Titled Poetry For Good, the competition has been announced just ahead of World Poetry Day (21st March).
Celebrating everyone who has worked hard during the pandemic including teachers delivery drivers, office cleaners and nurses, Poetry For Good wants to celebrate their contribution and raise the profile of their work through poetry.
With this new competition free to enter, and submissions being accepted until the 9th April, Poetry for Good will announce this year’s winners at the end of April. Entries are open in three categories: Written Word – written poems from those aged 16 or more; Spoken Word – spoken poetry from those aged 16 or more; Growing Word – written poems for those aged 11-15.
Poetry For Good is set to be judged by three internationally acclaimed poets: Cecilia Knapp, the new London Young People’s Laureate for 2021; Rachel Long, who has been shortlisted for the Costa Book Award, Forward Prize for Poetry and the Rathbones Folio Prize, and is the Founder of Octavia, the Poetry Collective for Women of Colour; and Katherine Lockton, Editor of South Bank Poetry. Knapp, Long and Lockton have also been commissioned to write a brand new poem exclusively for the competition, celebrating the role of key workers.
Talking about the competition, judge Cecilia Knapp said: “It was an honour to be asked to write a poem in celebration of our key workers and shine a light on the invaluable work they do to keep this country going. I believe poetry to be a tool for celebration, for empathy and connection and so a poem of thanks and recognition felt like the perfect way to elevate the vital role that key workers play. I’m all about bringing poetry into unexpected settings and bringing poetry into the mainstream a bit more, to show that poetry can and should be for everyone, so partnering with a cleaning company to write this piece and to judge their competition, although unusual, is exactly what I’m about.”
The competition has been organised by Clean for Good, one of the UK’s most dynamic social-purpose companies, the competition is part of their wider mission to promote fair pay and dignity at work for cleaners – a category whose work has been severely impacted by Covid.
To find out more about the competition visit: https://www.poetryforgood.org.uk/