LoveReading is thrilled to announce the fifth year of The LoveReading4Kids Poetry Prize in association with National Poetry Day.   National Poetry Day is the annual mass celebration in October that encourages all to enjoy, discover and share poetry. This year, National Poetry Day 2023 will take place on Thursday 5th October and will focus on the theme of refuge.

LoveReading4Kids launches the 2023 outing of its annual competition for children ages 7- 11 from across the UK. The competition is looking for original poems focused on your young poet’s interpretation of the theme of refuge. 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 Nicola Davies, author of the fantastic poetry collection Choose Love, and £250 of National Book Tokens for their school and £50 of National Book Tokens for themselves. The runner-up will receive £100 of National Book Tokens for their school and £20 of National Book Tokens for themselves.

Both Winner and Runner Up will also receive a trophy and certificate and a batch of beautiful poetry books courtesy of Macmillan Children's Books, one of the UK's leading children's publishers, creating and publishing bestselling brands and children’s books for all ages for over 150 years.

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 collaborate with LoveReading4Kids once again for their upcoming National Poetry Day competition. It's an incredible opportunity to witness the creativity and talent of young writers and see their unique perspectives come to life through their words. This year's National Poetry Day theme is 'Refuge' and I'm excited to see the young poets' interpretations on the diverse ways in which refuge can be experienced and sought after.”

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.  The recent research on poetry in the classroom compiled by the CLPE and Macmillan Children's Books shows just how important poetry teaching and learning is in primary schools. The Big Amazing Poetry Project initiative marks 30 years of Macmillan’s award-winning poetry list for children and CLPE’s work as the National Poetry Centre for Primary Schools. The project looks to embed poetry fully both into classrooms and also in children’s choices when reading for pleasure. Read more about the Big Amazing Poetry Project.  Some of the headlines include:

  • 80% of teachers feel poetry is a significant part of a literacy curriculum
  • 88% say that children enjoy engaging with poetry
  • 89% reported that children enjoyed listening to it being read or performed

Poetry provides the gateway for so many young readers and writers in their journey towards becoming literate. Previous research carried out by CLPE shows that it is a crucial genre for bridging the most prominent gaps for pupils and helps to level up literacy education. It supports understanding language and vocabulary, reading fluency, inference and deduction, and the ability to respond to and decode texts. Poetry is a transformative and vital branch of literature and its short form also offers access to those pupils who find reading for pleasure something that doesn’t come easily to them. So, please, spread the word of this year's competition and let’s get creating."

For all you teachers out there, there are some free poetry resources on the CLPE website 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 have collated. You can purchase books here, and donate to your local school.

LoveReading and LoveReading4Kids 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 5th 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.

Macmillan Children's Books is one of the UK's leading children's publishers, creating and publishing bestselling brands and children’s books for all ages for over 150 years. The original publisher of Alice in Wonderland, the MCB list today features many international bestselling and award-winning authors and illustrators, including Julia Donaldson, Axel Scheffler, Emily Gravett, Floella Benjamin, Dara McAnulty, David Olusoga, Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Lenny Henry, Chris Riddell and Marcus Rashford. MCB has a highly regarded poetry list, including Allie Esiri’s A Poem for Every Day of the Year and Paul Cookson’s The Works. Pre-school specialist Campbell Books, award-winning illustrated list Two Hoots, and non-fiction led Kingfisher are also imprints.

National Poetry Day 2023 will take place on Thursday 5th October: the theme is ‘Refuge’.

To find out more, email kids@lovereading.co.uk