New POETRY PRIZE launched by National Literacy Trust & Bloomsbury Children's Books

National Literacy Trust and Bloomsbury Children’s Books

Poetry Prize 2015

 

A new competition that challenges people to create a poem about reading and books to inspire young children is being launched by the National Literacy Trust in partnership with Bloomsbury Childrens Books. The Poetry Prize is live on the National Literacy Trust website now and runs through until 31^st August 2015.

All forms of poetry are welcome, from sonnets to free verse to rap. Entrants must be over the age of 16. Poems can be up to 16 lines long and written in English (although translations are welcome). Using reading and literature as inspiration the winner will receive an iPad, a selection of Bloomsbury titles and will see their poem feature in a poster campaign sent to schools across the UK.

The winning poem will be selected by a panel of judges including authors Sarah Crossan and Tony Bradman, Commissioning Editor for Bloomsbury Hannah Rolls and National Literacy Trust Director Jonathan Douglas.

Sarah Crossan, author of One and The Weight of Water, two novels written in verse said: "Poetry is the first language we speak. When we are born, we own it and we love it but somehow, along the way, children turn away from this, the most primitive of languages. It's everyone's job to make sure children feel that poetry belongs to them - which is does."

100% of entry fees go towards the work of the National Literacy Trust which equips disadvantaged young people with literacy fit for employment and life.

National Literacy Trust Director Jonathan Douglas said: "We are delighted to be launching this competition with Bloomsbury to celebrate all types of poetry. The latest National Literacy Trust research into the reading habits of children and young people showed that just one in six children read poetry outside the classroom, although it's interesting to note that disadvantaged children read more poems than their peers. I am looking forward to reading poems that will inspire more children to enjoy poetry in all forms, and to add it to their reading repertoire.'

For more information go to www.literacytrust.org.uk/poetryprize