To link with the ‘Identity’ theme of the UK's National Poetry Day 2006, the Children’s Poetry Bookshelf is asking children, aged 7-11 years, to write a poem on the theme of ‘Me’.

There will be two age groups: 7-8 years and 9-11 years, and poems must be no longer than 25 lines.

Submissions will be free, and will be accepted online at www.childrenspoetrybookshelf.co.uk and by post from 14th September.

Send submissions to:  

Children's Poetry Bookshelf National Write-A-Poem Competition
P.O. Box 20
Winkleigh
EX19 8WX

The closing date is 16th October 2006.

There will be a special teachers' guide so they can help their students to write poems for the competition.

The judging panel will be chaired by poet and broadcaster Ian McMillan. The other members of the panel will be Myra Barrs, children’s poets Valerie Bloom and John Foster, Daisy Goodwin, Robyn Marsack and  Fiona Waters, whose anthology Why Does My Mum always Iron a Crease in My Jeans? has just won the CLPE Poetry Award for 2006.

The winners will be announced at a presentation in London in December. Prizes will include Children’s Poetry Bookshelf memberships and books. The winning poems will be published on the website and in a booklet.

The Competition is sponsored by the T S Eliot Foundation.

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