📜 Terms & Conditions

Global Poetry Contest 2026

Last Updated: September 1, 2026

Welcome to the Global Poetry Contest 2026, an international poetry competition organized by The Poetry Soul.

By submitting an entry, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to these Terms & Conditions. Please read them carefully before entering.

1. 🏆 Contest Overview

The Global Poetry Contest 2026 is an international creative writing competition designed to recognize and celebrate poets from around the world.

Participants submit original poetry for consideration by the contest judging panel and, where applicable, for the People’s Choice award.

Participation in the contest constitutes acceptance of these Terms & Conditions.

2. 📅 Contest Dates

• Entry Opens: September 1, 2026
• Entry Closes: December 31, 2026
• Judging Period: January 2027
• Winners Announcement: January 2027

The exact date and time of the winners’ announcement will be published on the official contest website.

All deadlines are based on the time displayed by the contest website. Entries submitted after the closing deadline may not be accepted.

3. 💰 Entry Fee

• The entry fee is USD $7 per poem submitted.
• Each successful payment allows the participant to submit one contest entry.
• Participants may submit multiple poems by purchasing separate entries.
• An entry is considered valid only after successful payment and submission of all required information.
• Entry fees are non-refundable, except where a refund is required under applicable law or where the contest is cancelled by the organizers under circumstances requiring refunds.
• Any applicable taxes or payment-processing charges will be displayed to the participant before payment is completed.

The entry fee does not guarantee that an entry will receive a prize or ranking.

4. 🌍 Eligibility

The contest is open internationally, subject to applicable laws and regulations.

Participants must:

• Be at least 13 years old.
• Participants under 18 must have permission from a parent or legal guardian.
• Submit an eligible poem in accordance with these Terms & Conditions.
• Provide accurate information during registration and submission.
• Ensure that participation is legally permitted in their country or jurisdiction.

The organizers reserve the right to request age, identity, parental/guardian, or other verification where reasonably necessary.

The organizers may restrict participation from jurisdictions where participation in paid contests or prize competitions is prohibited or restricted by law.

5. ✍️ Poetry Submission Requirements

Each submitted poem must:

• Be the original work of the participant.
• Not knowingly infringe another person’s copyright, trademark, or other intellectual-property rights.
• Not be plagiarized or copied from another source.
• Be submitted in English unless a different language is expressly permitted for a particular contest.
• Be submitted through the official contest submission system.
• Comply with applicable laws and these Terms & Conditions.

Multiple Entries

Participants may submit multiple poems.

Each poem requires a separate USD $7 entry fee and must be submitted as a separate contest entry.

6. 🤖 AI-Generated Content

The Global Poetry Contest is intended to recognize the creativity and writing ability of human poets.

Fully AI-generated poems are not eligible for prizes.

Participants may use ordinary digital tools for spelling, grammar, formatting, or research assistance, provided that the submitted poem represents the participant’s own creative work.

The organizers may request clarification regarding authorship where there is a reasonable concern about originality or unauthorized AI-generated content.

If an entry is determined to violate this rule, it may be removed from the competition and disqualified without a refund, subject to applicable law.

7. ⚖️ Judging Criteria

Eligible entries will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

Judges may consider the overall artistic quality of an entry when determining rankings.

Judging decisions are final, subject to correction of administrative or scoring errors.

The organizers will not be required to provide individual feedback or detailed scoring explanations to every participant.

8. 🏆 Prize Distribution

The following prize structure applies when the contest receives at least 750 valid paid entries.

• 🥇 1st Prize: $600
• 🥈 2nd Prize: $350
• 🥉 3rd Prize: $150
• 🏅 People’s Choice: $100
• 🏆 Ranks 4–10: $10 each
• ⭐ Ranks 11–25: $8 each
• 🎖️ Ranks 26–50: $6 each
• ✨ Ranks 51–100: $5 each

💰 Total Prize Pool

The advertised prize pool for 750+ valid entries is:

$1,790 USD

The People’s Choice award is separate from the judges’ ranking and does not occupy one of the ranked positions.

If a People’s Choice winner also appears within the Top 100 judged rankings, the participant may receive both awards, provided all eligibility requirements are satisfied.

9. 📊 Minimum Participation Requirement

The advertised $1,790 prize structure becomes applicable when the contest receives at least 750 valid paid entries.

If the contest receives fewer than 750 valid entries, the organizers will publish and apply the applicable prize arrangement for that participation level before prizes are awarded.

The organizers will not retroactively reduce an already-announced prize amount after the applicable prize structure has been activated, except where required by applicable law or in circumstances involving fraud, invalid entries, or other serious violations of these Terms.

10. 🏅 People’s Choice Award

The People’s Choice award is determined separately from the judges’ ranking.

The organizers will publish the official voting period and voting rules on the contest website.

The organizers may:

• Remove fraudulent or manipulated votes.
• Disqualify votes generated through bots or automated systems.
• Reject votes obtained through prohibited methods.
• Disqualify an entry where substantial voting manipulation is identified.

The organizers’ determination regarding the validity of votes will be final, subject to correction of clear administrative errors.

11. 💳 Payment Processing

Payments may be processed through third-party payment providers such as PayPal, Stripe, or other payment services made available by the organizers.

