Clever Poems Win Prizes
As we’re now mid-Saturnalia, and just before Christmas, it’s time to announce our winter competition, the 13th to date! This one, open to all across the world as ever, is one of our funnest yet: Epigram Trifariam, or short poems three ways.
Don’t be alarmed by the title, as this is a simple affair. We invite you to write three short poems, in English. One must be a limerick; one must be a clerihew; and one must be a rhyming quatrain (with metre and rhyme scheme of your choice). We know that you know what all of these are, but – for our amusement, at least – here is an example of each type of epigram:
Limerick
There once was a Roman called Lucan
Who found on his travels a toucan.
When the poet felt weak
He stuck a pen in its beak
And it wrote Latin verse as so few can.
Clerihew
The Roman poet Albius Tibullus
Devoted his life to beating Catullus.
So he wrote his puella multiple carmina
But really didn’t succeed in charming her.
Quatrain
Of Arms and Man, once Virgil sang
In dactyls of great beauty.
He praised Aeneas and his gang
But loved still more his “duty”.
The poems can be witty, but need not be; what they must be is clever and pointed (and better than the trio you just read!). But there’s one further rule: your three poems must all be about either Ancient Greek philosophers or Ancient Roman Emperors: all three poems should fall in one of these two categories, thus providing a unified trio of topic; the three poems, however, should be about different figures in the category – for example, a trio on Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle would be proper. The judges will be weighing up the overall quality and unity of the three poems.
The prizes are as follows:
Over-18 Category
First Prize: £300 Second Prize: £200 Third Prize: £100
18-and-Under Category
First Prize £250 Second Prize: £150 Third Prize: £75
The deadline for submissions is Sunday 18 January (2026!). Please email your entries by that date, along with your name, home town, and relevant age category, to competition@antigonejournal.com. And, since we are always asked this question, we will state it here: you can only enter this competition once, so choose your trio wisely!
Good luck to all, felicia Saturnalia, and Merry Christmas!