We are delighted to announce the poems which have made The 13^th Annual Bangor Poetry Competition’s Longlist.

This year’s themes were: Root. Essence. Journey.

We received a record amount of entries this year (of really excellent quality), so thank you to everyone who entered the competition, we thoroughly enjoyed reading your work.

A final Shortlist of 10 poems (taken from the longlist) will be published on our online gallery around 10am on Saturday 19^th September.  These 10 poems will be available to read at your leisure, and you can vote for your top three until Tuesday 22^nd September at 10pm.  The shortlisted poets will be invited to read their poems at the celebration launch event in Bangor Castle on Sunday 27^th September at 7pm.

There are not many complimentary tickets remaining- so please grab one now before they all go.  Ticket Link: Aspects 2026: The 13th Bangor Poetry Competition and Launch of Issue 24 of The Bangor Literary Journ at Bangor Castle event tickets from TicketSource

The 13^th Annual Bangor Poet Competition Longlist:

A Poet in Every Port Special