WIN A POET VISIT TO YOUR SCHOOL AND £250 WORTH OF NATIONAL BOOK TOKENS WITH LOVEREADING4KIDS’ 2022 POETRY PRIZE

LoveReading is thrilled to announce the fourth year of The LoveReading4Kids Poetry Prize in association with National Poetry Day and National Book Tokens .

National Poetry Day is the annual mass celebration in October that encourages all to enjoy, discover and share poetry. This year, National Poetry Day 2022 will take place on Thursday 6th October.

With the continued backing of National Poetry Day and National Book Tokens, LoveReading4Kids launches the 2022 outing of its annual competition for children ages 7- 11 from across the UK inspired by the National Poetry Day theme of ‘The Environment’. The competition is looking for original poems focussed on your young poet’s interpretation of the environment, which refers to the natural world. 

Whether that's huge like rainforests and icebergs, or small like your local park and ladybirds on your window sill. This is their chance to shout about the ways in which we could be more sustainable, or add their voice to those who are helping us in the fight against climate change. Whatever way the theme speaks to them, we hope they'll be able to express this feeling with poetry this year.

The winning poet will win a visit to their school from National Poetry Day ambassador and award-winning poet Liz Brownlee - and £250 of National Book Tokens for their school. Both Winner and Runner Up will also receive a trophy and certificate and a batch of beautiful poetry books.

The winning and commended poems will also be published on the LoveReading4Kids and LoveReading4Schools websites. 

National Poetry Day Manager Jay Bhadricha commented: “We’re thrilled to be collaborating with LoveReading4Kids again. The competition is such a great way for children to engage with poetry and the poems we’ve seen over the years have been full of joy and life and are a real insight into the worlds of young people. We cannot wait to see the new vibrant work that will be produced this year, especially as the theme for this year’s National Poetry Day is ‘The Environment’ – something we know is at the forefront of children’s minds.”

LoveReading Managing Director Deborah Maclaren commented: “We are delighted to be working with National Poetry Day again to get children and schools across the UK engaged with words and inspiring a new generation of poets.

William Seighart, founder of National Poetry Day has said: “Finding a complicity with how you feel, expressed more elegantly than you could ever express yourself, can be the most helpful way of making sense of your emotions and helping you to process them.” And isn’t that the truth. We need more poetry in our lives.

So, please, spread the word and let’s get creating. 

For all you teachers out there, there are some free teaching resources here to help you inspire your classes. Let’s support the children in creating some special poetry.

Teachers can enter batches of poems from their class via one uploadable document or children within the age range can enter individually. 

Don’t delay, although you have until the end of the Summer term to support your aspiring poets in creating their masterpieces, get crafting! The LoveReading4Kids team of judges cannot wait to read your young poets’ creations!”

Find out more at  www.lovereading4kids.co.uk/submit-poem-entry 

If you want to be reminded just how fabulous an art form poetry is, take a look at our recent small collection of poetry books we adore which we collated for World Poetry Day.

LoveReading, LoveReading4Kids and LoveReading4Schools are the UK’s leading book review and recommendation websites, whose mission is to share book love and promote a love of reading by offering the tools, advice and information needed to help you find your next favourite book.  

Forward Arts Foundation is responsible for National Poetry Day on the 6th of October. This annual mass celebration, founded by William Sieghart CBE in 1994, brings the nation together around the performance, sharing and making of poems: it is the highpoint of our year-round campaign to raise awareness of poetry’s value. 

National Poetry Day 2022 will take place on Thursday 6th October: the theme is ‘The Environment’. 

To find out more, email kids@lovereading.co.uk or contact Managing Director Deborah Maclaren at deborah@lovereading.co.uk.