Metro Poetry Competition
Nexus' annual Poetry Competition, in association with the Poetry Book Society, gives poets the unique opportunity to have their work displayed at Longbenton Metro Station.
National Poetry Day is the annual mass celebration on the first Thursday of October that encourages everyone to make, experience and share poetry with family and friends.
A winner and three runners up see their poems published as large posters in Longbenton Metro Station, as well as £100 Waterstones vouchers for the winner and Poetry Book Society membership, and £50 Waterstones vouchers for the runners up. The competition will be judged by two Nexus representatives and two established poets.
See full Terms and Conditions below. Winners are notified within 30 days of the closing date. There are no age restrictions on entries.
In 2023, the theme was 'Journey'. You can see the winning poems here. All poems submitted were judged by two Nexus representatives along with poet Kris Johnson and Poetry Book Society Manager Alice Mullen.
In 2022, the theme was 'Home'. You can see the winning poems here. All poems submitted were judged by two Nexus representatives along with poets John Challis and Anna Woodford.
In 2021, the theme was 'Winter'. You can see the winning poems here. All poems submitted were judged by two Nexus representatives along with a representative of the Poetry Book Society and poet Degna Stone.
Poetry on Metro
Longbenton Metro Station has become the home of poetry on Metro - with four poems on display for over a million customers who use the station every year.
People don’t expect to see art and poetry in public places like train stations, but Metro already has a long history of displaying art on the network, and the poetry on display expands on that.
We hope the poems displayed at Longbenton will entertain, surprise and inspire you.
Royal Literary Fund
The first poems displayed, in July 2021, reflecting on the pandemic, were the result of a partnership with Nexus and Royal Literary Fund Fellows at Newcastle and York Universities. Read more about the partnership, and how it came about, here. And see the poems (2020, Clap, Metro View, Vaccine) in poster form attached below.