Michael Rosen to judge world-wide poetry competition
19 Jul 2008
Young poets will be excited to hear that their entries will be read by the Children’s Laureate himself – Michael Rosen
‘Work’ is the theme of this year’s poetry competition run by the Children’s Poetry Bookshelf – and young poets will be excited to hear that their entries will be read by the Children’s Laureate himself – Michael Rosen.
To link with National Poetry Day on Thursday 9 October, children all over the world – aged between 7 and 11 – are being asked to write a poem in English no longer than 25 lines on the theme of Work.
Michael Rosen, the Children’s Laureate, hailed last year’s winning poems as ‘beautiful and surprising’, and is to chair the judging panel once again this year.
The competition is organised by the Children’s Poetry Bookshelf (CPB), a poetry book club for young people run by the Poetry Book Society. Now in its third year, the competition has been renamed the Old Possum’s Children’s Poetry Competition after T S Eliot’s much-loved children’s poetry collection about cats.
The competition is open to both individuals and schools and winners will be awarded the following cash prizes: £250 for first prize, £100 for second and £50 for third, along with books and CPB memberships. Prizes will be awarded in two age groups: 7- to 8-year-olds and 9- to 11-year-olds.
Entries will be accepted from Thursday 11 September, up until the closing date of Monday 20 October.
The winners will be announced at a gala celebration in London in December.
In partnership with the British Council a new ‘International Learners’ category, with the same age groups, has been added specifically for children based outside the UK who are learning English as a foreign or second language.
With the aim of encouraging thousands of children to take part, National Year of Reading has also chosen to support the Competition and will be promoting the competition through its campaign and website.
A teacher’s guide to accompany the competition will be available to download from the Children’s Poetry Bookshelf website www.childrenspoetrybookshelf.co.uk from early September, along with further information about the competition.
Michael Rosen will be joined on the judging panel by a distinguished group of people who are passionate about poetry, including Gaby Morgan, anthologist and Editorial Director in charge of the poetry list at Macmillan Children’s Books; Rosemary Stones, Editor of Books for Keeps; Fiona Waters, Editorial Director of Troubadour and poetry anthologist; and Cliff Yates, poet and Deputy Head of Maharishi School.
The Old Possum’s Children’s Poetry Competition is supported by Old Possum’s Practical Trust.
