Master of Malt’s Burns Night Poetry Competition returns for 2025!

It’s time to sharpen your pencils/keyboards because the Master of Malt Burns Night Poetry Competition is back by popular demand for 2025. 

We’ve run this competition since 2019 and last year five people won bottles of whisky for their creative endeavour. This year there are 10 bottles of whisky ready to be won by 10 poets who wow us with their Burnsian mastery of the art. 

There’s a few rule changes for 2025, mostly as we rally against AI, so please play fair in the spirit of competition. Or else the ghost of Burns will haunt you. We can’t command him or anything but we’re fairly certain he’d see the benefit.  

So here’s the skinny: you need to submit your entries on our dedicated Burns Night poetry competition landing page. Just there. Not on social media. Not in our blog comments. 

Last year we had over 2,000 entries submitted, which is fantastic. But a huge volume of that was AI. We’ll make this very clear: poetry written by AI will not be accepted. Each and every submission will be run through an AI detector. 

We’ve also set a limit of 1,500 characters for each poem and only one entry is permitted per entrant and email address. Also, under no circumstances can you use the phrase ‘amber hue(s)’. And please don’t rhyme ‘whisky’ with ‘frisky’. 

Apart from those rules, let your imagination run wild. Poems will be judged by the discerning team here at Master of Malt. Make us laugh, or if you can’t make us laugh, make us cry; and if you can’t do either then at least do your best to avoid the cliches. 

The winner(s) will win one of the Scotch whiskies below: 

70cl bottle of Bunnahabhain 18 Year Old
70cl bottle of Aberfeldy 18 Year Old Sangiovese Red Wine Cask
70cl bottle of Talisker x Parley – Wilder Seas
70cl bottle of Bowmore 15 Year Old
70cl bottle of Chivas Regal 18 Year Old 
70cl bottle of Laphroaig 10 Year Old Sherry Oak Finish
70cl bottle of Lochlea Our Barley
70cl bottle of Meikle Tòir The Sherry One
70cl  bottle of Timorous Beastie
70cl bottle of Cutty Sark Prohibition Overproof Blended Scotch Whisky

The prizes are ranked in value order, which means the poem that comes first will win the bottle of Bunnahabhain 18 Year Old and the poem that comes second will bag a bottle of Aberfeldy 18 YO and so on and so forth.

Full T&Cs are below. Good luck and may the muse be with you.

18+ AND UK ONLY. T&CS APPLY. ENTRIES CLOSE 23:59:59 26 JANUARY 2025. 

