Shelley Memorial Project 2026 International Poetry Competition: Liberty
A glorious people vibrated again The lightning of the nations: Liberty From heart to heart, from tower to tower, o’er Spain, Scattering contagious fire into the sky, Gleamed.
from Ode to Liberty, Percy Bysshe Shelley,
inspired by the revolution in Spain in 1820
Prizes
1st Prize - £300
2nd Prize - £200
3rd Prize - £100
Plus the Sussex Cup, awarded for the best poem from a Sussex-based poet
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Bassie Gracie is the judge for the Shelley Memorial Project 2026 International Poetry Competiton.
Gracie is a punk performance poet who has been performing since 2017. Known for her captivating performances, Gracie has achieved notable success in her career.
She is known around festivals and independent venues nationwide. Amongst her most prominent accomplishments she includes hosting the Greenpeace stage at Glastonbury, showcasing her passion for environmental causes . Gracie has also toured extensively, supporting the the folk singer Beans on Toast across 37 dates around the UK and completing her own headline tour in 2024.
Gracie runs her own poetry night in Brighton, fostering a vibrant local scene. Gracie is also dedicated to education and community engagement, conducting poetry workshops in schools and collaborating with the English Touring Opera. Following in the footsteps of John Cooper Clarke and Kae Tempest, Gracie makes poetry accessible and engaging and somehow, a financially viable career path.
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The competition is open to anyone aged 18 and over.
Poems may be up to 40 lines.
Entries to be typed in a black standard font, 12 pt.Entry fee £5.00 per poem. You may enter up to four poems in the competition.
Poems should be accompanied by an entry form.
The poet’s name should not appear on the poems themselves.
Poems must be the original work of the named author.
Poems must not have been previously published (including on-line), nor won a prize in any competition.
The deadline for receipt of entries is midnight on the 15 July 2026.
The organisers accept no responsibility for entries that are incorrectly submitted or not delivered due to technical faults.
By entering the competition, entrants agree to accept and be bound by the rules of the competitions and the decisions of the judges.
The copyright of each poem remains with the author, but will appear on the SMP website and in our social media.
The judge’s decision is final. Once a poem has been submitted, no amendments to the text will be accepted.
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Each entry should be accompanied by an entry form.
Liberty was an important theme in much of Shelley's radical poetry. In these poems he conveyed his outrage at the political turmoil in Europe at the end of the 18th century and his support for the fight against tyranny. In our own times, that turmoil and fight against tyranny continues in many parts of the globe, and poets still use their work to call for liberty for the oppressed. Other poets take inspiration from liberty as a state of being in other ways, writing about freedom of spirit, freedom of choice, freedom as it relates to whole range of emotions or writing of liberty as a state that can be celebrated and not just by humans; rivers run free and we aspire to be as free as birds, for example.
In this year's poetry competition we invite submissions on the theme of Liberty in a context of the poet’s choice.
Our competition this year is being generously sponsored by the Radical Tea Towel Company and by Courtney Green Estate Agents.
Radical Tea Towel is incredibly proud to sponsor this year's Shelley Memorial Project poetry competition. Shelley’s fierce commitment to challenging tyranny and his vision of a better world is exactly the kind of history we celebrate. The theme of 'Liberty' is as vital today as it was in 1820, and we can't wait to read how it inspires a new generation of writers.
Poems are £5 per entry and may be submitted by email or post. See entry form.
Entries close at midnight on 15th July 2026.