Sykes Prize 2026 - Brothers

Giuseppe Ungaretti (1888-1970) was an Italian modernist, poet, journalist, essayist and critic. He was born in Egypt, educated in French at Alexandria’s Swiss School, and fought in the first World War, serving in the trenches in Northern Italy. The poem “Fratelli” (“Brothers”) is the prompt for the 2026 Sykes competition.

The Robinson College Sykes Prize is encouraging responses to Ungaretti’s text. Submissions can be in any written form that you choose (though not exceeding 2,000 words): stories, poems, film scripts, and graphic novels are all admissible.

A prize of £750 will be awarded to a current undergraduate or postgraduate student at the University of Cambridge for an original piece of writing. In addition to this, a runner-up award of £500 will be offered and two third-placed prizes (if the judges so decide) of £250.

It is intended that successful entries will be published on the College website and/or in physical form. Closing date for submissions is the beginning of Lent term 2026 (5pm, Tuesday 20th January 2026) and entries are welcome in either English or Italian. Please send these entries to sykesprize@robinson.cam.ac.uk with your name, College, subject and year referenced in the email. The entry itself should be anonymous.