In its 20th year, the CLiPPA (CLPE Children’s Poetry Award) is awarded to Marshmallow Clouds by Ted Kooser and Connie Wanek, illustrated by Richard Jones

Nicola Davies is Highly Commended for her moving sequence of poems about the refugee experience, Choose Love, illustrated by Petr Horáček

The winners of the UK’s leading award for published poetry for children, the CLiPPA (CLPE Children’s Poetry Award) have been announced at a buzzing live ceremony onstage at the Lyttleton Theatre, at the National Theatre. The shortlisted poets read their poems onstage to a full house, and the CLiPPA Poetry Show also featured live poetry performances by primary school children, winners of the unique CLiPPA Shadowing Scheme.

“Marshmallow Clouds impressed all the judges with the sheer quality of the poetry” says Chris Riddell, “The illustrations are in sympathy with the poems and the quality of the design and production is outstanding. It is a thing of beauty.”

Ted Kooser was the US Poet Laureate from 2004 to 2006 and won a Pulitzer Prize for his book of poems Delights & Shadows. His picture books include House Held Up by Trees, a New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated Children’s Book of the Year, illustrated by Jon Klassen; and Mr. Posey’s New Glasses, an International Literacy Association Children’s Choice, illustrated by Daniel Duncan.

Connie Wanek is the author of four books of poetry, including Rival Gardens: New and Selected Poems, the second book in the Ted Kooser Contemporary Poetry Series.

Marshmallow Clouds is a captivating collection of thirty exquisite poems, celebrated poets Ted Kooser and Connie Wanek, along with illustrator Richard Jones, explore the wonders of nature in a spirited and magical way - and invite our imaginations out to play.

A freewheeling romp through the world of imagery and metaphor, this quietly startling collection is framed by the four elements and divided into thoughtfully-curated sections, exploring art and reality, fact and fancy.

In a year of outstanding poetry publishing for children, Nicola Davies is Highly Commended for her moving sequence of poems about the refugee experience, Choose Love illustrated by Petr Horáček.

Of Choose Love, judge Chris Riddell said, “Choose Love is an immensely moving and passionate response to the refugee crisis that shows how relevant poetry for young people can be in addressing contemporary issues. The judges’ decision on both books was unanimous and we are immensely proud to highlight both these collections.”

Choose Love is a cycle of poems that highlights the experience of those forced to become refugees. The core of the collection was written in 2018 as part of a project with the charity Refugee Trauma Initiative. With the permission of both individual refugees and aid workers, RTI shared with Nicola a number of true and poignant stories which were then used as the basis for short-form poems. Over the following years Nicola added to this core of poems to create a coherent collection on the theme of forced migration, its wider causes and consequences.

Nicola Davies trained as a zoologist and studied bats and whales in the wild before joining the BBC Natural History Unit as a researcher and presenter of programmes such as The Really Wild Show. Her work has won awards around the world and been published in more than twelve different languages. Although her work focuses mainly on the natural world, she has a strong interest in children’s rights.

An extremely strong shortlist also featured current Waterstones Children’s Laureate Joseph Coelho with Blow a Kiss Catch a Kiss, illustrated by Nicola Killen; these are the words by Nikita Gill; and Let’s Chase Stars Together, by Matt Goodfellow.

Charlotte Hacking, Learning Programme Director at CLPE and member of the CLiPPA judging panel says, “The strength of this year’s shortlist made this a really difficult decision. Every one of these books is exceptional. Marshmallow Clouds is an outstanding poetry book with beautifully crafted poems full of evocative imagery and wonderfully resonant illustrations. It’s an exceptional example of poetry published for children, speaking to children of all ages about the world around them and their place within it.”

Children in schools across the UK have explored all five collections on the shortlist through the CLiPPA Shadowing Scheme, which each year prompts poetry performances by thousands of children in hundreds of classrooms. Record numbers of schools took part in the Shadowing this year and the young creators of the best poem performances took part in the ceremony, performing poems from each of the shortlisted collections live onstage alongside the poets. Six-year-old Darci from Swaffield Primary School, Wandsworth performed the poem ‘Uplifting’ from Joseph Coelho’s collection; eight-year-old Reem from St Matthews CofE Primary School, Birmingham performed ‘Marshmallows’ from the winning collection; and a group of twelve young people from St Margaret Mary's RC Primary School in Manchester performed ‘I hope it rains today’ from Matt Goodfellow’s collection Let’s Chase Stars Together; Oluwajomiloju, who is in year six at Carterhatch Primary School in Enfield performed ‘Remember III’ from Nikita Gill’s these are the words; and nine year old Fatima from Hillbrook Primary School, Tooting performed 'Unbroken’ from Choose Love.

Louise Johns-Shepherd, Chief Executive at CLPE says, “Poetry is a wonderful medium for engaging children in reading and writing, but it is often overlooked. The CLiPPA has been shining a spotlight on children’s poetry for twenty years and the excitement generated amongst children grows ever bigger. On the 20th anniversary of the CLiPPA, we are delighted to have such a strong shortlist and to celebrate it with so much joy and excitement. Our young audience today lifted the roof off the National Theatre and regard Ted, Connie, Joseph, Nicola, Nikita and Matt as superstars. We hope everyone will follow their lead and read these wonderful poetry books.”

The awards were presented by judge Chris Riddell OBE, last year’s CLiPPA winner poet Valerie Bloom and Mark Bispham of sponsor ALCS at the National Theatre’s Lyttleton Theatre.

Ted Kooser and Connie Wanek receive a trophy and share a cheque for £1000. As part of the prize they will also be recorded for the prestigious National Poetry Archive as will Nicola Davies.

Read our feature on the CLiPPA 2023 Shortlist

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