The International Dark Poets Prize

The International Dark Poets Prize returns for its fifth edition, serving as the flagship global competition for the Dark Poets Club. The collective provides a dedicated platform for emerging and established writers whose work embraces “real-world rawness” and themes that mainstream publications might find too heavy or intense.

Poets worldwide are invited to submit pieces exploring the beauty, complexity, and intrigue found within the shadows. The contest welcomes all styles of verse that lean into the gothic, melancholic, macabre, unsettling, surreal, or quietly haunting. Keeping with the organizer’s philosophy that great poetry should be shared without limitations, previously published work is fully welcome and accepted. All entries are automatically considered for future publication on the club’s platforms, and a portion of all submission fees is donated to the mental health charity SANE. Poems must be submitted in English.

For this landmark fifth edition, the competition introduces its largest prize pool yet, transitioning to award major financial prizes to three individual top entries alongside a series of shortlist selections and honourable mentions.

First Prize: £1000 plus a Dark Poets Prize certification and a Dark Poets Club T-shirt

Is this competition legit?YES! – Based on our research this event is legitimate and the organizer is well established. However, as with any event, please remember to do your own research before submitting your work.

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