UCLy Esdes Poetry Competition

Competition dates: 1 February to 1 April 2026

Announcement of results: 28 April 2026 during Esdes CSR Day as part of UCLy's 150th anniversary celebrations

The topic

At a time when hybrid wars and generative artificial intelligence threaten our freedoms and democracies are sliding further and further towards illiberalism and authoritarianism, there is cause for concern. With economic and social crises obstructing prospects for human development and social precariousness increasing vulnerability, there is reason to fear decline. If climate change and biodiversity loss seem to condemn humanity, there may be cause for despair. But should we give up?

Between 1800 and 1803, when Europe was in the midst of political and military upheaval, mainly linked to the consequences of the French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte, the German poet Friedrich Hölderlin (1770-1843), at the height of his poetic production, wrote his Hymns, which include the poem Patmos. From the very first lines, he expresses his mystical and philosophical vision of the world, where danger and salvation are intimately linked. He conveys the idea that in times of crisis or threat, there also lie the seeds of redemption or renewal.

 So near, so elusive,

The god! And yet, where

Danger is, there grows also

That which saves.

In the dark dwell the eagles.

And fearless, on flimsy bridges,

The sons of the Alps

Traverse the torrential abyss.

Here, heaped up all around, stand

The summits of time, and friends dearly loved

Are in trouble, close by. But

On quite separate slopes.

So, now: give us chaste water.

And wings – O, give us wings! – for the high soaring

Loyalty needed to flit over chasms.¹

[1] Friedrich Hölderlin, Hymnes, Patmos, Traduction Andrew Shanks

For this poetry competition marking the 150th anniversary of Ucly, we have chosen a line from this long poem, which reads as follows:

“And yet, where danger is,

there grows also that which saves” 

Or, in Hölderlin's words:

"Wo aber Gefahr ist, wächst

 Das Rettende auch."

It's up to you to continue this sentence... in a poem of no more than two pages (i.e. a maximum of 1,000 characters per page), making sure to respect the white space that every poem contains.

Form

We are not looking for sonnets or alexandrines, but rather poetry close to the ‘narrative poetry’ movement and poetic fragments. Unlike prose, it will contain contradictions of meaning, clashes between words, and the variety of colours of the mind that give it its power.

Your text should be no more than two pages long (1,000 characters per page, not including spaces, or 2,000 characters for the entire poem, not including spaces). It is not a question of length but of the emergence of a thought in the act of writing the sentence.

We cannot give a more precise number of characters expected, as the poem plays with white space (the absence of characters) on the page. Unlike short stories, poems are not wordy; they emphasise simplicity and leave room for the reader's thoughts.

The honorary president of the jury for the launch of the competition will be Rector Grégory Woimbé.

The jury will be composed of members of the ESDES and UCLy staff.

The three winners of the competition will be invited to read their text in public and in an audio/video recording.

Prizes and awards

Three texts will be selected for public reading by their authors as part of the ESDES CSR Day celebrating 150 years of UCLy on 28 April 2026.

Three prizes will be awarded

•    1st prize – publication in the Ucly Mag e-magazine and on the Ucly website, plus a £100 gift card to be used at Décitre².

•    2nd prize – £50 gift card to be used at Décitre

•    Third prize: £25 gift card valid at Décitre

Registration and participation terms and conditions

The competition is open to all Ucly students aged 18 and over, and those aged 16 and over with parental consent.

Use of artificial intelligence:

AI can be a creative tool, and we do not wish to limit its use. However, in order for the public to appreciate its use, authors should write a short text accompanying their poem to explain how and at what stage of their creation they used it.

All texts received will be checked using AI detection software. If an author's text is detected as having been created using AI and they have not declared this by including an explanatory text, their entry will be eliminated from the competition.

How the competition works:

Texts must be sent by email before 1 April 2026 to pgilormini@univ-catholyon.fr or nbertinboussu@univ-cathloyon.fr

2 https://www.decitre.fr/carte-cadeau?srsltid=AfmBOoraCOr7N1oYGmCaamol-poosdqZdey9gOsTuHcKBzBHWAcBALKU