Competition

It’s a rap

6 December 2014 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2876 you were invited to submit an example of an ill-advised foray by a poet laureate, past…

Verse Viagra

29 November 2014 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2875 you were invited to submit a poem about an unlikely aphrodisiac. Thanks are due to that…

Problem child

22 November 2014 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2874 you were invited to submit a scene written by a well-known children’s author of the past…

Concrete poem

15 November 2014 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2873 you were invited to submit a poem in praise or dispraise of a well-known building. It…

Thanks but no thanks

8 November 2014 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2872 you were invited to submit an author’s acknowledgments page that contains subtle indications that no thanks…

Two hander

1 November 2014 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2871 you were invited to submit a dialogue in verse between man and God. The tone of…

Autumn villanelle

25 October 2014 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2870 you were invited to submit an autumn villanelle. Stephen Fry likes villanelles. The form inspired him…

Spooner verse

18 October 2014 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2869 you were invited to submit a poem on any theme as it might have been written…

Magic touch

11 October 2014 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2868 you were invited to take something mundane and filter it through the lens of magic realism.…

And another thing

4 October 2014 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2867 you were invited to add a final stanza to a well-known poem. Nicholas Stone imagined how…

Prose poem

27 September 2014 8:00 am

In Competition No. 2866 you were invited to pick a well-known poem and write a short story with the same…

Selfie

20 September 2014 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2865 you were invited to compose a poet’s elegy for him or herself. This challenge took you…

Hidden benefits

13 September 2014 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2864 you were invited to submit an imaginary feature from a newspaper’s health pages extolling the benefits…

Rhyme time

6 September 2014 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2863 you were invited to recast a well-known nursery rhyme in the style of a well-known author.…

Dark thoughts

30 August 2014 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2862 you were invited to submit a poetic preview of when the lights go out. Submissions were…

Tourist misinformation

23 August 2014 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2861 you were invited to submit misleading snippets of advice for British tourists travelling abroad. A previous…

Pet sounds

16 August 2014 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2860 you were invited to submit a short ode on the death of a pet in unusual…

Voter repellent

9 August 2014 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2859 you were invited to submit an offputting party political broadcast by the Tories, Labour, the Lib…

Hidden talent

2 August 2014 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2858 you were invited to imagine that a well-known figure from 20th-century history was a secret poet…

Spinning Jenny

26 July 2014 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2857 you were invited to take the first line of Leigh Hunt’s mini rondeau ‘Jenny Kissed me’,…

Soccer lesson

19 July 2014 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2856 you were invited to recruit a well-known author of your choice to give Phil Neville a…

Dead-end job

12 July 2014 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2855 you were invited to compose an elegy for an endangered profession. Estate agents, travel agents, publishers,…

Fresh food

5 July 2014 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2854 you were invited to invent a title for a new cookery book, with a fresh angle,…

Ground work

28 June 2014 9:00 am

In Competition No. 2853 you were asked to incorporate the following words (they are real geological terms) into a piece…

Unlikely champion

21 June 2014 8:00 am

In Competition No. 2852 you were invited to step into the shoes of a well-known writer of your choice and…