Children's Poetry Bookshelf Competion Winners
The judges of the Old Possum's Children's Poetry Competition, led by Chair Carol Ann Duffy, have selected twelve children as winners, with a further six receiving high commendations. This international Poetry Competition, now in its fourth year, is run 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 8 October, children aged 7-11 were invited to submit poems on the theme of 'Heroes and Heroines'. The partnership with the British Council, established last year, boosted entries to the 'International Learners' category for children based outside the UK who are learning English as a foreign or second language. In total, nearly 4,000 entries were received from schools and individual children worldwide.
The judges awarded 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes to children in two age groups (7-8 and 9-11). Carol Ann Duffy said, 'We judges had a wonderful and absorbing time choosing the winning and commended poems. We were impressed by the range of subject matter, the engagement with both history and the contemporary, the relish for image and metaphor. And we were particularly bowled-over by the poems from the International Learners.'
The CPB held a gala celebration and prize-giving on Monday 14 December at the Unicorn Theatre in London, hosted by poets John Agard and Roger Stevens, both of whom were also judges of the competition. The winning young poets were presented with their cash and book prizes and invited to read their poems to an audience of friends, family, teachers and children from local schools. A booklet containing the children's winning poems, and including a poem by Carol Ann Duffy from her recently published New and Collected Poems for Children (Faber), was made available on the day for the children and other audience members to take away with them.
The Old Possum's Children's Poetry Competition is generously supported by Old Possum's Practical Trust.
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