DIRT PLANTABLE POETRY COMPETITION: JUNE 1 - 14, 2026
We’re inviting poets who care deeply about our living planet and want to experience writing in collaboration with another poet to submit work for our first DIRT plantable poetry competition pamphlet.
DIRT commissions pairs of poets to write collaborative poems in response to climate science. Our project models Earth-positive publishing. Previous commissions include poets Clare Pollard paired with Anglia Ruskin student Freya Sacksen, and Alycia Pirmohamed paired with Hannah Copley.
“ The whole collaboration experience was so lovely that we carried on writing and talking about it afterwards. Honestly, DIRT’s one of the most magical things to be a part of, just do it! Being involved in a DIRT collaboration and getting to work with Alycia and Alice really has changed how I think about writing and my creative practice.” ~ Hannah Copley
DIRT plantable poetry is published by Dialect Press with support from the Laura Kinsella Foundation, the Global Sustainability Institute at Anglia Ruskin University and our marvellous, individual reader-supporters.
PRIZES
FIRST PRIZE: Six winning poets will be paired to write a collaborative poem for publication in our first DIRT plantable poetry competition pamphlet.
RUNNERS UP: Ten shortlisted poets (including the winners) will be paid £20 for their selection poem to be published online with Dialect Press, and offered six months free membership in the Meadow, Dialect’s writing collective.
DIRT’s commissioning editor, Alice Willitts, with guest editor and Foyle Young Poet, Joe Wright, will choose a shortlist of ten poets. Shortlisted poets will be notified by email in July.
All shortlisted poets will be paid £20 for their selected poem, which will be published online with Dialect Press and offered six months free membership on Meadow, Dialect’s writing collective.
From the shortlist, six winning poets will be paired by the editors, creating three pairs of poets. Alice and Joe will pair the winners by looking for contrasting resonances where they think interesting poetry will emerge from the connections.
Each pair will be given the same piece of climate science to write a collaborative poem, with mentoring and editorial support by experienced collaborative poet and DIRT editor, Alice Willitts.
The poems will be published in a competition edition of DIRT plantable poetry pamphlet.
In addition to mentoring and collaborating, the winning poets will receive 3 copies of the competition DIRT pamphlet.
There will be an online launch 23 September, 2026.
Submissions open 1 June and close midnight GMT on 14 June 2026
Please submit poems that best showcase your style. If you enter as a collaborating pair, the same applies, send us your best poems. We want to read your voice, see what draws your attention in the world.
JUDGES
DIRT editor Alice Willitts is a poet and plantswoman from the Fens. Her mission is to create work that collaborates with Nature without costing the Earth. Kiss My Earth (Blue Diode) is her second poetry collection, her first collection With Love won the Live Cannon collection competition and her first pamphlet Dear, won the Magma pamphlet competition. Her work has been longlisted for the National Poetry Prize and shortlisted for the Ivan Juritz Prize. She is co-editor of Bending The Arc, a magazine of writing for better futures and shares new, thrutopian poetry in a co-authored pamphlet, We’ll Meet You There (Dialect Press). www.alicewillittspoet.uk
Guest editor Joe Wright is an emerging poet from the North Pennines. He’s a T.S. Eliot Prize Young Critic for The Poetry Society, was a Foyle Young Poet of the Year 2022, came second in the Young Northern Writers’ Awards 2022 and is a member of The Writing Squad. He studies English at Magdalene College, Cambridge.
SUBMITTING YOUR POEMS
We welcome work from all genres of poetry and are actively seeking the widest diversity of voices.
Please submit a poem on any theme that best showcases your style. If you enter as a collaborating pair, the same applies, send us your best poem. We want to read your voice, see what draws your attention in the world.
Entry £6 for the first poem and £4 for subsequent poems. You can submit up to six poems and pay the appropriate fees below.
If entering 1 poem, please submit your poem as a PDF and put your name on the page.
If entering more than 1 poem, please put all your poems in a single PDF document, starting each poem on a new page, and put your name on each page.
If entering as an existing pair of collaborators, please submit as above with both names on each page and pay the appropriate fees.
Submissions open on 1 June, 2026
Submissions close at midnight GMT on 14 June 2026
To be reminded when the submissions window is opening and closing, add the date to your diary.
MAKE YOUR PAYMENT
Submit
Use the form below to submit your entry to the DIRT Competition 2026.
Please use one form for both single poet and collaborative entries.
We welcome work from all genres and are seeking the widest diversity of voices.
Please submit your poems as a single PDF, start each poem on a new page and put your name on every page.
COMPETITION RULES
There is no line limit for poems (however please bear in mind the stamina of the judges). Please just send what you think best represents you and your voice.
Poems must be the original work of the entrant and must not have been published, self-published or published online or broadcast.
Poems must be written in English, or translated into English alongside the original.
No corrections can be made to poems entered, nor can fees be refunded.
Copyright of each poem remains with the poet, but by entering the competition you give the organisers the right to publish the winning poems both online and in printed media.
Prizewinners will be notified in July and lists of the prizewinners will be published on the Dialect website and social media.
The judge’s decision is final and neither they nor the organisers will enter into any correspondence. Entries will be judged by DIRT editor, Alice Willitts, and guest editor, Joe Wright after the closing date of the 14th June.
The competition organisers reserve the right to change the judge without notice and not to award prizes if in the judge’s opinion such an action is justified.
Personal data will only be used for the purposes of administering the competition and will not be retained longer than necessary.
We request that you submit only PDF documents. If this is a barrier to entry, please send your poems in a format that is accessible to you. We will do our best and thank you for your consideration of our preference for PDFs.
The competition is open to poets anywhere in the world. You will need to be able to communicate with your paired poet, and we will be asking you about how you intend to do this within the timeframe, before making the final selection.
There are a limited number of free entries available for writers on low or supported incomes. These will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis and will cover the submission of up to two poems. To enter, please email your work to DIRT@dialect.org.ukwith the name of your poem(s) in the subject line of the email. Please include a 50 word biography in the email. If entering as an existing pair, please add all this information for both poets in the one email. Entries will be entered into the competition.