Hi Louise,
I checked out their site and it appears they are "British", and are set up in the same manner as American Song Contests in they are designed more for making money than for giving out prizes or recognition, in this case, in support of their "Foundation" which offers on-line courses in writing of all kinds.
The 5000 pound prize, however, is impressive for a single poem although the idea of only 3 prizes, for over 30,000 entries. implies that the odds are't very good. They do mention that they put out anthologies of past entries which cost about 7 pounds but NO details are given as to who or how many are included in such, or what distribution such might have. (echoes of Poetry.com but much less expensive).
Entries cost 7 pounds, (about $12) for the 1st poem and 5 pounds,($8), for subseqent entries and that is somewhat high compared to most Poetry Contests.
The one winner I was able to find seems to indicate a strong bias to "modern" free verse poetry so one should be aware of that if one writes traditional or formal verse, because it probably increases the odds for such.
In any case, I hope this helps and if you decide to try it, I wish you luck.
Jim Hoye (JRH)
