Vanessa Lampert is an Acupuncturist, mentor, editor and teacher of poetry. Her work is widely published, recently in Magma, The Oxford Times, The Rialto, The London Magazine, Under the Radar, Oxford Poetry, and Poetry London. She runs workshops nationwide for adults and in schools and volunteers at Oxford Poetry Library. She was a co-founder of The Alchemy Spoon magazine.

Vanessa has won the Café Writers, Edward Thomas, Ashdown Forest and Sentinel prizes and the Ver Poetry prize (twice). She has been placed in many others including commendations in the Troubadour, Magma, Bridport, Verve, and National Competitions.

Vanessa’s pamphlet On Long Loan was published by Live Canon in 2020 and her full collection Say It With Me was published by Seren in 2023. Poems from that collection have been published in the Daily Telegraph poem of the week and the Forward Prizes anthology 2024.

Conditions of Entry

The Ver Poets Open Competition is for poems on any theme and in any form. It is open to anybody aged 16 or over. There is no initial sifting process and Vanessa Lampert will receive all entries. Her decision is final.

To be eligible for the competition, poems must be no more than 30 lines in length. Each poem should be typed clearly, in English, on one side only of A4: one poem only per sheet. Competitors’ names and addresses must not appear anywhere on the poems.

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If entering by post: TWO COPIES OF EACH POEM please. Please write your contact details and the titles of all poems clearly on the entry form. Please indicate method of payment: cheque to Ver Poets or bank transfer to: 40-40-01 82410419. Please send entries to: Competitions Secretary, 84 High Street, Sandridge, St Albans AL4 9BZ. 

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Download an entry form here​

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Entry Online and by email:

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Details are to follow shortly.

Competitors may submit any number of poems for a fee of £5.00 per poem, 3 poems for £12, £4 per poem thereafter. Payments may be made by bank transfer (Name: Ver Poets, Sort Code: 40-40-01, Account Number: 82410419) or cheques/postal orders (sterling only). It is not advisable to send cash in the post. Entries must be received no later than April 30th 2026.

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Thanks to the generosity of previous winners Vanessa Lampert and Emma Simon, there are a limited number of free entries 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 three poems per entry. To enter, please email your work together with a description of your reasons for requesting a free entry, to verpoets@gmail.com. Please use ‘Free Entry for Ver Open Competition 2026’ as the subject line of your email.

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Poems must be the original work of the competitor. Poems should not have been generated in part or entirely by AI programming (e.g. ChatGPT etc.). They should not have been published, or accepted for publication, in print or online. They should not have won prizes in other competitions, be simultaneously entered for other competitions or be translations of other poets’ work. No competitor may win more than one prize.

The copyright of all poems selected for the anthology will remain with the author but we reserve the right to publish poems from the anthology on our website and social media and in our newsletter. Copies of the competition anthology, The Ver Prize 2026, may be ordered by including a payment of £5 per copy plus £1 post and packaging. Selected and prizewinning poets will be informed by post or email  in June and invited to read at a prize giving event. Results will be posted on our website in July.

A donation will be made from the proceeds to The Pioneer Club, St Albans, a safe haven for young people, providing opportunities for them to grow their confidence and resilience and promote positive wellbeing.