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Love Letters to London

Love Letters to London has become a much loved annual competition which attracts hundreds of entries every year. 

If you would like to receive information about how to enter the competition sign up here and we will add you to our mailing list.

To see last year's winners (and download or order their entries and those of the runners up) go here.

Love Letters to London returns for its third year with thousands of pounds in cash prizes 

Dust off the keyboard or get tapping on your mobile, because there is more than £4,000 of prizes in the London Society’s free to enter writing competition “Love Letters to London”.

Now in its third year, this competition is open to everyone to celebrate our wonderful, fantastic, infuriating city in prose or poetry. Open to all ages, and to all writing styles - fiction, poetry, essays and reportage - whether you live in the capital or not. There are special categories for under 18s, as well as prizes for schools.

The theme this year is Love Letters to London of the Future.

What does your London of the future look like – what are your passions, hopes, dreams and aspirations for this most wonderful of cities?

The closing date for entries is midday (UK time) December 1st 2023, and prizes will be presented at an awards ceremony next Spring.

If you want to walk away with one of the four first prizes of £500 - and see your work published by the London Society - get writing your own ‘Love Letter to London’. 

Thanks to our sponsors Almacantar, Harriet’s Trust, Stiff + Trevillion who are supporting us for the third year running.

Categories and Prizes

  • Aged 11 and under
  • 12-18 year olds
  • Open - all other entrants
  • Poetry

The prizes for the 'Open' and 'Poetry' categories will be as follows:

  • Category winner £500
  • Category second £250
  • Category third £100

The prizes for the '11 and under' and '12-18' categories will be as follows:

  • Category winner £500
  • Four runners up prizes of £150 each

In addition, the school of the two category winners will receive £250 of books.

Judges




Graham Clifford is proud to call himself a Londoner. He is a prize winning poet, published by Seren, Against the Grain and BLER. 

Graham has a MA in creative writing from UEA and is a Head teacher.  His work has been featured widely, nationally and internationally, in such magazines and anthologies as the Rialto, Anthropocene, Broken Sleep Books and Magma; he has won or been commended in awards and competitions such as the Arvon, Bridport and Forward poetry prizes.  


Gita Ralleigh is a poet, writer and doctor born to Indian immigrant parents in London. She teaches creative writing to science undergraduates at Imperial College and has an MA in Creative Writing and an MSc in Medical Humanities. Her poetry books are A Terrible Thing (Bad Betty Press, 2020) and Siren (Broken Sleep Books, 2022). Her debut children’s novel The Destiny Of Minou Moonshine was published by Zephyr/Bloomsbury in July 2023. 
You can find her on Twitter as @storyvilled and on Instagram as @gita_ralleigh


Nile Bridgeman is an architect and writer. He is a co-founding director of London-based architecture and research practice, Saqqra. Alongside practice, Nile is a lecturer on the University of East London's architecture course.



Sponsors

Almacantar is a property investment company specialising in large-scale, complex developments in Central London. Known for its design-led approach, the company focuses on creating long-term value through development, repositioning or active asset management.

Since it was launched in 2010 by Mike Hussey, Almacantar has acquired over 1.5 million sq ft of prime assets in the heart of London including live projects; Centre Point, Marble Arch Place, One and Two Southbank Place and Lyons Place.

Find out more

Stiff+Trevillion are a well-established West London practice with a strong reputation for elegant and sophisticated architecture. Collaboration is at the heart of the practice's ethos. The studio employs a diverse team of architects, technicians, visualisers, interior and furniture designers. This blend of skills reflects the work we do across the commercial, restaurant & retail and private residential sectors and creates a lively and vibrant working culture. 

Find out more

How to enter

Please read the full rules. (you can download a copy of the rules here)

Tell us why you love this city. Write a Love Letter to London of up to 500 words.

Entries are to be around the theme of “Love Letters to London of the Future” and can be about any aspect of London’s past, present or future. It can be reportage, an historical essay, a ‘think piece’, a spot of futurology, a work of fiction, a poem. 
We are open to all forms and styles.

There are four categories:

  • Aged 11 and under
  • 12-18 year olds
  • Open - all other entrants
  • Poetry

The prizes for the 'Open' and 'Poetry' categories will be as follows:

  • Category winner £500
  • Category second £250
  • Category third £100

The prizes for the '11 and under' and '12-18' categories will be as follows:

  • Category winner £500
  • Four runners up prizes of £150 each

In addition, the school of the two category winners will receive £250 of books.

Entries must be on a Word or Google Docs file with title (no PDFs). 

All entries will be judged anonymously, so the first page of the entry must have:

  1. the title of your entry, 
  2. the category you are entering, 
  3. your name, address, telephone number and e-mail address
  4. entrants for the two under-18 categories should also include the name of their school or college

For enquiries, email curator@londonsociety.org.uk 

We look forward to hearing what you have to say.

Competition Rules

Please read thoroughly. (you can download a copy of the rules here)

  1. The competition is open to anyone aged under 18 (‘11 and under’ and ‘12-18’ categories) and 18 or over at the time of entering (‘open’ and ‘poetry’ categories). International entries are welcome.

  2. All entries must have a title and must not exceed 500 words or for poems 40 lines in length (excluding title). Entries are to be around the theme of “Love Letters to London of the Future” on can be about any aspect of London’s past, present or future. It can be reportage, an historical essay, a ‘think piece’, a spot of futurology, a work of fiction, a poem.

  3. Entries must be the entrant’s original work.

  4. Entries can have been published elsewhere but must fit the brief and have been written in 2023.

  5. The closing date of the competition is noon (UK time), 11 December 2023.

  6. Entries must be a Word or Google Docs file with title (no PDFs). All entries will be judged anonymously, so the first page of the entry should have the title of your entry, and your name, address, telephone number and e-mail address.

  7. There is a limit of three on the number of entries a single entrant can make.

  8. No one can win more than one category.

  9. Entries will not be returned, so please keep a copy.

  10. Under no circumstances can alterations be made to the pieces once entered.

  11. Online entries should be sent to curator@londonsociety.org.uk

  12. Telephone or email confirmation of receipt is not available. The London Society is unable to confirm the content of documents submitted online or by post, so please ensure you send the correct version.

  13. Online entries are preferred, but postal entries may be sent to:
    Love Letters Competition, The London Society, Mortimer Wheeler House, 46 Eagle Wharf Road, London N1 7ED
  14. The competition organisers reserve the right to change the judging panel without notice and not to award prizes if, in the judges’ opinion, such an action is justified.

  15. All entries are read, The decision of the judges is final; neither the judges nor The London Society will enter into any correspondence.

  16. No one associated with running the Competition, or a Trustee of The London Society, can enter the competition.

  17. Copyright in all entries will remain with the entrant, but The London Society has the right to use any entry for free in its own publications in print, online or in other media.
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