Roger McGough to chair judges of international competition
The Old Possum’s Children’s Poetry Competition for 7-11 year olds opens for entries today. Roger McGough is Chair of the judges. The Competition is organised by the Children’s Poetry Bookshelf, a poetry book club for young people run by the Poetry Book Society. To link with National Poetry Day on Thursday 7 October, children will be asked to write a poem of no more than 25 lines on the theme of ‘Home’.
Roger McGough is joined by a distinguished panel who are passionate about children’s poetry: the poet/guitarist James Carter, who travels widely giving poetry performances and workshops; Julia Eccleshare, writer, broadcaster, lecturer, Co-Director of the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education and the Guardian’s Children’s Books Editor; David Fickling, distinguished publisher of David Fickling Books, a Random House imprint for children’s books; and Caroline Horn, Children’s News Editor of the Bookseller and founder of the Reading Zone children’s books website.
Now in its fifth year, the competition is open to both individuals and schools, with prizes being awarded to two age groups, 7- 8 year-olds and 9 -11 year-olds. Entries will be accepted from today, Friday 10 September, up until the closing date of Friday 15 October 2010. The winners will be announced at a gala celebration at the Drill Hall Theatre in London on 10 December, where they will be presented with cash prizes and poetry books, and with Children’s Poetry Bookshelf memberships for their schools. On average the competition attracts around 4,000 entries from across the UK and overseas.
The Old Possum’s Children’s Poetry Competition will encourage children to play with poetry, providing an outlet for their creativity with language and encouraging teachers to bring poetry alive in the classroom. A teachers’ guide to accompany the competition, with special poem downloads, is available to download from the Children’s Poetry Bookshelf website at www.childrenspoetrybookshelf.co.uk, along with an entry form and further information about the competition. There’s also a page of tips to help children who are writing poems for individual email entry.
In partnership with the British Council an ‘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 at http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/try/teaching-kids/poetry-competition.
The Old Possum’s Children’s Poetry Competition is generously supported by Old Possum’s Practical Trust.
For further information about the Competition please contact:
Hilary Davidson email [log in to unmask]
or Chris Holifield email [log in to unmask]
at the Poetry Book Society tel 020 7831 7468
Notes for Editors
• 2010 is the fifth year of the Poetry Book Society’s children’s poetry-writing competition. Last year’s Old Possum’s Children’s Poetry Competition attracted nearly 4,000 entries from schools and individuals around the globe.
• The ‘International Learners’ category has been created in partnership with the British Council to encourage entries from children living outside the UK who are learning English as a second or foreign language. The Competition will be publicised worldwide through the British Council’s website at http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/try/teaching-kids/poetry-competition and the winning poems will be on the LearnEnglish Kids website at www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglishkids.
• A booklet featuring the winning poems from this year’s competition will be produced by the PBS and distributed to the winning poets, all the UK schools which entered the competition, and CPB and PBS members. Please contact the PBS if you would like a copy of last year’s booklet.
• A flyer publicising the competition will be sent to all UK primary schools in September.
• Schools and individuals will be able to enter the Old Possum’s Children’s Poetry Competition via the CPB website (www.childrenspoetrybookshelf.co.uk) or by post. Entry is free but poems which are submitted cannot be returned.
• Cash prizes will be awarded to the winning UK-based poets in each age category (7-8 year-olds and 9-11 year-olds), with £250 for the first prize winner, £100 for the second prize winner and £50 for the third prize winner. These prizes are generously provided by Old Possum’s Practical Trust. Poetry books will also be given to the UK winners and CPB memberships for their schools. Children entering the ‘International Learners’ category will receive book prizes.
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