The 23rd Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award, one of the largest and most prestigious awards for young poets aged 11-17 writing original works in English, opens today for entries from young writers aged 11-17.
Run by The Poetry Society, with the generous support of the Foyle Foundation, the competition invites entries from both individual poets and schools anywhere in the world. All entries are free and poems can be on any theme, and of any length. The deadline is 31 July 2021.
This year’s judges are poets Clare Pollard and Yomi Ṣode, who will read the poems submitted and discover the next generation of brilliant poets. To support entrants, they have recorded a video to detail what they’ll be looking for during the judging process alongside judges’ blogs here and here.
This year’s winners will be announced at a special awards ceremony in October 2021. The top 15 winning poets will have their poems published in an anthology in March 2022. Today also marks the publication of the current year’s anthology, entitled You Speak in Constellations. It features winning poems from the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2020.