Aged 11-17? Enter the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award for free by 31 July

by Education Admin The Poetry Society (Voice Community)

The Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2021 is open for entries until 31 July 2021. It is free to enter and is open to poets aged 11-17 years anywhere in the world. Visit foyleyoungpoets.org to submit your poems.

Yomi Sode, one of this year's two poet-judges. Photo by Jolade Olusanya.

Clare Pollard, one of this year's two poet-judges. Photo by Justine Stoddart.

The Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award is the biggest poetry competition for 11-17 year olds in the world. Since it began, the Award has kick-started the career of some of today’s most exciting new voices. Past winners include Jay Bernard, Sarah Howe, Helen Mort, Phoebe Power, Caroline Bird, Mukahang Limbu, Richard O’Brien and many more incredible poets. Visit foyleyoungpoets.org to submit your poems by 31 July 2021.

The judges of the 2021 Award are poets Clare Pollard and Yomi Ṣode. They can’t wait to read this year’s entries. Check out their advice in their blogs here and here, or watch them share their top tips below.

The competition welcomes poems on any theme and any length. It is completely free to enter for anyone aged 11-17 in the world. Poems must be in English, British Sign Language or Braille (do contact us if you have queries regarding any BSL and Braille entries). We welcome entries from individuals or schools – see the how to enter page for more details.

100 winners receive a fantastic range of prizes, from mentoring to a residential Arvon writing course, Poetry Society membership to books. The Poetry Society also continues to support winners’ development with performance, publication and internship opportunities.  Read more about the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award here or watch below to see some recent winners share what winning the competition meant to them, and their best advice to young writers entering this year.

For inspiration, you can check out online anthologies of last year’s winning poems and commended poems below, or email us to request a free copy of the winners’ anthology in print. If you require the winners’ anthology, or any information about the competition, in an alternative format, please don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected]. 

Visit The Poetry Society website for more information.

If you’d like to stay up-to-date with everything that The Poetry Society offers young writers, sign up to the Young Poets Network mailing list or follow our social media pages (Twitter, Instagram and Facebook) for updates. You can also visit Young Poets Network for year-round poetry competitions, events and advice for young writers.

Header Image Credit: Artwork by James Brown for The Poetry Society

Author

Education Admin The Poetry Society

Education Admin The Poetry Society

The Poetry Society is the UK’s leading organisation for poetry. With innovative education and commissioning programmes, and a packed calendar of performances, competitions, and digital projects, The Poetry Society champions poetry for all ages. The Poetry Society was founded in 1909 to promote a “more general recognition and appreciation of poetry”. Since then, it has grown into a dynamic arts organisation, representing British poetry both nationally and internationally. It has a thriving worldwide membership and publishes Britain’s leading poetry magazine, The Poetry Review. The Poetry Society is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation and a registered charity. poetrysociety.org.uk

The Poetry Society also supports budding young writers from across the world: we run the biggest free international poetry competition for 11-17 year olds, the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award, which champions a cohort of 100 winners (15 overall winners and 85 commended poets), from over 10,000 entries every year. Since it was founded in 1998, the Award has kick-started the career of some of today’s most exciting new voices, such as Sarah Howe, Caroline Bird, Jay Bernard, Richard Osmond and Helen Mort. An anthology of the top 15 winning poems is sent out to every secondary school in England in the spring, to inspire a new generation of young poets. foyleyoungpoets.org

The Poetry Society’s Young Poets Network offers free prompts, competitions and advice to an audience of over 150,000 poets aged 5-25 every year. Winners of Young Poets Network writing challenges have been included in anthologies, performed at the House of Lords and National Maritime Museum, and are offered writing, performing and development opportunities. ypn.poetrysociety.org.uk

We need your help supporting young creatives

Donate Now Other ways you can help

0 Comments

Post A Comment

You must be signed in to post a comment. Click here to sign in now

You might also like

cheeky little brown: solo show on friendship breakups

cheeky little brown: solo show on friendship breakups

by Aysel Dilara Kasap

Read now