Borough marks National Poetry Day with competition launch

To mark National Poetry Day, a new poetry competition is being launched in Newcastle-under-Lyme.

Newcastle-under-Lyme BID has teamed up with local spoken word night WordCraft to create the competition, which hopes to celebrate creativity and encourage people of all ages to put pen to paper.

The competition launched as part of National Poetry Day takes inspiration from this year's national theme 'Wonder', inviting people to submit an original poem inspired by what the word means to them.

Entries will be open throughout this month across three age categories - under 11s, 11–17, and 18 and over - with a £50 prize available for the winner of each category.

Emily Galvin-Wilson, former Staffordshire Poet Laureate and co-founder of WordCraft, said: "Through my time as Staffordshire Poet Laureate, and through the work we've done with WordCraft, I've been constantly awed and delighted by the power that poetry has to bring communities together, and to reach people in new and unexpected ways. 

"We have such a wealth of creativity and talent across this County, and I can't wait to see what people come up with in response to the National Poetry Day prompt.

"It's such an exciting premise, and fantastic to see poetry being so celebrated across the town."

A shortlist of poems will be created before being considered by a judging panel featuring local poets and creatives, including Emily Galvin-Wilson, ArtsKeele and Newcastle-under-Lyme BID.

Selected poems will be then transformed into specially designed 'Poetry Pick Ups'.

These will be created in collaboration with a local artist and made available for people to take away from locations across Newcastle-under-Lyme and Keele University. 

The winning work will also be showcased in the town centre, with plans for poetry from the competition to form part of future art installations and public realm works