London Arts and Talents International Competition 2026

Writers. Artists. Musicians.

London Arts and Talents, an international creative association, invites authors from every country to take part in its open competition.

We are looking for work with a voice of its own — not flawless technique for its own sake, and not a famous name, but what the author genuinely set out to say and how convincingly they said it.

Every entry is assessed by the association's specialist panels — twenty experts from ten countries. Every entrant receives a written assessment of their work. Winners take their place on the competition's permanent results page.

Entries: 1 August – 20 October 2026. Results announced 31 October.

[SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY → info@londonartsandtalents.co.uk]

Who can enter

Authors aged 18 and over, from any country in the world. Written work is accepted in English and Russian; for visual and musical categories, language is not a factor.

No formal education, union membership or professional record is required, and none of these affect the outcome. The panel judges the work, not the biography.

You may enter more than one category - each entry is paid for and assessed separately. Collaborative work is welcome: name all authors in your application and the award will be issued to the group.

Three streams

THE WORD

• Fiction - a short story or self-contained extract, up to 15,000 characters

• Poetry - a selection of 3-5 poems

• Non-fiction - essay, feature, documentary prose, up to 15,000 characters

• Writing for children - prose or verse for a young readership, up to 10,000 characters

Format: PDF or DOCX, with the author's name on the first page.

THE IMAGE

• Painting and drawing

• Applied and decorative arts - ceramics, textiles, jewellery, art dolls

• Digital art and illustration

• Photography

Format: 1 to 3 works, JPEG or PNG, at least 2000 px on the longest side. For three-dimensional work, send 2–3 views of the same piece - this counts as one work. Include title, year, medium and dimensions for each.

THE SOUND

• Voice - classical, contemporary, folk

• Instrumental performance

• Songwriting and composition - your own music and/or lyrics

Format: 1-2 pieces of up to 6 minutes each, MP3 or WAV, or a link to video. Studio or live recordings are both accepted; editing or substituted audio is not.

How work is judged

Each expert scores every entry independently, before any discussion, against four criteria - 1 to 10 points each:

Craft - technique, command of the material, the form, the language. Originality - a voice of one's own, rather than a borrowed manner. Coherence - the idea carried through; form answering content. Impact - work that holds attention and stays with whoever saw or heard it.

The maximum is 40 points. An entry's final score is the average across its panel, and the results for each stream are signed off by the panel's chair.

Judging is blind: experts receive entries under registration numbers, without the author's name or biography.

Judging is against these four criteria, not against a particular medium. That is why ceramics, photography and digital illustration can stand side by side: what is compared is not the material but how convincingly the author achieved what they set out to do.

Following the panel's decision, every entrant receives a written assessment of their work - five to ten substantive sentences against those same four criteria. The assessment is issued in the name of London Arts and Talents and reflects the agreed position of the panel; individual experts and their scores are not disclosed.

Awards

In each of the three streams, the panel selects:

3 laureates - first, second and third 5 nominees

That is 24 awards across the whole competition. We deliberately do not hand out placings in every sub-category: three first places for the entire competition means three first places.

Winners' names appear on the competition's permanent results page on the association's website. The page is not removed or archived - it can be cited in a portfolio or CV.

Grand Prix - a single work chosen from all three streams. The recipient receives a feature interview in the News section and an invitation to be interviewed for the association's YouTube channel.

All laureates and nominees are invited to join the association and to take part in its future projects, exhibitions and publications.

All other entrants receive a personal certificate of participation and a written assessment of their work.

Publication of work is entirely your choice

Once the results are announced, we contact each laureate and nominee to agree what is published: which work, in what form, and with what caption. You may decline publication altogether - it makes no difference to your award, your certificate or your place in the results.

Taking part

Entry fee - £50 per entry.

The fee covers:

• assessment of your work by specialist experts, on the record;

• a written assessment of your work from the association;

• a personal certificate in digital form (high-resolution PDF, signed by the Director and bearing the association's seal);

• publication of your name in the competition results on the association's website;

• announcement of the winners across our social media and the LAT YouTube channel.

The fee is the same for everyone and is paid before the panel sees the work. It is not refundable once the work has been passed to the panel. A full refund is given in two cases: if an entry fails the technical check and is not corrected within five days, or if the author turns out to be under 18.

How to enter

Entries are accepted by email: info@londonartsandtalents.co.uk

Please send us:

1. A letter about yourself, in your own words. No form to fill in - tell us what you think matters: who you are, what you do, what this piece of work means to you. We would rather hear the author than read completed fields.

2. A creative CV - education, exhibitions, publications, performances, awards. As an attachment or in the body of the email. If you have no formal CV, simply write what stands behind you; it will not affect the assessment.

