Mike Barlow has won prizes in a number of competitions including first prize in the 2006 National Poetry Competition. His first full collection, Living on the Difference (Smith|Doorstop 2004), won the Poetry Business Book and Pamphlet Competition and was shortlisted for the Jerwood Aldeburgh Prize for Best First Collection. He has since published two more full collections and a number of pamphlets. Amicable Numbers (Templar 2008) was a Poetry Book Society Pamphlet Choice. His fourth collection, Hotel Anonymous (Pindrop Press), was published in 2021.

Mike Barlow's work featured in Stand Magazine comprises one contribution of poetry.