PACE (Professional and Continuing Education) is the home of the Centre for Creative Writing at University of Cambridge. This year, we announced our updated part-time Master’s in Creative Writing course, where students will have the opportunity to study poetry across two years at Newnham College.

To mark the occasion, we’re collaborating with Propel Magazine to launch The Propel Cambridge Poetry Prize!

Entry is free and poets anywhere in the world who have not yet published a full-length collection are invited to submit. The 2026 prize judge is Bhanu Kapil, a poet and Extraordinary Fellow of Churchill College.

Submissions open from 1 December 2025 to 11.59pm UK 31 January 2026 on Submittable. The shortlist will be announced at the end of April 2026.

All shortlisted poets will be invited to an online workshop with Cambridge tutors. The winning poem will receive a prize of £750 and publication in Propel Magazine.