The Regeneration Project is run by RENARD PRESS, an award-winning independent publisher.

Following the success of the New Beginnings project in 2021, the Spectrum project in 2022, the Kinship project in 2023, Building Bridges in 2024 and the Interwoven project in 2025, The Regeneration project seeks to expand the conversation. We want the resulting anthology – scheduled for November – to be a wide-ranging exploration of nature, a cry for change and a celebration of the forces for good all around us.

Send us your poems exploring people and nature, answering the overall title of ‘Regeneration’. Some poems might be upbeat, perhaps exploring very specific positive news stories around rewilding – taking in the birth of the first wild bison in the UK for 1,000 years, say, or buzzing with honey bees thriving in a concrete jungle. Others might have a darker thread, finding new shoots in seemingly ravaged landscapes. As ever we’re keen to see a wide variety of interpretations, so long as the poetry answers the theme and has an element of the intertwining of people and nature. We look forward to reading your work!

Please note: we do not accept submissions created by or with the help of AI.

Details and entry

Timeline
Competition opens on Friday 8th May 2026
Closes on Sunday 28th June 2026.
Longlist to be announced 28th August 2026
Shortlist announced 25th Sept 2026
Winners announced at a virtual launch on Monday 16th November – save the date!

Who can enter
Entry cost: free
Open to: anyone, anywhere, any age. We’re particularly keen to hear from those who do not feel their voice or community/ies have been well represented in traditional or mainstream media.
Poetry length: up to 100 lines or 750 words (whichever is lower), only one previously unpublished (see rules) poem per applicant. Refer to rules in full before submitting.

Prizes
1st prize: £200
2nd prize: £100
Special mentions at the judges’ discretion.

All of the poems on the shortlist will be published in a volume, everyone included will receive a copy of the book, and all are invited to take place in an online launch event.

Rules

We want to keep this fairly simple and open – the only rules we have for entry are below.

• There is no minimum (or maximum) age requirement for entry, but please bear in mind that if you’re under 18 you legally need to have parental or guardian consent to enter. Anyone can submit, but please read the brief first and make sure that your poem and entry fits.
• The work must be completely your own, and must not have been made by or with the assistance of artificial intelligence systems (‘AI’, by which we mean large language generative models – for the avoidance of doubt: spell-check is fine; any words generated by or with help from a system like ChatGPT are not). Why? Because these platforms are created and profit by the wholesale ‘alleged’ stealing of others’ creative work; because they are not capable of imagination, which we place a premium on; and because our anthologies seek to celebrate the breadth of human talent and experience.
• We ask that your poem is previously unpublished at the time of submission, and kindly request that you don’t submit it elsewhere in the mean time. Why? Because we’re really after poems that are fresh out of the door (fine if you’ve published the poem on your Instagram, but a bit different if it’s been in a collection and three anthologies already). And because, while we only ask for non-exclusive volume rights (ie if you’re shortlisted you sign a short agreement with Renard giving us permission to publish your poem in the anthology), some other publishers are less transparent and have broader clauses, so you run the risk of having to withdraw if another publisher has accepted your work and you’ve given them exclusivity.
• Please do not include photographs or illustrations.
• Please only submit once – we will only consider your first entry if you enter again.
• Entries must be received by 11.59PM on Sunday 28th June 2026 to be considered.

Enter

Entry is via this Google form. We hope that this is straightforward, but if you have any queries please don’t hesitate to be in touch.
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