HOW TO ENTER

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Some people scream into the void.
Some people laugh — and the void laughs back.

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Welcome to our newest Mini Challenge: Dark Humour, Bitter Irony — a celebration of the joke beneath the tragedy, the grin that hides the knife, the punchline that lands like a bruise.

We’re looking for poems that, with 150 words or less, turn shadow into wit:

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• Dark humour that’s clever, unsettling, and sharply observed

• Bitter irony that exposes the cruel comedy of being alive

• Satire, deadpan, gallows wit, “laugh so you don’t break” energy

• The kind of line that makes someone smirk… then go quiet

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Make it funny. Make it brutal. Make it beautiful.
 

Submit your poem and show us how darkness can wear a smile.

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How to enter

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• Entry Fee: Entry fee is 1/3 off for this mini challenge:

  • £4 for 1 poem 

  • £7 for 3 poems (£2.33 per poem)

  • £10 for 5 poems (£2 per poem)

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• Maximum of 150 words per poem (not including title) for this Mini Challenge

• Word documents preferred

• Include title and word count within document

• Multiple poems can be uploaded individually or within a single word document, as long as they are clearly differentiated by title and word count

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• Entries close Sunday 31st March

• Winner announced in May

• You may submit as many entries as you wish while the competition is open.

• All entries considered for publication

• Judging: The DPC Editors 

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The winner will receive

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• Monetary prize of £500 (or local currency equivalent)

• 'Dark Humour, Bitter Irony' Winner certification

• Official Dark Poets Club T-shirt

Don’t miss this chance to have your poetry celebrated and be the winner of our Dark Humour, Bitter Irony Mini Challenge.​​

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—submit your masterpieces via the form below!​

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GOOD LUCK!

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