In what former Children’s Laureate Chris Riddell describes as “a golden age of children’s poetry” the CLiPPA (CLPE Children’s Poetry Award), the UK’s foremost award for published poetry for children, is marking its 20th anniversary. As children’s poetry booms, partly as a result of the spotlight placed on it by the CLiPPA, organiser CLPE, the National Poetry Centre for Primary Schools, plans the celebrations will involve the participation of tens of thousands of children.

Established in 2003, the CLiPPA highlights the best new poetry for children. Past winners include Michael Rosen, John Agard, Jackie Kay and current Waterstones Children’s Laureate Joseph Coelho; Valerie Bloom won in 2022 with her collection Stars with Flaming Tails.

Stars With Flaming Tails

The unique CLiPPA Shadowing Scheme brings the poets and poetry on the shortlist into classrooms across the UK and encourages children to perform the poems out loud. CLPE expect over 30,000 children to take part in the anniversary year.

Today, the CLPE reveal the panel of judges for this year’s CLiPPA. Illustrator, former Waterstones Children’s Laureate and poetry anthologist Chris Riddell will chair the 2023 judging panel. He is joined by 2023 CLiPPA winner poet Valerie Bloom, writer Indigo Williams, and Jay Bhadricha, Head of Programmes at the Forward Arts Foundation, along with Charlotte Hacking, Learning and Programmes Director at CLPE.

Chris Riddell says, “I believe that this is a golden age of children's poetry. New voices, exciting imprints, innovative formats and, above all, accessibility have led to an explosion of creativity. I am delighted to chair the judges of this year's CLIPPA and immerse myself in the very best books of poetry for children. The young have an instinctive grasp of poetry, something CLPE understands and has done so much to nurture and promote. A love of poetry acquired at an early age leads to literacy, creativity and mental wellbeing. Long live the CLiPPA!"

The winner of the CLiPPA 2023 will be announced live at the CLiPPA Poetry Show on Monday 10 July 2023. The venue for the award ceremony will be the National Theatre, on London’s Southbank, when the shortlisted poets plus children from schools across the country will take to the stage to perform poems live.

CLiPPA Shadowing Scheme 2023 to involve tens of thousands of children

CLPE’s much-praised CLiPPA Shadowing Scheme supports schools and teachers to develop a love of poetry. Teachers are invited to choose one of the collections shortlisted for the CLiPPA and share with the children using dedicated teaching sequences produced by CLPE and videos of poets performing their work. Children choose a favourite poem from a shortlisted collection to work up into a performance, which is recorded and sent to a CLPE judging panel.  Winning schools are invited to perform live at the award ceremony.  The 2023 CLiPPA Shadowing will open in May.

Louise Johns-Shepherd, Chief Executive of the CLPE, said: “We are delighted to be celebrating the 20th anniversary of the CLiPPA with another superb panel of expert judges. Chris Riddell is right; this is indeed a golden age of children’s poetry. In 2015, as a CLiPPA judge, Roger McGough lamented how few submissions there were, and how few publishers were producing poetry books for children. This year, for the second year running, we received 30 submissions for the CLiPPA and from 15 different publishers. It’s exhilarating to see the impact that the CLiPPA has had. Now we can’t wait to see which collections our judges shortlist, and then to share them with children and their teachers, sparking connections with poets and poetry that will last lifetimes.”

The CLiPPA is delivered in partnership with the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) and supported by Arts Council England.

CLiPPA key dates 2023

Now, Shadowing Scheme registration open

3 May CLiPPA Shortlist announcement

17 May, Shadowing Scheme begins in schools

26 June, Shortlist celebration with Poetry By Heart, The Globe

10 July Winners announced, National Theatre

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