The Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2010 is now open: Enter HERE now!

                                              

 
"The Foyle Young Poets Awards are important beckoning points for young writers. They recognise a poet's first adventures into a public space for their poetry"

Prof. David Morley, National Teaching Fellow, Warwick University.

"Inside a prestigious getaway for 15 Young Poets of the Year" - Read 2009 Winner Phoebe Power's article in The Indepdendent on Sunday, 7th March 2010

This year, Foyle becomes a teenager as it hits its thirteenth year - Click here to see what some of your favourite poets were getting up to in their teens (and what they looked like, too!)

HOW TO ENTER:

Enter Online Now!

Alternatively download our Postal Entry Form for individuals or Class Set Entry Form for Teachers

If you would like to receive a 2010 Foyle Anthology please email fyp@poetrysociety.org.uk giving your name, address and stating if you are a teacher or an individual entrant. This also includes a postal Entry Form. Please note ALL previous entrants will automatically be sent copies and need not re-submit their address. We may take a few weeks to send all the anthologies out after the launch date of the 8th March 2010

Teachers

Teachers may enter many pupils' work at once with our postal Class Set Entry Form. Remember: the four schools to enter the most poems will receive a free library set of poetry books.

The Foyle Anthology

The Fire We Harbour the anthology contains poems from 2009's top fifteen winners plus an entry form for this year's Award. Please email fyp@poetrysociety.org.uk to order your free copy or a class set of 30 plus posters if you are a teacher.

Click here to see 2009's winning top 15 poems and a list of commended winners.

RULES: 

FYP is about what you want to write. So you can enter poems written in class, or poems you've written at home, from exercises or from your own imaginings!

You can enter poems on any theme, and of any length, and in any shape you like. Entry is completely free and you can enter as many poems as you like, however we do advise that you concentrate on drafting and redrafting your poems. Remember, quality is more important than quantity.

You'll need to be aged 11-17 on the closing date of the 31st July 2010 (i.e. Under 18 years old) in order to enter. The competition closes at 5pm on the 31st July 2010. Please note that competition entries cannot be returned under any circumstances so please make sure you send copies only.

JUDGES:

Jane Draycott

Jane Draycott’s latest collection Over was published in April 2009 by Carcanet/OxfordPoets and was shortlisted for the 2009 T S Eliot Prize. Nominated three times for the Forward Prize for Poetry, her first two full collectionsPrince Rupert's Drop and The Night Tree (Carcanet/Oxford) were both Poetry Book Society Recommendations. Other collections include from Two Rivers Press, Christina the Astonishing (with Peter Hay and Lesley Saunders) and Tideway, a long sequence of poems about London's working river (with paintings by Peter Hay) written while poet-in-residence at the River & Rowing Museum. Jane was a Stephen Spender Prize-winner in 2008 and teaches on postgraduate writing programmes at Oxford University and the University of Lancaster. Her contemporary version of the medieval dream-vision Pearl is forthcoming in 2010 from Carcanet/OxfordPoets and is supported by Arts Council England South East.

Luke Kennard

Luke Kennard was born in Kingston Upon Thames in 1981 and grew up in Luton. He writes and publishes poetry and short stories and has written for the stage, taking numerous productions to the Edinburgh Fringe. He holds a PhD in English from the University of Exeter and lectures in creative writing at the University of Birmingham. He won an Eric Gregory Award in 2005 and his first collection of prose poems The Solex Brothers was published later that year by Stride. His second collection The Harbour Beyond the Movie was published by Salt in 2007 and was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection, making him the youngest poet ever to be shortlisted. His new collection, The Migraine Hotel is available now from Salt and was recognised by the Guardian Review as a ‘Treat in Store’.

PRIZES: 

  • Fifteen overall winners aged 11-17, including up to three international winners, will have their poems printed in the winners' anthology
  • Five 11-14 year olds will win a short residency to their school by a leading poet
  • All 100 winners receive a year's Youth Membership and the opportunity to contribute to our brand new YM magazine
  • Fifteen 15-17 year old winners will attend a week-long residential course at one of the prestigious Arvon Centres.
  • All 100 winners will receive a copy of the current issue of  Young Writer magazine
  • Overall winners aged 11-14 will win a year's subscription to Young Writer magazine
  • The three schools who inspire the most entries will receive a special selection of books from  Faber & Faber, Bloodaxe Books and Salt Publishing for their libraries

All of the one hundred winners are invited to the prize-giving ceremony, and win prizes including books published by Faber & Faber, Bloodaxe Books, Picador, Salt Publishing and  tall-lighthouse, posters and one year's Youth Membership.

MORE ABOUT THE AWARD.....

The Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award is now firmly established as the key award for young writers aged between 11 and 17 years. Each year 100 winners (85 commendations and 15 overall winners) are selected by a team of high profile judges, and receive their awards at an annual prize-giving event on National Poetry Day. The Award has been supported by the Foyle Foundation since 2001  - during this time it has trebled its support and enabled the competition to become one of the permier literary awards in the country.

 Winners from the 15 to 17 age category then attend a week-long intensive residential Arvon course where they develop their creative writing skills and establish peer support structures. Winners aged 11-14 group benefit from poetry residencies at their school followed by distance mentoring.Alongside the  Winners of the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award benefit from on-going support and encouragement, via publication, performance, promotion and internship opportunities.

See what previous winners got up to at their week long Arvon course led by Ian McMillan and Eva Salzman below (featuring the 2008 Winners)

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