A Sussex poet is offering £150 prize money to budding bards in a global competition.

Josephine Austin runs the Hastings International Poetry Competition from her home in Dudley Road in the town.

The competition, which last year had 500 entries from around the world, also offers a second prize of £75 and third prize of £50.

Mrs Austin, who has published 12 books of poetry, said she scribbled her own poems "on the backs of chequebooks and envelopes whenever an idea takes me."

She said: "The winning poem must be something special. You can read hundreds of poems and then one just jumps out. It has lines you wish you had written and thoughts you wish you had had."

Mrs Austin also runs the Hastings International Poetry Festival, which she set up 34 years ago.

Up to 200 poets usually descend on Hastings to read at the two-day event, which in previous years was attended by the late Spike Milligan.

For more information on the festival or competition, contact Mrs Austin at The Snoring Cat, 16 Marianne Park, Dudley Road, Hastings, East Sussex TN35 5PU.