Competition

TripAdvisor reviews — with added spice

4 April 2020 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3142 you were invited to supply a review on TripAdvisor that has been spiced up with a…

Songs to wash your hands by

28 March 2020 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3141, you were invited to submit a song we cansing instead of ‘Happy Birthday’ during hand-washing. Congratulations…

The secret lives of poets

21 March 2020 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3140 you were invited to submit a poem in the style of a famous poet in which…

Spectator competition winners: Grave thoughts

14 March 2020 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3139 you were invited to submit a four-line verse epitaph for a well-known person, living or dead.…

Spectator competition winners: lines on a young lady’s Instagram

7 March 2020 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3138 you were invited to submit a poem entitled ‘Lines on a Young Lady’s Instagram’. Thanks to…

By George

29 February 2020 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3137, to mark the 70th anniversary of George Orwell’s death, you were invited to submit a short…

3136: Love me don't

21 February 2020 10:00 pm

In Competition No. 3136 you were invited to submit a lonely hearts ad guaranteed to send those looking for love…

Just the job

15 February 2020 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3135 you were invited to submit an application letter for a job at No. 10 from a fictional…

Cat call

7 February 2020 10:00 pm

In Competition No. 3134 you were invited to submit a poem featuring one of T.S. Eliot’s practical cats getting to…

Competition: Food glorious food

1 February 2020 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3133 you were invited to provide a passage about food written in the style of a well-known…

Bizarre books

24 January 2020 10:00 pm

In Competition No. 3132 you were invited to submit an extract from one of the following books: Noah Gets Naked:…

You must remember this

18 January 2020 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3131 you were invited to submit a poem beginning ‘Yes. I remember…’ This challenge was suggested by…

Trochaics

11 January 2020 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3130 you were invited to add to Sam Leith’s lines about Boris Johnson, written in the metre…

The night before

21 December 2019 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3129 you were invited to submit a poem entitled ‘’Twas the Night Before Brexit’. That seasonal classic…

Dear Santa

14 December 2019 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3128 you were invited to submit letters to Santa written in the style of the author of…

Brow lines

7 December 2019 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3127 you were invited to submit Shakespeare’s newly discovered ‘Woeful ballad to his mistress’ eyebrows’, as referred…

What’s in a name?

30 November 2019 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3126 you were invited to rearrange the letters of the names of poets (e.g. Basho: ‘has B.O.’)…

First or last

23 November 2019 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3125 you were invited to compose a comically appalling first or final paragraph of the memoir of…

It’s a date!

16 November 2019 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3124 you were invited to compose clerihews about any date in the calendar. I was very grateful…

Station to station

9 November 2019 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3123 you were invited to submit a poem that begins ‘By Waterloo Station I sat down and…

Much have I travelled

2 November 2019 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3122, to mark the demise of the 178-year-old travel company, you were invited to submit a poem…

Going concern

26 October 2019 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3121 you were invited to submit a song entitled ‘50 Ways to Leave the White House’.  …

Back space

19 October 2019 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3120 you were invited to submit a poem reflecting on the Apollo 11 moon landing written in…

Watch the birdie

12 October 2019 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3119 you were invited to submit a poem about yellowhammers. This sparrow-sized songbird has inspired poetry from…

Here be monsters

5 October 2019 9:00 am

In Competition No. 3118, which was inspired by Joan Didion’s wonderful essay of that title, you were invited to submit…