Welcome to the 2024 Shooter Poetry Competition. Along with Shooter’s Short Story Competition (which reopens to entries in August 2024), our contests offer an additional means to spotlight literary excellence, with cash prizes and highlighted publication both in the pages of the magazine and online.

General submissions for each issue relate to a particular theme, but Shooter’s Poetry Competition offers a chance to write about whatever most compels you, in any style. We’re looking for sharply observed poetry with strong ideas, imaginative use of language, and meaningful form: in short, arresting poems that appeal to both the head and the heart.

In return for the entry fee (£4 per poem, or £10 for three), all entrants will receive an e-copy of Shooter’s Spring/Summer 2024 issue, featuring the winning poem.

• The winner of the 2024 Shooter Poetry Competition will receive £150, publication in the S/S issue and on the website, plus promotion on Shooter’s social media.
• The runner-up will receive £50, publication on Shooter’s website, and promotion on social media.
• All entrants will receive an e-copy of Shooter’s S/S issue.
• Poems may be any theme or style, up to 100 lines long.
• The competition is open to entries through May 26, 2024. Winners will be announced towards the end of June.
• Shooter requires first publication rights; following publication, rights revert to the author. Shooter reserves the right to publish the winning material in its print and online/e-book publications, as well as on Shooter’s social media.
• Proceeds from entry fees go toward prizes, contributor payments, and Shooter’s production costs, supporting our mission to promote the best new writing and encourage the principle of paying writers for their work.

To enter, please email your poem(s) in a doc/docx attachment to contest.shooterlitmag@gmail.com by the deadline of May 26, 2024. Include your name and title of poem(s) in the body of the email, with no authorial information on the attached document. Multiple entries are accepted.

Entry fees can be paid via the following links (card payments are also accepted via PayPal):

Single poem entry (quantities can be adjusted at checkout for multiple entries):

Discounted three-poem entry:

Please email shooterlitmag@gmail.com with any questions. We look forward to reading your work – good luck!