MoM Burns Night Poetry Competition 2025 T&Cs

PROMOTER: The promoter is Atom Supplies Limited (company registration number 03193057), trading as Master of Malt (MoM) and having its registered office at Unit 1 Ton Business Park, 2-8 Morley Road, Tonbridge, Kent, TN9 1RA, United Kingdom.  
THESE TERMS AND PRIVACY POLICY: By entering this competition, entrants confirm they have read and understood these terms and the MoM Privacy Policy (and the way we process personal data), and agree that these terms and the MoM Privacy Policy are binding to them. MoM reserves the right to amend these terms and to hold void, suspend, cancel or amend this competition at any time.
ELIGIBILITY: This competition is only open to private individuals acting in their capacity as retail consumers who are 18 years or older and are residents of the United Kingdom. To be eligible, the shipping address for the winning entries must be in the UK. Ineligible entries (howsoever received) will be discarded. The competition is not open to any employees of MoM or any of its associated companies (nor their immediate families). MoM reserves the right to verify the validity of entries and entrants (including an entrant’s identity, age and place of residence) at any time and reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to disqualify any individual or entrant who it believes has breached any of these terms, tampered with the entry process or engaged in any unlawful or improper conduct which may undermine the fair and proper conduct of this competition, and to discard any entry which reflects any such conduct.
ENTRY PERIOD: This competition opens at 09:00:00 UK time on 13 January 2025 and closes at 23:59:59 UK time on 26 January 2025 (the entry period). 
HOW TO ENTER: To enter, individuals must within the entry period complete the following steps (subject to the remaining terms of this competition): 1) write an original poem with a maximum of 1,500 characters that is inspired by whisky; and 2) submit their poem to MoM via our dedicated entry webpage, which can be accessed by visiting www.masterofmalt.com/burns-night-poetry-competition-whisky. Only one entry is permitted per entrant and email address. No purchase is necessary, and no payment is required to participate in the competition or to claim the prize.
WINNER(S): All eligible entries received within the entry period will be reviewed and judged by a selected panel at MoM shortly after the entry period closes. MoM will choose ten winners out of all the qualifying entries after the entry period ends based on the top ten entries. The winners will be awarded 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th place based on the quality of their entries. The selection of the winners made will be final and no correspondence or discussion will be entered into. The selection of the winners will be at MoM’s absolute discretion and will be final. No correspondence or discussion will be entered into. THE PRIZE(S): The winners will win one of the following prizes based on the place that they are awarded: The winner awarded 1st place will win a 70cl bottle of Bunnahabhain 18 Year Old; The winner awarded 2nd place will win a 70cl bottle of Aberfeldy 18 YO Sangiovese Red Wine Cask; The winner awarded 3rd place will win a 70cl bottle of Talisker x Parley – Wilder Seas; The winner awarded 4th place will win a 70cl bottle of Bowmore 15 Year Old; The winner awarded 5th place will win a 70cl bottle of Chivas Regal 18 Year Old; The winner awarded 6th place will win a 70cl bottle of Laphroaig 10 Year Old Sherry Oak Finish; The winner awarded 7th place will win a 70cl bottle of Lochlea Our Barley; The winner awarded 8th place will win a 70cl bottle of Meikle Tòir The Sherry One; The winner awarded 9th place will win a 70cl  bottle of Timorous Beastie; The winner awarded 10th place will win a 70cl bottle of Cutty Sark Prohibition Overproof Blended Scotch Whisky. The prizes are provided by MoM and are strictly non-negotiable, non-transferable, and cannot be exchanged for any equivalent cash value, cash alternative, or for other items. MoM reserves the right to substitute any of the prizes with alternative prizes of equal or greater value in the event that any of the prizes are not available for reasons outside of MoM’s control.
UK SHIPPING ONLY: The prizes can only be delivered to a valid United Kingdom address provided by the winners. 
CLAIMING THE PRIZE: The names of the winners will be announced on MoM’s blog as soon as practicable following selection. MoM will make reasonable efforts to contact the winners  via email or by telephone as soon as practicable. If any of the winners cannot be contacted or are not available or have not claimed the prize within 5 days of MoM contacting them, MoM reserves the right to select an alternative qualifying entry and to offer the prize(s) to another entrant. MoM cannot accept any responsibility if any of the winners are unable to claim the prize within the time limit set out above. MoM may contact the winners and entrants for feedback in respect of the competition and/or prizes and may use any feedback provided when announcing the results and promoting the competition or subsequent competitions.
ORIGINAL ENTRY CONTENT ONLY: Let’s be sensible, people. Any content submitted to MoM, howsoever submitted, for the purposes of entering the competition must only be original material. By entering this competition, entrants warrant and undertake that their entry does not infringe any third party rights. Entrants agree to indemnify MoM from and against any and all third party claims or liabilities relating to or arising out of the content submitted by them or their breach of any of these terms.
ACCEPTABLE ENTRY CONTENT: All entry content must strictly comply with MoM’s Acceptable Use Policy and the rules set out on our entry page for the competition. Any material which fails to comply with these rules or depicts, describes, encourages, endorses or normalises the excessive consumption of alcohol; the consumption of alcohol by those under the age of 25; anti-social behaviour (including any criminal activity) or irresponsible drinking (including rapid drinking); links the consumption of alcohol with popularity or other social success, bravado, technical skill, good fortune, the operation of vehicles or other machinery or therapeutic benefits; or which depicts the consumption of alcohol whilst potentially dangerous activities are being undertaken will be disqualified. In addition, any entries that MoM believes have been created with the help of artificial intelligence (in MoM’s sole and absolute discretion) or which include the phrase “amber hue(s)” shall be discarded.
ENTRY OWNERSHIP: By entering this competition, entrants agree that all rights, title and interest in their entries will belong absolutely to MoM. Entrants agree to irrevocably assign with full title guarantee and free from all third party rights, all intellectual property rights in and to any content submitted with their entry. MoM shall have the right to use, exploit, adapt and edit any content submitted (or part thereof) throughout the universe in perpetuity. By entering this competition, entrants waive all moral rights which they are or become entitled to under Chapter IV of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (or any similar right or entitlement anywhere in the world). Entrants agree to sign any additional documentation which may be required to give effect to this paragraph. 
LIMITATION OF LIABILITY: MoM will not be responsible for any entries that are delayed or lost for any reason (for example, due to technical error or connection failure). MoM shall not be responsible for delivery of any prize to an incorrect address. MoM will not be able to ship the prize to any winner who is not able to provide a valid shipping address in the United Kingdom, in which circumstances MoM will offer the prize to another eligible entrant. Insofar as is permitted by law, none of MoM, its agents, employees, and/or representatives shall be responsible or liable to compensate any competition entrant and/or the winner for any loss, damage, personal injury or death whatsoever and howsoever caused, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty, or otherwise, arising out of or in connection with their participation in this competition (including in taking up any prize), except where caused by the proven negligence of MoM, its agents, employees, and/or authorised representatives. Competition entrants’ statutory rights are not affected.
GENERAL: All decisions relating to this competition will be made in MoM’s absolute discretion and will be final. No correspondence or discussion will be entered into. Should a social media channel be used for this competition, MoM confirms that this competition is not sponsored or endorsed by the social media platform identified herein and said social media platform is in no way affiliated to or associated with MoM. By entering this competition, users agree to release that social media channel from any and all liability related to this competition. These terms shall be governed by English law, and the parties submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

© 2025 Master of Malt. All rights reserved.

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