Every Tuesday at 12pm (Irish time) from 9th April 2024 – 28th January 2025, five words will be posted on the organizer’s competition page. Entrants will have one week to compose and submit one or more poems which include all five words given for that week. The winners and shortlist are announced around the first week of March.

A prize of 750 euros will be awarded to the winner, plus 500 euros for second place and 250 euros for third place. These three, if available will be invited to read at Ó Bhéal’s eighteenth anniversary (hybrid) event, on Monday the 14th of April 2025. Should winners be able to attend in person, then an additional travel fee of 100 euro plus B&B accommodation will be provided.

The shortlisted poems and winning entry will also be published in Five Words Vol XVIII – the anthology of five word poems to be launched at the same event. A shortlist of twelve poems including the overall winner will be announced by the first week of March 2025.

Entry is open to all countries. Poems cannot exceed 50 lines in length (including line breaks), and must include all five words listed for the week.

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.