Shextreme Poetry Competition

We are looking for the new voices of adventure. We want to discover poets who can explore their experiences and inspiration with clarity and originality. At Shextreme, we think poetry and adventure have the potential to be the perfect partners; they are both a search for meaning, a journey that strips an experience down to the bone.

Adventure has a fascinating tradition of literature, but the active female voice is largely underrepresented. We want to hear from women whatever their participation; arm chair adventurers, cyclists, paddlers, walkers, parkour runners, climbers, train travellers…

Share your words with us.

Submissions must be no longer than 35 lines.

Every poet is invited to submit one poem for free via FilmFreeway here.

Once you are logged on to FilmFreeway, please select 'Script' category to submit your poem as a .pdf document.

Looking for inspiration? Look no further than one of our previous winners: wonderful Catherine Edsell from The Matriarch Adventure.

Desert by Catherine Edsell

Questions: Ownership by Sarah Audsell

Watch our 2017 winner Sarah Audsell perform her winning poem at Shextreme Film Festival below too.

Introducing Sarah Audsley: Winner of Shextreme Poetry Competition 2017. Climber, poet and outdoors enthusiast Sarah Audsley flew all the way from USA to perform her winning adventure poem live at Shextreme Film Festival 2017 in Bristol, UK. A big thank you to Sarah’s family, friends and co-workers from Appalachian Mountain Club who helped support her creative adventure and first visit to the UK. Our Shextreme audience loved Sarah’s poetry performance: “Wow. Blown away.” “Beautiful and breathtaking” “Powerful and gentle all at once.” Big congratulations Sarah. Here’s to supporting more female voices being heard in adventure writing! Filmed and Edited by Jessica Pearson: Shimnix Films