Around the World poetry competition
By Ōtepoti He Puna Auaha | Dunedin UNESCO City of Literature | Posted: Tuesday Jul 14, 2026
In the lead-up to National Poetry Day 2026, the Poets XYZ are running a nationwide competition for adults who write poetry for children. Entries close Friday 31 July 2026.
Winning poems to be celebrated on National Poetry Day, Friday 28th August 2026
Theme: 'Around the World' – to be interpreted as widely and wildly as entrants like
Winning poem: $50 book voucher
Judge: Renowned children’s writer and poet, Bill Nagelkerke
Criteria:
Entry is free
Open to anyone in New Zealand aged 18 years and over
Send in up to three poems aimed at 5-12 year olds
There is a 25 line limit per poem
Poems should be previously unpublished (including not on private blogs, websites, social media)
Poems should be all your own work and not have any AI generated content. Any poems found to have AI generated content will be disqualified
Poems should be written in English
Previous winners are welcome to enter.
To Submit:
Poems should be in a single Word document. Please use the title of your first poem as the file name for this document. Please don’t include your name anywhere in this document
You will need to provide a short author bio including a sentence or two about why you write poetry for children (up to 100 words)
Preferred method: Completing the online entry form (requires Google account) at https://forms.gle/VbSJrzm6D23w1tvq7
Alternative method: Emailing your Word document to thepoetsxyz@gmail.com. Please put Around the World Poetry Competition in the subject line. In the body of your email please include your name, the title(s) of your poem(s) and a brief author bio (up to 100 words) and 2-3 sentences about why you write poetry for children
The Fine Print:
By submitting an entry, you are consenting to your poem:
being promoted as part of National Poetry Day 2026 which may include being published in whole or in part on social or other media;
being published on social and other media to promote poetry for children in New Zealand and any future poetry for children competitions run by The Poets XYZ for National Poetry Day;
being used in future digital or printable media to promote poetry for children in New Zealand.
Writers will retain copyright of their poems. Unfortunately it is not possible to provide personal feedback for each entry we receive.
Thank you to National Poetry Day, SLANZA and BookHub for their support for this event.
For more info email thepoetsxyz@gmail.com or visit Poets XYZ on Facebook