Briefly Write Poetry Prize 2025 – Results

So many poems, so many portals.

This is the fifth time we have hosted the Briefly Write Poetry Prize. For five wonderful years, we have invited the world to write us a poem. The rules are simple: send one poem, any poem (that you have written), keep it under ten lines, be brief!, dazzle us, amaze us.

Each year, we spend months reading and re-reading every entry. Each year, the process seems to take longer; although the number of entries has stayed remarkably consistent since 2021, the publication date has crept later and later. In 2025, we have narrowly beaten the New Year’s bells.

Among more than 1,000 poems, we were treated to an abundance of themes and styles, from bookstores to sonnets, floods to fathers, and ghosts to golden shovels. As always, we are grateful for our supportive community of readers and writers who understand that even if the poems are small, the care and effort that goes into reading and judging them is not.

We think the winning and shortlisted poems are well worth the wait. We hope you do too. Please feel free to send us your feedback on the competition and our choices.

This year, we are also breaking new ground by giving out £100 in prizes for the first time. It pays to be brief.

Until next year,

Daniel & Elinor

FIRST

Lawrence Bradby, ‘Shade’

SECOND

Cindy Kluck-Nygren, ‘Homesick’

THIRD

Kafui Siabi, ‘The Boy by the Kiosk’

SHORTLIST

Anaum Sajanlal, ‘Golden Shovel Against Bureaucracy’

Cailín Frankland, ‘Alive, Alive, Oh’

Amy Devine, ‘Starting Over’

K Roberts, ‘windfallen’

LONGLIST

Melanie Hyo-In Han ~ Tara Campbell ~ Marvellous Mmesomachi Igwe ~ Ellen Romano ~ Ben McGuire ~ Arushi Prakash ~ Robert Henry ~ Alina Khasanova ~ Thomas Valicenti ~ Joseph Paulson ~ Madeleine Oliver ~ Shégx ~ Elena Zhang ~ Lisa Mullenneaux ~ Augusta Anne ~ Matthew Sheret ~ Faiz Ahmad~ Winifred Mok ~ Maia Evrona ~ K. R. Thunderman ~ Lauren Mills ~ Eshwari ~ J.S. ~ Eleanor Keisman ~ Hannah Bagley ~ Susmita Ramani ~ Heather D Haigh ~ Wema Charles ~ Kris Spencer ~ Azalea Aguilar ~ Steve Denehan ~ Tricia Knoll ~ Asambhava Shubha ~ Opeyemi Oluwayomi ~ Dylan Rossi ~ Katherine Garrison ~ Scott Dalgarno

All the past winners

Briefly Write is a little literary space for bold, succinct writing. We publish an online zine of quality writing and photos. We provide free-to-enter poetry and fiction competitions with cash prizes. We are active members of the literary community, obsessive readers and supportive editors.