines, in the main) who do not have the financial means to pay the entrance fee for this year’s Gregory O’Donoghue International Poetry Competition. The places are offered on a trust basis. If you can afford the fee, we implore you not to use this facility as you will be depriving someone who really needs it. Only one free entry of two poems per person is allowed. Anyone who submits more than one free entry of two poems will have all their entries disqualified.

The above Submittable portal will bring you to the fee-free submission option. Entries will not be accepted by other means outside of this time. The portal will close automatically when 30 entries have been received. Prepare in advance the following information, ready to input into an online form (copy and paste) as soon as the submission opens on 1^st September (12 p.m. midday Irish Standard Time).

• Your name
• Titles of your poems (maximum of two)
• Your complete postal address
• Your email address
• Your complete phone number (including country code)

You will need to upload two documents:

• Cover letter containing a bio note and the same information listed above
• Your poems, maximum of two, each with a maximum of 40 lines in Word or other text documents – we cannot accept PDFs. Please use the title of the poem (or the first few words of the title) as the title of each document. As the competition is judged anonymously, we request that you do not write your name or personal details anywhere on this document.

No changes to entries can be made after they have been submitted. The Submittable portal is for fees-free entries only.

More about the competition

The Gregory O’Donoghue International Poetry Competition was first held in 2010. It is a poetry prize for a single poem, open to writers from around the world from September to November annually. Sponsored by the Munster Literature Centre, the prize is named in honour of the late Irish poet long associated with the Centre.

Due to the large volume of entries, the judge will not be able to notify the authors of non-winning entries or give individual feedback. A shortlist will be posted on our website homepage by late February / early March, with winners and runners-up contacted contacted before the public announcement. If you need to withdraw an entry, please email info@munsterlit.ie. We recommend following us on social media or signing up for our newsletter to stay up to date with all competition developments directly:

The Munster Literature Centre is a not-for-profit organisation; all money raised from the competition benefits writers and writing.

Previous Winners