Are you a rhyming wizard? Do you love rap or traditional prose? If you want to see your poetry in print, enter the Essex Year of Reading’s Platinum Jubilee writing competition.
The Essex Year of Reading, a campaign set up to get the county reading, is encouraging emerging poets to get creative and take part in a poetry competition to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
The competition, which launches on 13 May, is open to all ages. Poems can be as long or as short as you like or can be a mix of prose and illustrations.
Entrants can collaborate with a fellow amateur illustrator or poet.
Families can also submit entries together, with parents and children supporting one another. All styles are welcome, as long as the theme of the poem is the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
Ideas could include an acrostic poem about street parties and celebrations that will take place to commemorate the Queen’s seventy-year reign, a Japanese haiku about the Queen’s time on the throne, or a fun poem about a pet cat visiting Buckingham Palace to party with the Queen!
Her Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant of Essex, Jennifer Tolhurst, is collaborating with the Essex Year of Reading campaign to launch the Queen’s Jubilee Poetry competition. She says: “The Queen is the longest reigning monarch; generations have seen an image of her on our stamps and coins and it is amazing to realise that it has been that way for all of our lifetimes. You may have seen her historic coronation on the television, thrown a street party to celebrate a royal event, or even met her. In whatever way the Queen has affected your life, we want the people of Essex to exercise their creative skills and write an engaging poem to celebrate her Platinum Jubilee.”
Essex County Council’s Cabinet Member for Education Excellence, Lifelong Learning and Employability, Cllr Tony Ball, said: “The Essex Year of Reading aims to encourage people all over Essex to develop a passion for reading and we know that reading and writing promotes greater literacy skills. The Queen’s Jubilee poetry competition is an excellent opportunity to give Essex residents the chance to get published, while honouring a monarch who has served the country for seventy years.”
Each poem will be judged by a panel, which will include the publisher, Essex Libraries and Essex Year of Reading. All shortlisted entries will receive certificates and will be published on the Essex Year of Reading app. The overall winner will receive a £100 book token.
The competition closing date is 5pm on Friday 1 July. Please send all entries by email to [email protected], or via post: Essex Year of Reading Competition, Essex Library Services, County Hall, Market Road, Chelmsford, Essex, CM1 1QH. Please state your name, age, address, email and telephone number.
To discover more and view the full terms and conditions, visit www.essex.gov.uk/news/enter-our-new-storytelling-competition.
