The Hip Hop artist and debut poet Karl Nova has been announced as the winner of CLiPPA 2018. Karl Nova created his debut, Rhythm and Poetry in order to bring poetry to children and young people through rap. Poet and Chair of the CLiPPA 2018 Judges, Grace Nichols, had this to say about the winning book:

This book really stood out for me with its refreshing use of the rap genre, its musicality, its immediacy and thoughtful reflections on the creative process. Karl Nova's poems ring true with a sincere charm that children and young people can relate to and that may inspire their own writing.

Karl’s win has come during a time where poetry is being embraced in to the mainstream - a trend that has been reflected in children’s poetry. The popularity has also helped to raise the profile of CLiPPA. This Award is the CLPE’s flagship event in their work all year-round championing poetry. The CLPE’s Power of Reading project works with teachers and with poets in order to understand how to make poetry engaging and impactful in the classroom. As a part of this scheme, 350 free copies of the shortlisted books will be sent to teachers nationally.CLiPPA grows year on year, with an increase in submissions of nearly 70% this year alone. The trickle-down effect of this success is being seen throughout children’s poetry. Louise Johns-Shepherd, the Chief Executive of the CLPE has said:

At CLPE, we are determined to celebrate the very best children’s poetry by involving more schools, producing more resources and getting more poetry books into schools. We promote it, we research it, we help teachers to use it in schools – we are poetry because poetry is the gateway to literacy.

Karl Nova received the CLiPPA and a cheque for £1000 in front of a packed audience, filled with poets, educators, publishers, shadowing school children and media at an event held a The National Theatre. At the ceremony, all the shortlisted poets performed on stage alongside children from the CLiPPA Shadowing Scheme, whose winning performances were selected from hundreds of competition entries. Rising Stars by Ruth Awolola, Victoria Adukwei Bulley, Abigail Cook, Jay Hulme and Amina Jama is a poetry collection by poets and performers from under-represented communities. This shortlisted entry was also highly commended at the CLiPPA ceremony. You can view the entire shortlist in our special poetry category. The CLPE have thanked ALCS, Siobhan Dowd Trust and St Olave’s Funds for their generous support of CLiPPA.