The organizers do not control third-party payment systems and are not responsible for:

• Bank processing delays.
• Payment-provider outages.
• Failed transactions caused by the participant’s bank or payment provider.
• Currency-conversion rates determined by payment providers.
• Charges imposed by a participant’s bank or payment provider.

Participants are responsible for ensuring that their payment information is accurate.

12. 🚫 Disqualification

An entry may be disqualified if the organizers reasonably determine that the participant has:

• Submitted plagiarized or copied work.
• Submitted a fully AI-generated poem in violation of these rules.
• Submitted false or misleading information.
• Manipulated votes.
• Used bots, automated systems, or fraudulent methods.
• Submitted multiple fraudulent or fake entries.
• Attempted to manipulate judging or contest rankings.
• Reversed, disputed, or fraudulently cancelled a contest payment.
• Violated applicable law or these Terms & Conditions.
• Submitted content that is unlawful or otherwise prohibited under these Terms.

A disqualified entry is not eligible for a prize.

Where permitted by applicable law, entry fees associated with disqualified entries will not be refunded.

13. 📢 Winners & Announcement

Winners will be announced on the official contest website and may also be notified by email.

Before receiving a prize, winners may be required to provide reasonable information for:

• Identity verification.
• Age verification.
• Payment processing.
• Tax or regulatory requirements.
• Confirmation of eligibility.

If a selected winner does not respond within 14 days of being contacted, the organizers may declare the prize forfeited and, where appropriate, award it to another eligible participant.

The organizers will make reasonable efforts to contact winners using the information provided during registration.

14. 💵 Prize Payment

Prizes will be paid using a payment method selected by the organizers.

The organizers may require winners to provide accurate payment and identification information before releasing a prize.

Any applicable taxes, withholding obligations, bank charges, currency-conversion costs, or other legally required deductions may apply to prize payments.

The organizers may be required to withhold or report amounts in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.

15. ©️ Copyright & Participant Rights

Participants retain ownership and copyright of their submitted poems.

By entering the contest, participants grant The Poetry Soul a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to display and promote the submitted work in connection with the contest.

This may include displaying the poem:

• On the official website.
• On contest result pages.
• On social media.
• In promotional materials.
• In announcements relating to the contest.
• In future promotional materials identifying past contest winners or finalists.

Where reasonably possible, the participant’s name or chosen poet name will be credited.

The license does not transfer ownership of the poem to the organizers.

16. 📝 Participant Representations

By submitting an entry, the participant confirms that:

1. They are the author of the submitted poem.
2. The poem does not knowingly infringe the rights of another person.
3. They have the necessary rights to submit the poem.
4. The information provided during submission is accurate.
5. They are eligible to participate under these Terms & Conditions.

17. 🔒 Privacy

Personal information collected during registration and contest participation will be used for purposes such as:

• Processing contest entries.
• Processing payments.
• Communicating with participants.
• Contacting winners.
• Verifying eligibility.
• Administering the contest.
• Complying with legal and regulatory obligations.

Personal information will be handled in accordance with the website’s applicable Privacy Policy.

Participants should not include unnecessary personal information within their submitted poems.

18. ⚠️ Limitation of Liability

To the extent permitted by applicable law, the organizers are not responsible for losses or damages resulting from:

• Internet failures.
• Website downtime.
• Technical errors.
• Payment-provider failures.
• Email delivery failures.
• Lost or delayed submissions.
• Third-party service interruptions.
• Unauthorized access caused by circumstances outside the organizers’ reasonable control.
• Events beyond the organizers’ reasonable control.

Nothing in these Terms limits any rights or protections that cannot legally be excluded under applicable law.

19. 🔄 Contest Changes, Suspension or Cancellation

The organizers reserve the right to make reasonable changes to the contest schedule, judging process, or other administrative arrangements where circumstances beyond their reasonable control make such changes necessary.

Any material changes will be communicated through the official contest website where reasonably possible.

The organizers may suspend or cancel the contest in circumstances including:

• Serious technical failures.
• Fraud or widespread manipulation.
• Legal or regulatory requirements.
• Force majeure events.
• Circumstances that make continuation of the contest impractical or unlawful.

If the contest is cancelled, the organizers will determine the appropriate treatment of entry fees and prizes in accordance with applicable law and the circumstances of the cancellation.

20. ⚖️ Fraud & Abuse Prevention

The organizers may investigate suspicious activity related to entries, payments, voting, or judging.

This may include reviewing:

• Duplicate submissions.
• Unusual voting patterns.
• Fraudulent payments.
• Chargebacks.
• Automated activity.
• Attempts to manipulate contest results.

Participants agree to cooperate reasonably with legitimate verification requests.

21. 📋 Final Decisions

The organizers reserve the right to interpret and administer these Terms & Conditions fairly and consistently.

Administrative decisions concerning eligibility, disqualification, voting integrity, and contest administration will be made in accordance with these Terms and applicable law.

22. 📩 Contact

If you have questions about the Global Poetry Contest 2026, please contact:

The Poetry Soul
📧 info@thepoetrysoul.com
🌐 thepoetrysoul.com