Verse and Voice Competition

We are delighted to be working in collaboration with Sir John Soane’s Museum for our 2026 Competition, which was free for everyone to enter, of any age, across the world.

Entries are NOW CLOSED

What are the Prompts?

Sir John Soane’s Museum is a national museum, displaying the extraordinary collections of renowned British architect Sir John Soane, including antiquities, furniture, sculptures, architectural models and drawings and paintings, and we have curated ten classical objects to inspire you to respond creatively.

You may be inspired by more than one object, and you should list in your entry email which objects have inspired you for each submission.

Scroll to the bottom of this page for detailed information about each of the ten wonderful objects!

We are very grateful to our two fantastic judges who will be enjoying the work of our entrants and choosing the winners! Please note that our judges cannot provide individual feedback.

Helen Dorey, MBE – Deputy Director and Inspectress of Sir John Soane’s Museum

Regarded as one of the leading scholars of Sir John Soane, Helen joined the Museum in 1986 and has been its Inspectress since 1995. She has published extensively on the Museum and its collections and has led numerous restoration projects within the Museum over 30 years, including the restoration of Soane’s private apartments and the Drawing Office. She is a member of the Council of the Attingham Trust and of the Advisory Council of the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. She was awarded an MBE in 2017 for services to heritage and is very much looking forward to seeing these creative responses to Soane’s collection.

Barney Norris – Award-winning writer

Barney Norris is a writer whose plays include Visitors, Eventide, Nightfall, The Remains of the Day and Second Best. His novels include Five Rivers, Met On A Wooded Plain and Undercurrent. His work has received the International Theatre Institute’s Award for Excellence, the Critics’ Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright, a South Bank Sky Arts Times Breakthrough Award, an Evening Standard Progress 1000 Award, a Betty Trask Award, the Northern Ireland One Book Award and a Hawthornden Literary Foundation award, and been translated into nine languages. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a lecturer in creative writing at the University of Oxford, and regularly reviews fiction for the Guardian. In 2026, his new book for Sting’s The Last Ship will tour the world.

Age Categories

Junior: aged 11 and under

Senior: aged 12-18

Open: aged 19 and above

How to Enter

Please read the general rules first and then the rules of the category you are entering.

General Rules

Your work must be your own (i.e. your original poem or spoken word piece).
AI must NOT be used.
Your piece must be written/performed in English.
The Competition is completely free to enter and you don’t need to be a member of an educational institution or of the Classical Association to take part. You can be based anywhere in the world.
You may submit up to two entries (these can be in either or both categories e.g. two Verse, two Voice, or one of each) but you will only be eligible for one prize. To submit multiple entries, please insert the titles of all of your pieces in the box on the entry form and submit your attachments in one email.
Your entry/entries must not have been previously published or accepted for publication in print or online by a third party.
You must complete the entry form AND submit your work to engagement@classicalassociation.org at the same time – poems/spoken word pieces without an entry form, or vice versa, will not be accepted.
Your entry/entries must be submitted by the closing date. This deadline – 23:59 GMT on Friday 27 February 2026 – is final and late entries will not be considered.
You must enter the correct age category (based on your age as of 23:59 GMT on Friday 27 February 2026).
Applicants will be notified about the outcome of their entry by the end of March 2026. The judges are unable to provide individual feedback.
We will only process your data for the purposes of entering you into and administering the competition, and not for any other purpose without your consent. This will not affect any existing marketing preferences you have with us. For further information on how we process your data, please read our Privacy Policy here.
International entries are eligible for monetary prizes.

Verse (Written Poem) Category

You must be inspired by one or more of the ten inspiration objects.
There is no specific prompt or any restriction upon the style of your poem. Be creative!
Poems must not exceed 1000 words in length.

Voice (Spoken Word) Category

You must be inspired by one or more of the ten inspiration objects.
Your spoken word piece must not exceed 8 minutes in length.
You must upload your video to YouTube unlisted.
In the description box of your video you must state the following: ‘this is an entry for the 2026 CA Competition and the views and opinions in this work are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of The Classical Association or Sir John Soane’s Museum’.

When you are ready to enter, you must:

Complete this entry form.
Attach your submission(s) as a PDF or Word Document and send it to engagement@classicalassociation.org. Your name must not appear on the submission document as submissions will be judged anonymously.
You must not ‘share’ your file via Sharepoint or other sharing platform. Make sure you have downloaded and saved your work to your device and then attach it to your email.
In your email, you must state your full name (your legal/preferred name, but you may also give a pseudonym if you so wish), age, the category/categories you are entering and the title of your poem(s) and piece(s), and the object(s) that inspired you.
Once you have pressed ‘submit’ on the entry form you will receive an automatic confirmation of your entry. You will not receive a response to your email unless we need to contact you.
Please complete the form and submit your work at the same time to ensure your entry is correctly processed.
Make sure you’re submitting in advance of the deadline (23:59 GMT on 27 February). We will not accept submissions after the deadline.
Good Luck! If you have further questions please contact Katrina at engagement@classicalassociation.org.