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More than 800 entries received in poetry competition

Date
Tue, 17 Dec 2019
Article

Over 800 entries have been received for the East Riding Festival of Words Poetry Competition, a huge increase from 2018’s total of 170 entries.

Librarian Hayley Nicholson said: “We have had a fantastic response from the public this year, and I am absolutely delighted that we have received so many entries! We are now really looking forward to the judging, and the special event in Bridlington!”

This year’s theme was ‘My Mind, My Thoughts’, and entries will be judged by a panel of published Yorkshire poets led by James Nash. All poems entered are submitted anonymously, so each is judged on its own merits.

The winners will be invited to read their poems at a special event on Saturday 25 January, 2020, from 11am-12.30pm at North Bridlington Library. Tickets are just £2.20 (including booking fee) and include light refreshments. Tickets can be booked via https://festivalofwords.co.uk/events/

The winning poem will be selected by judges for the most imaginative use of language and poetic form, winning The Larkin Prize of £500, awarded by the Philip Larkin Society. There will also be adult prizes of £200 for second place, and £100 for third, plus junior prizes of £75 for secondary school pupils and £50 for primary school pupils; plus four highly commended prizes of £25 each, two for adults and one each for primary and secondary aged children.

Head judge James Nash is a writer and poet, who recently visited Bridlington Central Library. Sharing his time between Leeds and Bridlington, his third collection of poems, Coma Songs, was published in 2003 and reprinted in 2006. In 2012, his selected poems ‘A Bit of an Ice Breaker’ and new collection ‘Some Things Matter’ were published by Valley Press.

Other judges will be Matthew Hedley Stoppard and Wendy Pratt, with James Booth from the Philip Larkin Society.

Follow the East Riding Festival of Words, which will return in 2020, on social media @ ERWordfest.

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