Acclaimed poet Maura Dooley is to judge the 2019 Guernsey International Poetry Competition – Poems on the Move, which is launched this month as part of next year’s Guernsey Literary Festival and will attract entries from all over the world.

Maura Dooley, who was born in Cornwall but now lives in London, has had her latest collection of poetry, The Silvering, published by Bloodaxe. She was poet-in-residence at the Jane Austen House Museum in Chawton and poems from this residency are published as A Quire of Paper. Last year, with Elhum Shakerifa, she published versions of poetry by exiled Iranian writer Azita Ghahreman, Negative of a Group Photograph. Dooley’s work has been shortlisted for the T S Eliot Prize and the Forward Prize. She is a Fellow of The Royal Society of Literature and teaches at Goldsmith’s, University of London.

A poem by London writer Josh Eckroy dealing with the challenging subject of post traumatic stress disorder, scooped the £1000 first prize in the open section of the 2018 competition. A record number of entries came from 30 countries, from as far afield as New Zealand, Malaysia and Botswana as well as from all over Europe and North America and from many parts of the British Isles. The competition has run since 2010 and is sponsored by Guernsey Post and supported by the Guernsey Arts Commission.

As in past years, the competition is split into three categories, Open (18 and over), Channel Islands residents (18 and over) and Young People (aged 12-17). Poems from each class will be chosen for display on local buses and winners will be part of a display first at the Airport and then all over the island.

There is a maximum length of 14 lines for individual poems and entries will close on 15 January 2019. There will be a special presentation for winners on 1 May, the opening day of the Guernsey Literary Festival 2019, which next year runs until 6 May. The entry fee is £4 per poem, or three poems for £10, though entry in the Young People’s class is free.

Full details and entry forms are available on the Guernsey Literary Festival website, guernseyliteraryfestival.com, or the website Poemsonthemove.com or on leaflets which can be found at a number of sites in the Channel Islands, including libraries, Beau Sejour, The Airport, and Guernsey Museum at Candie. Details will also be in the UK magazine Poetry Review and a number of other poetry and literary magazines.