The Manchester Cathedral Poetry Competition 2026 will open for submissions on August 26th with the theme of ‘Unsung City’.

The theme invites poems that seek out stories from the archives, revisit forgotten aspects of local history and celebrate unsung social histories in Greater Manchester. 

‘Archives’ here might include historical records held by the city, material available online and personal family records – including stories passed between generations and communities.

In a year where partner organisations such as People’s History Museum are celebrating the centenary of the General Strike of 1926, the competition welcome poems exploring radical movements, groups and events such as Chartism; the Suffragettes; Peterloo; the Plug Riots; Winter Hill Trespass; the Sun Inn Poets; and the Pan-African Conference of 1945; up to modern protest movements and community initiatives such as Block the Block and Save Ryebank Fields. 

The judges will be looking for poems written for, through and with local people, especially those with which we have personal connections, such as Gboyega Odubanjo’s ‘Blessed Princess Lady’, in which he states, ‘my mother is a heritage site’. They are looking for poems that explore historical memory with lyrical richness and celebrate elements of social life that rarely get memorialised through statues or plaques.

This year’s judges are: Tom Branfoot, Ayo Ada Ogolo, Harry Ledgerwood and Dean Rogers Govender.

The winning prize is £200, with £50 for second place and £25 for third place. There will be 10 highly commended poems with no financial renumeration.

Application Information and Eligibility Criteria

• This competition is judged anonymously. Do not include your name on the submission.
• One poem equals one entry. 
• The first submission is free, if poets wish to submit more than one poem, each additional entry is £5. 
• To pay for additional entries use this donation form and quote the receipt number on your email.
• Poems must be unpublished. 
• Poems must be no longer than 30 lines. 
• Please send submissions as a Word doc. or PDF file.
• We will not consider AI-generated content. 
• Entrants can be of any or no faith. 
• Entrants can be any age. 
• We encourage under-16 entrants to state their age in the email body.
• No previous experience of creative writing or poetry required. 
• All are welcome.

Entries do not have to be religious, can be written in any form, and on any subject as you see it relating to the theme. If you feel that the poem requires any supplementary information to contextualise its relation to the theme then please include that within the document (such information will not count toward the line limit). 

Submissions should be sent to: submissions@manchestercathedral.org with a small biographical note in the email.

Submissions open on August 26th and close at midnight on October 21st. The winning and highly commended poets will be announced in December. 

In the afternoon of Sunday January 24th 2027 there will be prize ceremony at Manchester Cathedral with readings from the winning and commended poets. 

All commended and prize-winning poems will be collated and printed in an anthology pamphlet. The first, second and third prize poems will be displayed throughout the year in Manchester Cathedral. The winning poem will also be featured in Manchester City of Literature’s communications. 

If you have any questions about the theme or general enquiries, do not hesitate to contact: tom.branfoot@manchestercathedral.org