Wells young poets wanted for rap, rhyme and verse
By Laura Linham 30th Jun 2026
Rap, hip-hop, Shakespeare-style drama, notebook scribbles that turned out better than expected — Wells Festival of Literature wants the lot.
The festival's 2026 Young Poets Competition is open to writers aged 16 to 22, with entries accepted until Friday, 31 July. Organisers are inviting young people to submit up to three poems and show off their word skills, whatever form those words take.
The entry fee is £3 per poem, with a top prize of £200. Second prize is £150 and third prize is £100, while winners will also receive a year's membership to The Poetry Society.
The prize giving and poetry reading will take place on Monday, 19 October, starting at 2 pm as part of Wells Festival of Literature. Young writers are being asked to read the rules, terms and conditions before entering.
This year's judge is Julia Webb, a writer and artist based in Norwich. She has published four poetry collections with Nine Arches Press: Bird Sisters, Threat, The Telling and Grey Time.
Julia won the Poetry Society's Stanza competition in 2011 and the Battered Moons Poetry Competition in 2018. Two of her poems have also been highly commended in the Forward Prize.
She has taught creative writing for organisations including Lapidus, MIND, Norfolk County Council and The SAW Trust. In 2016, she was writer in residence on Norwich Market.
In 2024, Julia was commissioned by the National Centre for Writing and the Living Wage Foundation to write a poem for Living Wage Week. She now runs poetry courses, mentors poets and is steering editor for Lighthouse, a journal for new writers.
The Young Poets Competition opened on 1 April and closes on 31 July 2026. Entries are open to young writers who want to put rap, rhyme, spoken word, lyric poetry or something harder to label in front of a published poet.
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