3. The work itself, meeting the requirements for your category.

4. In the subject line, name your stream and category - for example, "THE IMAGE - ceramics" or "THE WORD - poetry".

If your files are large - audio, high-resolution images - send a cloud link instead (Google Drive, Dropbox, WeTransfer) and check that the link is open.

What happens next. Within three working days we reply: confirming receipt, assigning your entry a registration number and sending payment details for the entry fee. Work is passed to the panel once payment has been received. If you have not heard from us within three days, write again - the email may not have reached us.

Key dates

StageDatesEntries1 August - 20 October 2026Judging21-30 October 2026Results published31 October 2026Certificates and assessmentsby 10 November 2026

[SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY → info@londonartsandtalents.co.uk]

Rights

Copyright remains entirely with the author.

Work submitted to the competition is used solely for assessment by the panel and is published nowhere without the author's separate consent. Any publication credits the author by name and is strictly non-commercial - on the association's website, its social media and the competition's own materials.

Personal data is processed in accordance with UK GDPR, solely to run the competition, issue awards and contact entrants. Only the author's name and country are shown publicly. Data can be deleted on request to the organiser.

Questions we are often asked

Why is there an entry fee?

It covers the work of twenty experts across ten countries, a written assessment prepared for every entrant, the issuing of award documents and the running of the competition. We do not charge for winning and we do not sell places - the fee is identical for everyone and is paid before the panel sees any work.

What exactly do I get for £50?

Assessment by specialist experts on the record, a written assessment of your work running to five to ten substantive sentences against the four criteria, a personal certificate, and your name in the competition results on our website. Every entrant receives the assessment, whatever the outcome.

If I don't place, do I get my money back?

No. The fee pays for expert work and a written assessment; it is not a stake on a prize. Refunds are made only in the cases set out above - that is, when the panel never saw your work.

Everyone gets a certificate, so isn't this just selling paper?

Titles are not given to everyone. Across the whole competition there are 24 laureates and nominees. Everyone else receives a certificate of participation, and that is exactly what it says on it - participation, not laureate.

Who judges, and why should I trust them?

Twenty experts across ten countries: working writers and members of writers' unions, artists and exhibition curators, makers in the applied arts, photographers, designers and musicians. Their names are withheld deliberately - the judging is blind in both directions: the expert does not know whose work they are assessing, and the author does not know who assessed it. That is precisely why no arrangement or acquaintance can win anything here.

Are the winners decided in advance? Do you reward your own?

Experts receive entries under registration numbers - no names, no countries, no biographies. Your letter and CV stay with the organiser and never reach the panel. Scores are given independently and before any discussion, and panel members do not enter the competition themselves.

Then why send a letter and a CV?

So that we know who has entered, and can offer winners publication, an interview and a place in the association's projects. It has no bearing on the assessment: the panel never sees these materials.

Will you take the rights to my work?

No. Copyright stays with you in full. Submitted work is used only for assessment; publication is agreed with you separately, after the results, and you are free to decline.

I'm not in the UK - can I enter?

Yes. The competition runs entirely online and is open to entrants from any country. Certificates and assessments are issued digitally.

I have no arts education and belong to no union.It makes no difference. The panel judges the work, not the biography.

What is the certificate worth?

It is a document from an international creative association registered in the United Kingdom: confirmation that your work was assessed by specialist experts, stating your award and signed by the Director. Entrants use it in portfolios, CVs and creative dossiers. What it does for you depends on how you use it; we promise nothing beyond the document itself.

Can I submit more than one work?

Yes, across several categories and streams. Each entry is paid for and judged independently.

The panel

Entries are assessed by three specialist panels drawn from the association's team and ambassadors - twenty experts across ten countries. Among them are working writers and members of writers' unions, artists and exhibition curators, makers in the applied arts, photographers, designers and musicians.

Their names are not published, and that is deliberate: the judging is blind in both directions. Experts receive work under registration numbers, without the author's name or biography, and authors do not know who assessed their work. Neither acquaintance nor reputation can weigh on the outcome - in either direction.

Every entry is judged only by the experts of its own stream. The final assessment is issued in the name of London Arts and Talents and reflects the agreed position of the panel.

About the association

London Arts and Talents is an international creative association founded in 2022. It now brings together more than 500 members from 31 countries - writers, artists, musicians and makers. Since 2025 it has been registered in the United Kingdom as London Arts and Talents Ltd (company no. 16665145).

We publish, we run our News section and a YouTube channel of interviews, we support authors, and we build a community in which work finds its audience.

Entries and enquiries: info@londonartsandtalents.co.uklondonartsandtalents.co.uk

[SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY → info@londonartsandtalents.co.uk]

Submitting an entry constitutes acceptance of these terms. The organiser reserves the right to reject work containing plagiarism or breaching the laws of the United Kingdom, with a full refund of the fee.

London Arts and Talents Ltd, 124 City Road, London EC1V 2NX, United Kingdom. Company no. 16665145.