Put your words to work! ​The impoverished community of Agaria Island in Uganda is building its first school, using ecological bricks. All entry fees will be used to equip pupils with books and scholastic materials. Founded in 2017, Trio Uganda is a volunteer-led micro charity with no paid staff and minimal overheads.

The competition is open to anyone in any part of the world aged 16 or over  at the time of entry.

Poems must be written in English. They can be on any subject but must not exceed 40 lines (excluding the title). The copyright of each poem remains with the author.

Poems must be your original work, be previously unpublished in any format and may not be entered into any other competition until the results of this competition are announced.

The closing submission date of the competition is midnight (UK time) on 31st October 2024. Winners will be announced by the end of November.

All poems are judged anonymously.

Prizes:

• Winner £1,000
• 2nd £300
• 3rd £100

Judge: Angela Graham. Born in Northern Ireland, Angela has had an award-winning career as afilm maker and screenwriter in Wales and is an Honorary Life Fellow of the Institute of Welsh Affairs. Her poetry collection Star: Poetry for the Christmas Season is out this summer from Culture And Democracy Press.

We are keen to encourage quality, so suggest writers to check their stories before submitting using Prowritingaid. They have free and paid versions and are the best writing software we know to help improve grammar, readability and check for repetition, ‘sticky’ sentences and suggest alternatives.